2009 Ford Racing Media Invitational

[Johnny Johns]

Thirteen automotive editors have gathered to do battle in Ford Racing's Media Invitational at Milan Dragway. The bracket style race is run in conjunction with the NMRA Milan event. Check back for editorial coverage, and all of the Ford Racing updates and photos.



Ford Racing brought out its fleet of modified Mustangs for the assembled media to compete in. All of the Mustangs have the latest in Ford Racing Performance Parts and manual transmissions.


Doug Glad with Car Craft Magazine was the lucky draw for a 2010 Shelby GT500. With 540 horsepower it was a challenge to get the car down the track in time trials.


Steve Baur with Muscle Mustang and Fast Fords pilots the gold 2010 Mustang GT with Ford Racing shaker hood.


Stangtv's James Lawrence will compete in a 2008 Shelby GT500 ARCA Menards 200 Pace Car. Can James master the bracket style racing format?


Mike Sutton with Car and Driver competed in Ford Racing's Sinister Minister project. This 3 valve GT features hot rod cams and FRPP new prototype intake.


5.0 Magazine's Steve Turner drew the fastest car in the fleet, the "Poster Child" Ford Racing Project Car is a highly modified GT500 rated at over 650 hp. Turner did the best burnouts of the group and had "traction issues" in the first time trials. Turner eventually ran the quickest qualifying time of the group with a 12:09 e.t. @ 129 mph.


Autoblog's Sam Abulsamid competed in a 2008 Shelby GT convertible. This was our favorite color Shelby GT from the guys in Las Vegas.


Greg "Doughnut" Acosta with Race Pages Magazine was in a 2008 Shelby GT500 convertible. Greg was busy covering the race action and racing in the Invitational.


Mark Houlahan with Modified Mustangs and Fords could not be missed in the electric Yellow FR500S (Street) This car features a FRPP supercharger, Ford GT Wheels and a 4-point roll cage.


Bill McGuire with Hot Rod Magazine piloted Ford Racing's "Snake Skin" project car. Not a big fan of the Snake Skin over the top stripes but it was fast.


Tom Wilson with Road and Track Magazine had the slowest car in the fleet, the Ford Racing V6 Mustang Project Car. The V6 has a FRPP exhaust and sounded radical as it ran down the 1320.


Liz Miles with Popular Hot Rodding Magazine raced this slick Grabber Blue 2010 Mustang GT.


Larry Jewett with Mustang Enthusiast magazine drew the other 2008 Shelby GT500 ARCA Menards 200 pace car for the shootout.

[Johnny Johns]

Mose Nowland with Ford Racing talked about Ford Racing's NHRA Pro Stock Engine Program. On display in the Ford Racing tent was a SLA modeled engine block and heads. Currently Ford Racing is developing two types of cylinder heads to work on the new Ford Pro Stock block. Mose and the Ford Racing team has been working with Jim Cunningham on the new block and head design. Mose even put in a call to Bob Glidden to get his input on what Ford should consider when engineering the new parts.

Larry Morgan and Jim Cunningham will be running this new block and heads in testing and they plan on debuting the new engine in 2010.





Ford Racing is developing a wedge shape combustion chamber head and mirror chamber head. Ford Racing says it plans to go the NHRA tech with both heads for approval.


Ford Racing's NHRA Pro Stock Wedge Chamber Cylinder Head Prototype


Ford Racing's NHRA Pro Stock Mirror Chamber Cylinder Head Prototype


Ford Racing's NHRA Pro Stock Mirror Chamber Cylinder Head Prototype


Ford Racing's NHRA Pro Stock Prototype Parts on display.


Ford Racing's NHRA Pro Stock Lifter Valley


Ford Racing's NHRA Pro Stock Main Caps

[Johnny Johns]

While at Milan for the Ford Racing Invitational, Brian Wolfe announced the 2010 Mustang Cobra Jet and the 2010 Body In White program for racers. With the success of the 2008 Cobra Jet program, Ford Racing is expanding its offering to racers competing in NMRA, NHRA, IHRA and NMCA.



Plans are during the 2010 FR500CJ build to have Flat Rock Assembly construct several 2010 Mustang Body-in-White platforms and make them available in several configurations. Ford Racing engineer Andy Slankard told stangtv that versions will be made without the upper wiper bucket/cowl for applications that require an engine setback. Mustang BIW units will also be available in standard wiper bucket/cowl configurations for classes that require stock engine location.



Ford Racing wants to make inroads into the NHRA and IHRA Super Stock and Competition Eliminator classes while the 2010 Cobra Jet program becomes competitive in national and divisional events.

[Johnny Johns]

Ford Racing had their new cast iron Boss 351 engine on display at Milan Dragway. Based on the success of the Boss 302 block, Ford Racing stepped up to add a new block to their ever expanding block offering.



The Boss 351 will be available in 9.2 and 9.5 deck height and a big bore version is planned for up to 462 cubic inches. Ford Racing has built the Boss 351 for several different applications, from 10.5 inch tire drag classes to the guy that wants to do a streetable engine. The engine is versatile and can be built with low compression heads or a high compression performance heads.

Ford Racing has engineered the block to accept hydraulic or solid roller lifters and has beefed up the block in critical areas.



The engine will also be used in late model circle track racing for those racers that are diehard Ford fans and until recently had nothing to compete with the Chevy’s in the sealed crate motor classes. Ford Racing has plans to recast the popular cast iron N head for the planned sealed crate engine for circle track.





