1968 Factory 428 Cobra jet Mustangs - Ford did something at the ‘68 Winternations that was spectacular, yet really torqued up a lot of Super Stock and Stock class racers. Anticipating a strong challenge from the 396 Camaros, Ford built a team of factory prepared, spend as much as needed, engineer team managed, racing versions of the hot new Cobra Jet option. The team arrived using a standard open car transport. The 8 racers were all prepared by Moody-Stroppe race car builders.

The team Mustangs blasted national records and cleaned up in the Stock and Super Stock classes. The Super Stock Eliminator final turned out to be an all-Ford match with Al Joniac against Hubert Platt. Joniac’s car was a SS/E car and Platt’s Mustang was a SS/CA car. Joniac was so jazzed about being in the final he nearly ran under the record, which would have disqualified him. A Ford rep at the finish line was waving his arms, signaling Joniac to SLOW DOWN! As it was, Al won the race with a 12.50 @97.93 mph. Earlier, he had been running 11.5 @ 120 mph.

Eventually, “brake-outs” and loosing for running too fast, moved the top guys to petition NHRA for create Pro Stock in 1970. - KST

1966 A/FX Mustang - This must have been one hell-of-a-ride! Southern California racer “Gas Ronda” was a terror on the 1320 with this wild Ford Mustang. The fiberglass body car used a 427 SOHC (single over-head cam) NASCAR Ford engine with fuel injection and a 4-speed gear box. This was about 8 years before Lenco planetary transmissions. The 427 SOHC was Ford’s answer to the Chrysler Hemi and was a very impressive engine. It was also physically a HUGE engine.

The Gas Ronda, Russ Davis-sponsored car ran mid-8s! Think about it race fans - no nitrous oxide, marginal slicks, and no Lenco... that’s SPEED SHIFTING! - KST

1970 Trans-Am Mustang Racer - Ford was just crazy about racing in the 60s, right up to 1970. Chevrolet had earned a lot of kudos with the Trans-Am series winning, Roger Penske-prepared, Z-28 Camaros in ‘68 and ‘69. Since Ford had started the whole pony car craze, they wanted a piece of the Trans-Am racing pie.

Officially considered an “independent effort,” Parnelli Jones and George Follmer took their heavily modified Boss 302 Mustang to 6 wins - 5 wins for Jones and 1 win for Follmer - taking the 1970 Trans-Am Championship for Ford.

Compared to today’s Trans-Am cars, these machines were amazingly stock. Body modifications were limited to modified wheel wells for larger racing tires and bigger spoilers. Suspensions could be modified, but had to maintain their original configurations. In other words, if a car didn’t come with an independent rear suspension, you couldn’t put on on the car. Engine size was limited to 302 cubic-inches. Engines could be modified but had to have production block, heads, and induction systems had to be basically stock. And to keep racers from going overboard on weight reduction tricks, the minimum weight was 3,200 pounds.

So how fast was the car? Road & Track tested the George Follmer Mustang and clicked off 0-to-60 in 5.5 seconds, the 1/4-mile in 12.9@110 mph, and had a top speed of 151 mph. All that with open headers in a car with no sound insulation. Must have sounded WONDERFUL inside! - KST

1964 Ford Thunderbolt - Ford was very close to starting the whole muscle car thing. While John DeLorean was focused on putting hot engines into mid-size cars, Ford was stuffing their NASCAR 427 engines into Fairlanes and Comets. They called the Fairlane version the “Thunderbolt.” The Comet version was called the “Cyclone.”

The lightweight setup with the heavy hitter 427 NASCAR engine was a natural for Super Stock class racing with hundreds stepping into the staging lanes. Names like Gas Ronda, Butch Leal, Phill Bonner, Tasca Ford, and Turner Ford were on the sides of winning Thunderbolts drag cars. Some of the Thunderbolts drifted into the ranks of the new A/Factory experimental cars. But after the Mustang arrived, that was the end of the hot Ford Thunderbolts. - KST

1965 shelby Daytona Cobra - Racers are always looking for an edge over the competition. That’s what makes unlimited class racing so fascinating. As stunning as the 427 Cobra was, the Ferraris were nipping at Shelby’s heals.

Cobras are tough looking, cool cars, but leave a lot to be desired in the aerodynamics department. On the long, fast tracks, Shelby needed a slipperier Cobra. Enter the Daytona Cobra.

Stylist and designer Pete Brock penned out the lines for a coupe version of the Cobra. The end result looked very much like the P2

‘63 Ferrari GTO, but Cobra lovers didn’t care. Unfortunately, the slick body was draped over an existing, slightly outdated Cobra chassis, so the car was off to a late start and was never able to be competitive. Sports car racing was moving into the direction of monocoque body/chassis design that let tube-framed cars such as the Cobra, fall by the wayside. The old guard cars were still bloody fast, but just not competitive.

And, to finish off the Cobra racing effort, Ford had its focus on the GT40 and the World Manufacturing Cup Championship. - KST

1965 427 Super Coupe Cobra - The Daytona “Super Coupe” was supposed to be the next version of the Daytona Coupe. But when Ford pulled the plug on Shelby’s racing efforts, the Super Coupe came to a screeching halt. Henry Ford II was dumping MILLIONS into the GT40 program looking to stick-it to Enzo Ferrari over the failed buyout/takeover of Ferrari in the early ‘60s. So why would Ford want to support Shelby’s Daytona Super Coupe? It would have been competition for the GT40. That’s factory racing for you.

So the Super Coupe was never finished until 1979 when it was purchased as a restoration project. It was more like a completion project. Pete Brock was consulted in the restoration/completion and supplied the team with a complete list of how he and Shelby had intended the car to be completed. The restoration/completion team hit every point on the list and completed the project in 1981.

Since that time the Daytona Super Coupe has appeared at vintage car races. With contemporary tires, the Super Coupe looks like ONE TOUGH CUSTOMER. - KST

Fast, Ferocious Fords - Ford certainly has provided us with years of dazzling high performance street cars and brutal race cars. This was a 2-page salute to "Fast, Ferocious Fords" for my "PROFILE" series in “Fabulous Mustangs & Exotic Fords” magazine back in the late ‘80s and early 90s. That series lasted almost 4 years and died along with the magazine when the specialty pubs trend fizzeled out in the early ‘90s.

Pictured is the mid-engine Pantera, Al Joniac's 1968 Cobra Jet Mustang Super Stocker, Carroll Shelby's double supercharged 427 Cobra, the beautiful and brutish GT40 Le Mans racer, and Gas Ronda's "Russ Davis" sponsored A/FX Ford Thunderbolt.

Ahhh... the roar of the crowd... the smell of the tire smoke! - KST