In a matter of minutes, the ‘starting line’ was cleared. I was in the left lane with the TTA; Cy in the white Shelby GT to my right.
When the Shelby GT came out right after Ford introduced the retro GT-H Hertz car, I didn’t really care for it much. It seemed more like another one of Ford’s appearance package but as I got a chance to look at the car, I realized that in all reality, the Shelby GT was truly more of an actual “Shelby” mustang than the GT-500 monster is.
The GT-500 is built alongside the Mustang GT and V6 models whereas the Shelby GT’s are actually tweaked at Ol’ Shel’s corral out in Las Vegas. He takes a Mustang GT, adds Ford’s Power Pack and Handling Pack, and then puts his touches on it which include stripes, lettering, and so forth. While the GT-H is only available with an auto, the GT can be had with a 5 speed which will then come with a Hurst short throw shifter. Cy’s Shelby had the 5 speed.
There aren’t any fog lights on the Shelby GT and no rear spoiler so it has a clean, sort of a ’67 Shelby GT-350-ish look about it. While watching Cy stage the GT, I did have to admit that the car looked nice.
Not threatening; just nice…
But – its attitude was all business. The 4.6 mod motor V8 had a very healthy, robust tone to it. Menacing almost…I could hear it loudly over the hissing note the TTA was emitting while I warmed the DR’s.
I also had noticed that the Shelby had wider than stock rears on it with drag radials as well. As the tires hooked on the Mustang, it lurched ahead and glided on up to the spray painted “START” letters that were bracketed by a wide Green stripe. Meanwhile, money was being wagered and bench racing could be heard as well….
I wondered where Brandon, Stacy and Kelly were but then I saw them over to my left as I let off the brake and let the tires bite with a high pitched screeching sound.
I nudged the TTA up to the line as well. A tall, willowy brunette walked out to stand between us, holding a white scarf in her hands. Looking down the strip, I could see the lights from all the cars flooding the pavement. They were angled away from the direction of travel so headlight glare wasn’t a worry.
A HUGE crowd was standing near both the TTA as well as the Shelby. To be honest, more people were by the Poncho, most likely out of curiosity. I just happened to notice that just ahead and to the side of Cy were his ‘boys’, each of them standing there in the strange light, arms crossed and looking serious, way more serious than you might think a spectator would have at a street race.
It was then that I noticed a guy in a dark trench coat standing to the right of Shawn. He appeared to have just pushed his way to the front of the crowd and in the light I couldn’t tell who it was at first. But a flash of light from a car somewhere behind us happened to strike his face and in a flash, I recognized him –
It was Bill Reynolds – or his identical twin. Immediately, a cold chill swept over me. Was he really alive after all????!!!
But I had no time to give it any thought. No sooner had I pulled the nose of the Trans Am up to the line did the starter girl point at me with an “Are you ready?” look on her face?
I nodded yes as I was already building boost with the foot brake pressed to the floor. 2psi… 3psi… 5psi…
She had pointed to Cy and must have gotten the “Go” from him because she immediately raised the white scarf in the air. As she did so, I could see her shirt pull up above her waist, revealing a tan abdomen, low cut jeans and a silver belly ring in her navel. I had to re-focus – I was definitely getting distracted…
7psi… 8psi… The V6 was pushing hard against the brakes…
I could hear the V8 being held at a steady RPM that sounded somewhere north of 4 grand…. The exhaust was roaring at this point…
The crowd was leaning in… almost to the point of being up against the cars… I thought to myself that if either Cy or I slide sideways it will be a miracle if no one gets crushed…
The white scarf was gently swaying in the breeze… held high by a gorgeous girl’s lovely arm….
I wondered how much of this Jim and his gang had heard… were they nearby? Were they already on the grounds? I had no idea…
Then… time seemed to slow down… it was as if I saw the girl’s arm begin to just move and I sidestepped the brake pedal…. As did Cy on the clutch…
We both launched HARD and I could only pray that the girl was out of the way… thankfully, we launched straight.
While I had it fairly easy in the TTA with letting the auto do the shifting, I had noticed that the boost was somewhere between 10 and 11 psi at launch… the DR’s protested only slightly but they held solidly and it looked almost like the Shelby and the TTA were welded together, so perfectly in synch was the drop….