The Boss 351 will retail for $1,999.00 and is available now at your Ford Racing Performance Parts dealer.

[Johnny Johns]

Brian Wolfe and Ford Racing made the 2010 Cobra Jet program official today at the National Mustang Racing Association (NMRA) event at Milan Dragway. Brian announced plans to build a 2010 version of the popular Cobra Jet drag car.



Ford Racing will produce a limited run of 50 2010 Mustang Cobre Jets, the minimum number that must be produced to receive clearance from NHRA for competition. Exact specifications are being finalized, but the initial plan is for the 2010 Cobra Jet to have a nhra rated 425-hp 5.4-liter supercharged engine from the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog, with an option to upgrade to an estimated 475-hp aluminum block engine.

The cars will also feature a 8.50 e.t. legal roll cage, light weight brakes and manual steering. If you are in the market for a Cobra Jet be prepared to scramble to get one. The 2008 CJ was sold out in a few hours to Ford Racing Parts dealers that placed an order as soon as the internal e-mail was received.

[Johnny Johns]

StangTV.com’s James Lawrence got his shot at the Ford Media day with a quarter-mile pass in the 2008 Ford Cobra Jet. Slightly detuned from the race trim it was in, this is the much “sought after” Ford Cobra Jet with the 5.4L Supercharged Engine. After getting instructions from the Ford Racing Engineers, the launching procedure was simple.



1) Do a nice healthy burnout using the FRPP-supplied line lock with the engine revving about 5,000 rpm.
2) Clear the engine out a few times. (Wicked fun.)
3) Rev to 5,000 RPM.
4) Drop Clutch
5) Smile
6) Run 10.60 at 138 mph.

We did all of the above. The problem? Excessively high tire pressure (13 psi warm) caused some serious wheel spin. James lifted and then jammed second gear after a half-second delay. The result was a 11.31 at 136 mph.

Will James get another shot at the CJ? He hopes so. He claims 10.60s are a cinch if he can convince FRPP to give him another shot. We’ll find out.

[Johnny Johns]

Results from the first round of qualifying of the Ford Media invitational are up. Qualifying is based on reaction time, so with a field full of stick shifts, the top spots were anyone's game.

The top 5 qualifiers in round 1 out of 13 entrants of the media were:

1) Doug Glad - Car Craft - .028 light, 12.96 at 113.63 mph
2) Steve Bauer - MM&FF - .053 light, 13.85 at 104.61 mph
3) Tom Wilson - 5.0 Mustang - .125 light, 15.64 @ 91.98 mph
4) Liz Miles, PHR - .142 light - 13.68 @ 103.21 mph
5) James Lawrence - StangTV.com/powerTV - .187 - 12.44 @ 119.30 mph

Check out a few of the photos below!

[Johnny Johns]

Our very own James Lawrence's GT500 was an original ARCA Pace Car. With the FRPP cold-air intake kit, it made about 540 hp. Launching the car on the OE street tires has proven challenging, but Lawrence has carded a 2.01 60-foot.



Steve Turner is the #1 position as the main man behind 5.0 Mustang magazine. His car is the most powerful of the bunch, with an Eaton/FRPP TVS blower and over 600 hp to the wheels.



Greg Acosta from Race Pages is bringing up the rear of the field after round 1 in the GT500 vert. He got the only red light in the group.

[Johnny Johns]

Updates for Round 2 and 3 are coming soon. Our intrepid driver Lawrence didn't better his efforts of reaction time any... the second round saw a .196 reaction time with a 12.50 @ 119.67 mph, and the third round saw a red light with a -.125 red, and a 12.86 at 117.79 when Lawrence bogged it off the line.

[Johnny Johns]

Steve Baur with Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords was the winner of the 2009 Ford Racing Invitational. Baur, driving a gold 2010 Mustang GT went four rounds to take the win over a red lighting Doug Glad with Car Craft Magazine



“I thought I was late because I saw him leave first,” said Baur. “I actually turned a very good light and I’m glad he red lit because I broke out quite a bit.”


Winner Steve Baur (left) jokes with Doug Glad (right) before the final round of the 2009 Ford Racing Invitational.

Before the finals in the staging lanes, Bauer changed his dial in at the last minute but in the end it didn’t matter.

When asked about the performance of the Mustang GT, Baur was impressed with the car. “It’s a great car I couldn’t of picked a better car to run, all the guys with the high horsepower Mustangs fought traction issues and we were pretty consistent.

Doug Glad, runner-up and editor of Car Craft Magazine was in good spirits after the red-light foul. “I shouldn’t of red-lighted, last year I went out first round and went out the last round this year, so it’s better,” said Glad. “I got the brackets dialed in a little better this year had I not red lighted I think I would of gone all the way.”

Glad was piloting a 2010 Shelby GT500 in the editor shootout and was impressed with the durability of the car. “The GT500 is a phenomenal car, with all these cars being stock and driving as hard as we have, with no breakage shows it’s a great car. I could probably jump in that thing and drive it home to California right now.”

The prize for second place in the 2009 Ford Racing Invitational was a portable drag race practice tree. We’re sure Doug will put it to good use to prepare for next year.



Jesse Kershaw, with Ford Racing, was “promoter” of the third annual Ford Racing Invitational. “The event keeps getting better and better. This year we had twelve journalists come out and compete and we were able to put the majority of them through the Cobra Jet,” said Kershaw. "Overall the racing was great and extremely competitive. I think it’s a great showcase of the Ford Racing product that's on the vehicles."