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Local Mustangs run to Thompson Raceway Park
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As much as I would love to cover local drag racing, the lack of a track in the Detroit area sends me to track such as Lapeer, Milan, and Norwalk (Ohio). A few years ago I was invited by MustangCollective.com to come out and participate in their 1st “Buckeye Brawl”, held in Norwalk, Ohio. The people who run the site and the members were all very friendly and even with some foul weather that year, but I had a great time. This year was the 3rd Annual Brawl, and while I wasn’t able to make it, several Michigan-based Mustangs traveled to Thompson Raceway Park in Thompson, Ohio and had a great showing against other Mustangs from around the country.
The Event offered the following classes:
• Collective Long Haul: Special prize to club member that drives the longest distance to the event
• Superhuman Reflexes: Open to all cars, best Reaction Time wins
• Collective Turtle Award: Fastest stock car –Aftermarket Mufflers Allowed
• 4.0 Bolt On Madness: NA cars only - fastest bolt on 4.0 V6 car
• 4.0 Top Dog: Open to all 4.0 cars - fastest 4.0 V6 car
• V8 Bolt on Madness: Fastest V8 bolt on car
• V8 Top Dog: Fastest V8 car
People came from around the country with 11 states represented at “BB3”, but Jeremy Conaway drove his Mustang over 800 miles, coming from Alabama to compete in the event. His car ran in the low 13 second quarter mile range, and his lengthy drive got him the Collective Long Haul award.
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One of the key factors in winning a drag race is your reaction time, and for the second year in a row, Adam Boyd (above) won the Superhuman Reflexes award for posting the best reaction time of the day. The reigning champ in this category, Adam was able to pull an awesome 0.0001 reaction time, eclipsing Ron Martin’s 0.008.
While most of the cars that compete in MustangCollective’s Buckeye Brawl are pretty heavily modified, there are a handful each year that show up in stock form. This year, the fastest stock Mustang was a V6 Pony Package driven by Ralph Allison who drove his car from Virginia to run a best time of 15.25 @ 90 miles per hour.
V6 Performance
Next, there were two classes to feature Ford’s newer 4.0 V6; one for cars with simple bolt on modifications and one for the Top Dog V6 with cars featuring a power adder like forced induction or nitrous oxide. Six cylinder Mustangs are sometimes looked down upon, but this impressive group of cars shows how much these smaller engines are capable of. In the bolt-on class, Michigan resident Jim Carolan (above) turned in the best time of 14.50 @ 97.54mph, which is excellent for a lightly modded “base model” on the heavier convertible chassis.
Bob Schaeffer took the V6 Top Dog class in his turbocharged automatic V6 Mustang. The fastest V6 model in attendance for the Brawl, Bob ran an impressive 12.50 @ 111mph, and with a trap speed like that Bob is very capable of seeing the 11 second range.
V8 Performance
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Last but not least, it was on to the V8 Mustangs. Like the V6 classes, there is a bolt-on V8 class and the Tog Dog V8 for forced induction cars. The bolt on class was taken by Michigander Bill Barnes in his Silver Mach 1, fending off a handful of competitors, running a best time of 12.55 @ 108.42. The Top Dog V8 class was a healthy one, with several cars in the 11 second range and one bright yellow Mustang running an 11.11, but another Michigan based Mustang took the prize. Lance Pacana pulled his Mustang onto the track, powered by a new GT500 motor fed by a 76mm turbocharger, and ripped off an amazing 10.43 @ 134.47 miles per hour in his street driven Mustang.
The event was a great time for everyone, with many drivers turning in new best times in their respective vehicles, and Thompson Raceway Park doing their best to make the track perfect after the early weather. Powerhouse and CHE Performance both had representatives on site, and rather than pushing their products, they helped people there with setups and dialing in their cars, using their years of experience to help the racers improve their times and plan future modifications. I would guess that from the results of this event, there will sure be a Buckeye Brawl 4, and hopefully our Michigan locals will represent the state well at next year’s event!
A special thanks to Todd from MustangCollective for providing all of the information about the event and to CF Photography for the use of their great images.
Here are a few videos from the event, brought to us by Jennifer Wolfe of MustangCollective:
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