The V6 was screaming now… but even though it was only a few feet in front of me and separated by a well-silenced firewall, the Shelby seemed to take on an unbelievable exhaust note… but I then remembered that it had nitrous so it was definitely in it’s power curve sounding for all the world like it had to be well over six grand on rpms…
I heard Cy grabbing gears - and he was good…. Damn good… he power shifted and never lifted…. The Shelby was screaming and by the time the TTA was well into second with the tarmac streaking by beneath us I began to have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach…. The TTA was slowly drifting back and it appeared that the Shelby was ever-so-slightly pulling away…
As the Pontiac hit the top of second gear, I knew CY was already into third, still inch-by-inch pulling on the TTA… I could only keep the accelerator matted as I watched helplessly as the Shelby was now almost a fender ahead of the slope-nosed Firebird…
But I also knew that the TTA could pull like a Norfolk & Western freight train in third gear and that was all I could rely upon… hoping that Cy might miss a shift was also in the back of my mind…
Yet, I doubted that he would.
To his credit, he didn’t…
At a little past midpoint, the TTA hit third gear and now it was on for sure…
Just after the Poncho went into third, I heard Cy grab 4th… it was all over now except for the ride…. If nothing failed, this was going to be one hell of a race.
The TTA was not stock… not by a long shot. But it wasn’t built full-race either. It had all the necessary bolt-ons and computer mods. Adjustable fuel pressure regulator, bigger injectors, adjustable boost, low-restriction exhaust, etc… I knew this car should be deep into the 12’s and maybe even high-high 11’s as it sat.
But – so was the Shelby. It was a really good match up on paper….
As we neared the 1000 foot mark, the TTA began to reel the GT in… I just did not know if I had enough track left…
Quickly, I realized that it might NOT be enough track to do it!
The speedo was already hitting 100mph and rising…
The Shelby felt like it was still slightly ahead… but I could not be sure, I had to focus on the track and make sure I kept control….
We had to be even… I just KNEW it… we HAD to be… it was going to be a photo finish I remember thinking…
But then…
I felt like the GT was again beginning to pull me with less than 50 yards to go…
I pushed even harder on the pedal… but it did no good…
The cars we passed were flying by… people were all around, a lot of them at the finish with camcorders… I could see tiny red LED’s in the darkness as people filmed the finish…
There cameras would show clearly the result of the race….
There was no denying it…
I lost. By less than the nose of the Mustang – I lost.
And I knew it when we crossed the line because I looked over and could see the mirror on Cy’s door was out of view by the A-pillar on the F-body.
Lost….
Deep in the depths of my soul I hated it. I hated myself and I hated losing. I have NEVER been willing to just accept a loss like this.
Especially this one - the one that I wanted to win so badly…
But also the one that Kelly and I hoped would happen….
Why? Because once in a great while…. to be a predator –
you have to be willing to be the prey….
To be continued…
When the Shelby GT came out right after Ford introduced the retro GT-H Hertz car, I didn’t really care for it much. It seemed more like another one of Ford’s appearance package but as I got a chance to look at the car, I realized that in all reality, the Shelby GT was truly more of an actual “Shelby” mustang than the GT-500 monster is.
The GT-500 is built alongside the Mustang GT and V6 models whereas the Shelby GT’s are actually tweaked at Ol’ Shel’s corral out in Las Vegas. He takes a Mustang GT, adds Ford’s Power Pack and Handling Pack, and then puts his touches on it which include stripes, lettering, and so forth. While the GT-H is only available with an auto, the GT can be had with a 5 speed which will then come with a Hurst short throw shifter. Cy’s Shelby had the 5 speed.
There aren’t any fog lights on the Shelby GT and no rear spoiler so it has a clean, sort of a ’67 Shelby GT-350-ish look about it. While watching Cy stage the GT, I did have to admit that the car looked nice.
Not threatening; just nice…
But – its attitude was all business. The 4.6 mod motor V8 had a very healthy, robust tone to it. Menacing almost…I could hear it loudly over the hissing note the TTA was emitting while I warmed the DR’s.
I also had noticed that the Shelby had wider than stock rears on it with drag radials as well. As the tires hooked on the Mustang, it lurched ahead and glided on up to the spray painted “START” letters that were bracketed by a wide Green stripe. Meanwhile, money was being wagered and bench racing could be heard as well….
I wondered where Brandon, Stacy and Kelly were but then I saw them over to my left as I let off the brake and let the tires bite with a high pitched screeching sound.
I nudged the TTA up to the line as well. A tall, willowy brunette walked out to stand between us, holding a white scarf in her hands. Looking down the strip, I could see the lights from all the cars flooding the pavement. They were angled away from the direction of travel so headlight glare wasn’t a worry.
A HUGE crowd was standing near both the TTA as well as the Shelby. To be honest, more people were by the Poncho, most likely out of curiosity. I just happened to notice that just ahead and to the side of Cy were his ‘boys’, each of them standing there in the strange light, arms crossed and looking serious, way more serious than you might think a spectator would have at a street race.
