Roush-Yates Goes Drag Racing with NASCAR Spec Engine

What would happen if you took a NASCAR engine and slapped it between the frame rails of a drag racing Mustang? Terry Bren will soon know, as this experiment on the Mustang nicknamed the “Twisted Cheeto” will soon come to fruition.

For several years, Jack Roush and Robert Yates considered each other the competition. They were both affiliated with Ford and had separate engine shops and race teams. Robert Yates Racing was known for big horsepower and great restrictor plate engines. Jack Roush had the engineering background with Ford and the resources to try new parts and hundreds of employees to develop those parts.

At one time, it was said the two did not even speak to each other at the track. It was quite a coup when Ford Racing got the two NASCAR legends to combine shops, share engine tuning secrets and start Roush-Yates Engines. Roush-Yates Engines is managed by Doug Yates, Robert’s son, and produces engines for Ford teams competing in NASCAR, Grand Am Rolex Series, KONI Challenge Series and the USAC Ford Focus Series.


RYPP shelves are stocked with mileaged out heads, intakes, rocker arms, etc.

With the merger and so much development work going on, Roush-Yates has hundreds of used and mileaged out cylinder heads, engine blocks, pistons, rocker arms, cranks, etc. And with the development of the new FR9 enginethere will soon be pallets of Windsor R-452 racing blocks and D-3 cylinder heads looking for new homes.

To help market all these parts, Doug Yates and Jack Roush opened Roush-Yates Performance Parts just up the road from the Mooresville NASCAR Cup engine shop. The store is staffed by Don Moore and Ronnie Bentley, two experienced Roush-Yates engine shop employees, and their goal is to make the Roush-Yates program more accessible to the grassroots racer.

Recently, Don and Ronnie have been making inroads into the drag race market and signed on to sponsor Terry Bren — a local Mustang racer. Terry, a long time Mustang fanatic, initially found out about Roush-Yates Performance Parts through the Ford Racing dealer program. In April, just prior to the Pinks All Out event at ZMax Dragway, Terry was looking for one of the new Ford Racing Boss engine blocks. He had just blown his original 70’s era Boss 302 block and Pinks was only weeks away.

Terry went block shopping on Ford Racing’s website and found Roush-Yates Engines was the closest Ford Racing dealer. When Terry visited the RYPP parts shop he was impressed with the friendliness and accessibility of the sales staff. After a quick pitch by Terry, Don and Ronnie agreed to sponsor Terry’s Twisted Cheeto Mustang for PINKS event and for the 2009 season.


Don Moore and Ronnie Bentley staff the Roush-Yates Performance Parts counter

Since April, Terry’s Twisted Cheeto notchback Mustang sports Roush-Yates Performance Parts decals and he has become a great ambassador for the parts program. Terry got quite the surprise recently when Doug Yates encountered Terry’s car at the shop for a recent car show. “Doug wanted to hear the engine run and did his typical blip of the throttle and tune by ear test he’s done countless times on Cup engines,” said Ronnie Bentley with RYPP. “Terry’s eyes got real wide when Doug revved the engine to 8 grand.”

When asked about the unique name for the car, Terry recalled all the cool historic drag car names like Chi-Town Hustler and Tijuana Taxi thus the Twisted Cheeto name was invented. Terry bracket races the Mustang at several tracks in North Carolina and has run a best elapsed time of 10.60 seconds in the quarter mile.


Terry Bren’s Roush Yates Performance Parts sponsored Mustang at PINKS

Recently, RYPP called Terry and asked if they “happened to have” an extra engine laying around would Terry put it in his Mustang. “About a week or so went by and I stopped by on the way to test and tune and they took me in the back room and there were twelve NASCAR engines on the floor”, recalled Terry. “Don and Ronnie said to pick one out. Wow, who would have ever thought a Roush-Yates engine would be going in my car.”


Terry’s Twisted Cheeto Mustang has been displayed at several Roush-Yates events.

Terry’s car will be a test case for the Nationwide series NASCAR engine in a drag race application. Recently we got word that Don Bowles is also testing a Roush-Yates Cup engine in a S197 NMRA Open Comp Mustang.


Terry Bren with the 800 hp Roush-Yates Nationwide engine before installation.


The Roush-Yates engine looks right at home in the Twisted Cheeto engine bay

The 358 c.i. Roush-Yates Ford engine has already been installed and Terry expects the car to run deep into the nine second zone. With over 800 horsepower, nine seconds should be easy to attain. Roush Yates Performance Parts will continue to evaluate the program and looks for drag racing to be a new market for all the obsolete parts from the NASCAR engine program.

Future plans include making the modular engine parts available from the Grand-Am cammer engine program. Could this be a return to the good old days of Holman-Moody, Fords do-all engine builder from the 1960’s? Roush-Yates goal of expanding markets my help the grassroots racers with what was once parts and pieces made of “unobtanium” materials.

For more information check out the Roush-Yates Performance Parts website at www.roushyatesparts.com or visit their shop at; 261-2A Rolling Hill Road, Mooresville, NC 28117.

Blue Oval Muscle in your inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from FordMuscle, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

Free WordPress Themes
FordMuscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Ford Muscle - The Ultimate Ford Mustang Magazine

FordMuscle

We'll send you the most interesting FordMuscle articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

Ford Muscle - The Ultimate Ford Mustang Magazine

FordMuscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Ford Muscle - The Ultimate Ford Mustang Magazine

Ford Muscle

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...


Muscle Car & Hot Rods
Muscle Car & Hot Rods
Drag Racing
Drag Racing

Ford Muscle - The Ultimate Ford Mustang Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...

  • Muscle Car & Hot Rods Muscle Car & Hot Rods
  • Drag Racing Drag Racing

Ford Muscle - The Ultimate Ford Mustang Magazine

Ford Muscle

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Ford Muscle - The Ultimate Ford Mustang Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Loading