Bowles Wins Milan Open Comp in Propane-Powered Mustang


Photos: NMCA Communications

Veteran drag racer, Donnie Bowles, reached another milestone at the 4th Annual JE Pistons NMCA Muscle Car Nationals last weekend in Milan. MI. Racing for the ROUSH Drag Team, Bowles took one of the team’s liquid propane-powered Mustangs to victory.

“It was very satisfying to get the first win for the ROUSH Powered by Propane Drag Team. My teammate Susan (Roush-McClenaghan) and I have both gone to final rounds this year, but haven’t quite been able to close the deal until this weekend at Milan. It required a total team effort, as we faced our share of challenges on Sunday.”

The weekend event started strongly when Bowles qualified on top of 36 Open Comp competitors, with a perfect 0.000 reaction time. Small issues would dog the team over the weekend, including an oil filter problem and a broken control arm. The latter was discovered just before the semi-final race, which – luckily – was a bye for Bowles.

“Fortunately, I was unopposed and with the help of Billy Gilsbach of Gilsbach Racecraft, we completed repairs just before the next round of racing,” Bowles explained.

He faced Adam Samfilippo in the finals and Bowles’ run of 10.580 at 121.00 mph was just 0.06-seconds higher than his breakout which captured the win by a scant 0.01-second. As a result, Bowles currently leads the Open Comp class standings.

Bowles’ 2005 ROUSH Stage 3 Mustang, along with the 2010 ROUSH Stage 3 Mustang of teammate Susan Roush-McClenaghan, sport fuel systems derived from commercial propane conversion kits sold by ROUSH Performance. Both cars run an all-aluminum 5.4L, V-8 originally designed for the Ford GT, with additional changes to run on liquid propane. These include CNC-ported cylinder heads, high performance camshafts and valvetrain, as well as a wet sump lubrication system. The V8s are said to deliver more than 700 hp.

“The liquid propane fuel injected engines performed flawlessly throughout the weekend and were the picture of consistency over a wide variety of changing weather conditions. Consistency and reliability are the keys to success in this form of racing and these liquid propane-powered engines continue to prove themselves,” Bowles explained following his win.

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