When a racer goes into competition with a new, fairly unproven setup, it doesn’t make for the best odds of winning. There’s no telling whether the horsepower will mesh with the suspension or track conditions, or what the optimal launch rpm is, the best tire pressure or the litany of other fine-tuning tweaks needed. But in racing there’s also a certain amount of luck involved to take out the competition. Or in this case, a silver bullet: the Steeda 2018 Ford Mustang GT driven by Scott Boda, better known as the Silver Bullet Mustang.
TREMEC was proud to sponsor the 2022 Modular True Street Class at the Mod Nats in South Georgia Motorsports Park November 11-14, 2021. The Modular True Street racing class which is for street-legal Ford vehicles, which represents the typical TREMEC transmission racer very well.
“Few racers would make this radical of a setup change before bringing a car to a competition,” explained Steeda’s Scott Boda. “The engine setup for the car was all-new, and we only had three passes on it before the Mod Nationals. Luckily, because we’re located in nearby Valdosta, Georgia, those three passes were on this very racetrack. We did the first chassis dyno pulls with the new combo on October 28, just two weeks before the race.”
Racing the Mustang
The track conditions weren’t the best for the race, but none too difficult to overcome. There was no real racing groove in either lane, but there was still traction to be found. If the car running in front spun the tires, that meant setting up to not run in their groove. Humidity was low and temperatures ranged from the mid 70s during the day to the 40s at night. “Our original goal was to get the car into the 9-second e.t. range,” Scott told us. “But seeing the superb air conditions and how the competition stacked up, we decided to go all out and try to put the car into the 8s.”
The Silver Bullet hooked in every pass, while other cars were fighting traction issues leading into the final competition. After the street cruise and cool-down, the competitors lined up for their first of three runs. The Silver Bullet fired off a clean 8.797 e.t. run that sent notice to the rest of the field and what would be Scott’s main competition for the 8-second and overall title Randy Thomas in his 8-second Mustang. Scott’s second pass was 8.829, while Randy ran 8.462. That meant everything would be riding on the final run, so Scott would have to lay down the best-ever pass. He went through the lights on pass three, and the board lit up with an 8.698 e.t. for a solid 8.775 average e.t. Randy had issues on his third run, so the Steeda Mustang was not just the 8-second class winner, but also claimed the big trophy for the overall victory.
You can read about all of the TREMEC Modular True Street class racing action in our article, 8-Second Action at 2021 Mod Nationals TREMEC Modular True Street Drag Race.