Without any shadow of a doubt, the quickest street-legal, production Ford Mustang ever to roll from a showroom floor is the 2020-present Ford Mustang Shelby® GT500®. It packs a 760-horsepower punch, with wicked torque from the 5.2L supercharged V8. It pulls hard from idle to 7,500 rpm and can propel the 4,000-plus pound Pony car down the quarter-mile in under 10-seconds at over 130 mph in stock trim! And it does it with a TREMEC TR-9070 DCT 7-speed transmission making the gear shifts in as little as 80 milliseconds.
Recently, GT500 owners had the chance to compete on the 1,320 at the NMRA Ford Performance Nationals, where TREMEC sponsored the GT500 Shootout just for these Mustangs.
Dalton Winkler, who has achieved times in the 8-second range with his modified Evolution Performance 2020 GT500 named “Villain,” wasted little time in qualifying. He nabbed the top spot, running an 9.411 e.t at 149.38 mph. He was followed closely by Gary Muder (9.50 at 151 mph), Pedro Porto (9.54 at 149 mph) and Ron Martin (10.90 at 134 mph).
While Winkler had the fastest qualifying time, anything can happen on the track, and in this case, it did. It was upset city, as Winkler had issues in Round 1. He could only muster a 13.27 e.t. coasting across the finish line. His slip-up allowed Pedro Porto to get the win with a 9.75 e.t. at 125 mph. Meanwhile, number two qualifier, Gary Murder, also fell off his qualifying pace, running an 11.91 e.t., which let Ron Martin get the win with a 10.93 e.t.
Shockingly, the number 3 and 4 qualifiers, Porto and Martin, met in the finals. In the final eliminations, Porto clocked a quick 9.982 e.t. at 131.06 mph blast in his 2021 GT500 to top Martin’s 10.98 at 129 mph effort.
“It was incredible to win this race,” said Porto, a Brazilian, who now lives in New Hampshire. “It was awesome for TREMEC to put on the event and it was amazing racing in an NMRA national meet. I didn’t know what to expect, because I only have a few modifications done to my GT500. I have a ported Eaton blower, headers and I run E85 for fuel. Sam Lippencott of Coastal Dyno in Tampa, Florida did the tuning, and it runs great. I appreciate everyone involved and can’t wait to make my car faster and come back for another TREMEC GT500 shootout!”
Everyone who qualified for this first GT500 Shootout received a special shirt featuring an embroidered Cobra on back, TREMEC logo on front and Norwalk on sleeve. The total purse for the TREMEC GT500 Shootout was an impressive $4,900 thanks to cash and prizes from many manufacturers—led by TREMEC Transmissions—and even participants in the quarter final received a payout. The winner walked away with $750 as well as a $1,000 product certificate from Ford Performance, $500 product certificate from Holley, $200 gift card from TREMEC for use on its online store, $300 from HP Tuners and a pair of Mickey Thompson tires! The runner-up scored $500, while both semifinalists pocketed $250 and the quarterfinalists got $100 each.
