After driving her Fox body Mustang on the street for some time, Joy Neuenschwander took it to the strip and sailed to a win in NMCA Gear Vendors True Street in 2012. But by 2016, she had replaced her pushrod powerplant with a crate Coyote engine and went from the 13s to 10s while rowing the gears of her Tremec TKO 500 in NMCA MagnaFuel Open Comp at various tracks.
She also advanced to the quarterfinals in Fun Ford Reloaded’s Street Ford at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, but all the while, she had her sights set on NMRA Richmond Gear Factory Stock. Now, she’ll give the competitive class a go at the 14th Annual NMRA Ford Super Nationals, June 8-11 at National Trail Raceway in Ohio.
I get an adrenaline rush just watching the cars in Factory Stock, and I know it will be an even bigger adrenaline rush when I’m actually running with them. – Joy Neuenschwander
Meanwhile, her 16-year-old son, Dylan Neuenschwander, who has been driving a junior-dragster — and a clutch-operated four-wheeler ATV — for a few years, will climb into his recently acquired 2006 Mustang GT for Roush Performance Super Stang at the event.
In the car, which features a stock 4.6L engine and manual transmission, 4:30 gearing and an off-road H-pipe, he hopes to run 13s.
“I’m a little nervous because it will be my first time racing a door car, but I’m also very excited,” said Dylan. “I think racing in a door car will be just as exciting as watching my dad race.”
The “dad” he speaks of is none other than longtime NMCA Boninfante Racing NA 10.5 driver Chad Neuenschwander, who was having a successful 2016 season which included a win in Fun Ford Reloaded’s Frantic Four at Summit Motorsports Park and a personal best of 8.09, but saw it come to an early end when he wrecked his Fox body Mustang last August.
“Even though the car was very damaged, and a lot of people thought I should get rid of it, I decided I wanted to rebuild it because I’d had it for 25 years,” said Chad.
He began by cutting everything off the front of the car at the firewall, with the exception of the factory mounting points for the K-member, and fabricated a tubular front end. He also replaced his stock-style rear suspension with a PA Racing fabricated 9-inch, wishbone and ladderbar set-up, which is a departure for the driver who had been running stock-style rear suspension.
Jay Nelson helped rebuild much of the car’s cage, and Scott Waters fabricated new fender-exit headers.
A new carbon fiber one-piece nose and hood by Schoneck Composites, carbon fiber doors by Motor City Solutions and rear quarter panels from a donor car now adorn the car, which Nelson is in the process of painting.
Cory Roth is freshening the car’s 400 cubic-inch engine, and Chad, who has teased he’s not even sure he would know how to drive a race car with an automatic transmission, will continue to use his G-Force GF-2000 five-speed transmission.
“It will be nice to watch Joy and Dylan race, but I’m good and ready to get back to racing, and should be within a few months,” said Chad. “Once all three of us are racing, it will be a great season.”
Catch the Neuenschwanders and all of the other drivers in the NMRA series at the 14th Annual NMRA Ford Super Nationals, June 8-11 at National Trail Raceway in Ohio, or via the SpeedVideo live feed right here. The broadcast is brought to you by E3 Spark Plugs, Scat Crankshafts, PRW Industries, Flex-a-lite, Hellion Turbo Systems, QuickJack, U.S. Gear, Covercraft and TBM Brakes.