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I ran back in mid 70's. I drove My 68 Mustang Coupe with one of 2 of the last 289 HP blocks made before Gapp and Rousch left Ford. I paid $500 for the block which is like $5000 now.
I was working in the warehouse and going to school and they got to hearing about Me pink slipping over in Olathe, Kansas. It is how I paid for colleg etc. I never lost a race. Anyway they heard and called me in the office and I thought I was in trouble but, to My surprise they had been out on a few Weds. night grudge race night. You just get in a line and hand the guy .25 and run whoever You lined up with. You ran till later they let you get with people as the slower guys got weeded out. I was beating everyone so all the Mustangs started lining up where they could get a shot. I had gone to watch and did not uncap My headers or put on my Mickey wrinkle walls. I had them in the trunk. It was for fun so I was not going through the trouble. I got through everyone and there was a camaro that came in on a trailer 454 with a blower. He came up last and asked to run. We lined up, he was so loud i could not hear My engine so i just hooked up the line lock at redline and let it go. i ran a Mr. Gasket inline shifter. the kind where you did not shift really you just clicked it up for the next gear and click it down to shift down. no skipping gears. it was a pain on the street. it had a T handle You lifted up to get into reverse. Well the way i raced i never used clutch anyway except at line and when the gas pedal hit the floor it stayed and never came up. Well to learn to not have to change syncro's so much I just learned to shift it fast enough without clutch which saved time and kept drive train hooked up all the time. Anyway I got Him so far off the line I beat him but, He was gaining the whole time. i beat Him by 1/3 of car length if that much on a 1/8 mile track. if it had been a 1/4 mile He would have got me for sure.

Keystone was there and came and asked what i was running and how I was setup so they asked would i run My car for them and sponsor me. They took Me as far off as Beeline Dragway in Phoenix, AZ. had allot of fun. Just a kid did not know what I was doing really. Just had the nack for building a good motor and tranny match. I was running 289HP ported, balanced, blueprinted and polished. Heads had oversize chevy valves. Tunnel Ram with 2-700 Holley double pumpers. Bullet proof T-10 top loader tranny. It was always My favorite as it was so easy to tear down and go back together. I could do it at the track easily if need be. i ran roller cam and rockers by Crane Cam what ever Keystone carried. But, as i mentioned You are lucky if you ever get one or two engines where everything just goes right now matter what. That is the way it was with the Mustang coupe. No matter what i changed on it the motor would just run. I tried Automatic for a little while and Keystone told me to go back to T-10. they said I was the only kid they had seen that could shift faster than an automatic. the only other guy that told me that was an older guy here in Arkansas that taught me to build the T-10's. he told me it would be a mistake if I ever shifted anything else. I ran 4.56 detroit lockers, safey blanket over flywheel and tranny. had engine chained down as We could not keep motor mounts in it. The oddest thing is that i worked for My grand Dad on the farm off and on in Arkansas and I could not keep clutches in stang for anything. We were working on, the Iron Horse is the name We gave it, out in the shed and I had the pilot shaft in my had walking back from cleaning it up and We had taken down a John Deere 4020 earlier in the day to put a clutch in it. I looked and did a double take and the JD clutch measured around 10" just like the stang been awhile kind of hard to remember but, the were the same. I yelled at the guys and thinking no way there could be a chance the splines were the same and I walked up and stuck the pilot shaft in the clutch and no more clutch problems from that day on. funny how You just luck onto things. anyway i told keystone about all this stuff and of course more like Accel dual point distributor, coil, etc.
Headers well you know what all goes on. But, I got the priveledge of running it for keystone for a few seasons and them paying the bills in modified stock as i drove it to class every day. When i would go through sonic on the concrete i let it idle through and on each lob it chirped the tires. it was funny to watch peoples faces.
Well it was along time ago but, good memories. would have kept the care but, got married and thougth the car was not important anymore. Boy was that a mistake letting the car get away. Had several chances for a few years to get it back but did not have the money. Friends ask why I do not go out and buy another and my response is when you had that one ride that was that perfect, everything else as far as mustang would never be quite right so i never tried to replace it.
Oh and I did get to run as the back up driver to rail driver. I did not get to drive it in a race but, got to practice. man if You have never let one of those babies go down the track at 230 and 250 MPH it is something You cannot imagne. Just the tinest flick of the steering wheel and You were off across the guard rails if you did not disentegrate first on contact. When they were first letting me try and drive i did not worry much with the speed and shifting as it usually was just 2 levers or gears. they would have Me hold the steering wheel in My hands and between My knees at just Oh say coast so i could see how much a twitch of the wheel meant in feet to the front end car. It did not take but, once to see that if You had an itch leave it alone cause You would die scratching it.
Well brought back allot of good memories. I really made a mistake I guess by not pursueing the life of a driver. I was suited for it and loved but, young and thought the woman was worth more than any of that stuff. Do not know if it was or not it just turned out the way it turned out. so you go with the flow.
TAZ