It was then that I noticed a guy in a dark trench coat standing to the right of Shawn. He appeared to have just pushed his way to the front of the crowd and in the light I couldn’t tell who it was at first. But a flash of light from a car somewhere behind us happened to strike his face and in a flash, I recognized him –
It was Bill Reynolds – or his identical twin. Immediately, a cold chill swept over me. Was he really alive after all????!!!
But I had no time to give it any thought. No sooner had I pulled the nose of the Trans Am up to the line did the starter girl point at me with an “Are you ready?” look on her face?
I nodded yes as I was already building boost with the foot brake pressed to the floor. 2psi… 3psi… 5psi…
She had pointed to Cy and must have gotten the “Go” from him because she immediately raised the white scarf in the air. As she did so, I could see her shirt pull up above her waist, revealing a tan abdomen, low cut jeans and a silver belly ring in her navel. I had to re-focus – I was definitely getting distracted…
7psi… 8psi… The V6 was pushing hard against the brakes…
I could hear the V8 being held at a steady RPM that sounded somewhere north of 4 grand…. The exhaust was roaring at this point…
The crowd was leaning in… almost to the point of being up against the cars… I thought to myself that if either Cy or I slide sideways it will be a miracle if no one gets crushed…
The white scarf was gently swaying in the breeze… held high by a gorgeous girl’s lovely arm….
I wondered how much of this Jim and his gang had heard… were they nearby? Were they already on the grounds? I had no idea…
Then… time seemed to slow down… it was as if I saw the girl’s arm begin to just move and I sidestepped the brake pedal…. As did Cy on the clutch…
We both launched HARD and I could only pray that the girl was out of the way… thankfully, we launched straight.
While I had it fairly easy in the TTA with letting the auto do the shifting, I had noticed that the boost was somewhere between 10 and 11 psi at launch… the DR’s protested only slightly but they held solidly and it looked almost like the Shelby and the TTA were welded together, so perfectly in synch was the drop….
The V6 was screaming now… but even though it was only a few feet in front of me and separated by a well-silenced firewall, the Shelby seemed to take on an unbelievable exhaust note… but I then remembered that it had nitrous so it was definitely in it’s power curve sounding for all the world like it had to be well over six grand on rpms…
I heard Cy grabbing gears - and he was good…. Damn good… he power shifted and never lifted…. The Shelby was screaming and by the time the TTA was well into second with the tarmac streaking by beneath us I began to have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach…. The TTA was slowly drifting back and it appeared that the Shelby was ever-so-slightly pulling away…
As the Pontiac hit the top of second gear, I knew CY was already into third, still inch-by-inch pulling on the TTA… I could only keep the accelerator matted as I watched helplessly as the Shelby was now almost a fender ahead of the slope-nosed Firebird…
But I also knew that the TTA could pull like a Norfolk & Western freight train in third gear and that was all I could rely upon… hoping that Cy might miss a shift was also in the back of my mind…
Yet, I doubted that he would.
To his credit, he didn’t…
At a little past midpoint, the TTA hit third gear and now it was on for sure…
Just after the Poncho went into third, I heard Cy grab 4th… it was all over now except for the ride…. If nothing failed, this was going to be one hell of a race.
The TTA was not stock… not by a long shot. But it wasn’t built full-race either. It had all the necessary bolt-ons and computer mods. Adjustable fuel pressure regulator, bigger injectors, adjustable boost, low-restriction exhaust, etc… I knew this car should be deep into the 12’s and maybe even high-high 11’s as it sat.
But – so was the Shelby. It was a really good match up on paper….
As we neared the 1000 foot mark, the TTA began to reel the GT in… I just did not know if I had enough track left…
Quickly, I realized that it might NOT be enough track to do it!
The speedo was already hitting 100mph and rising…
The Shelby felt like it was still slightly ahead… but I could not be sure, I had to focus on the track and make sure I kept control….
We had to be even… I just KNEW it… we HAD to be… it was going to be a photo finish I remember thinking…
But then…
I felt like the GT was again beginning to pull me with less than 50 yards to go…
I pushed even harder on the pedal… but it did no good…
The cars we passed were flying by… people were all around, a lot of them at the finish with camcorders… I could see tiny red LED’s in the darkness as people filmed the finish…
There cameras would show clearly the result of the race….
There was no denying it…
I lost. By less than the nose of the Mustang – I lost.
And I knew it when we crossed the line because I looked over and could see the mirror on Cy’s door was out of view by the A-pillar on the F-body.
Lost….
Deep in the depths of my soul I hated it. I hated myself and I hated losing. I have NEVER been willing to just accept a loss like this.
Especially this one - the one that I wanted to win so badly…
But also the one that Kelly and I hoped would happen….
Why? Because once in a great while…. to be a predator –
you have to be willing to be the prey….
To be continued…
Although I don't believe the TTA would lose.
