Jahanel's Mustang
1969 Mustang Race Car
Some cars are bought because somebody wants a project.
This one started when Jahanel was 14 years old and she and her dad dragged a 1969 Mustang out of the blackberry bushes.
The original plan was pretty simple: get the Mustang back together so she could drive it when she turned 16.
That plan didn't stay simple for long.
By the time she was 18, the car had received a 302 and five-lug suspension. Eventually the street car became a race car, and for the next 16 years the Mustang ran at Bremerton Raceway and Pacific Raceways, going through more than a few combinations of engines, transmissions and rear ends along the way.
Then it sat.
For about 15 years.
Eventually, it was time to see what the old Mustang still had.
The Family Connection
Jahanel's Mustang is part of a much bigger family racing history.
Drag racing has been part of the family for generations, and this car became Jahanel's own piece of that history. What started as a teenager's project eventually became a race car that spent years at the track.
That history is part of why the Mustang is still here.
It's not just a 1969 Mustang.
It's a car that has been part of the family for decades, and it's still not finished.
The Comeback
After roughly 15 years away from the track, the Mustang made its way back to the dragstrip.
The comeback hasn't been about immediately throwing every possible new part at it. The car had already proven that it could run, and the goal became figuring out what we actually had before changing everything.
The last couple of years have been spent running the Mustang at Woodburn Dragstrip.
The results have been pretty damn good.
The car started this chapter running a 14.99 in the quarter mile.
The current best is 12.74 @ 107 mph.
That's a hell of a comeback for a car that spent 15 years sitting.
The Car Today
The Mustang is still a relatively straightforward combination.
Engine
The current engine is built around a 1974 351 Windsor block with approximately 8.5:1 compression, AFR cylinder heads (paid link) and Edelbrock carb (paid link) and fuel pump (paid link).
The camshaft specifications are currently unknown.
There isn't a complicated story behind every component. Some things are simply what the car has ended up with after years of racing, changing combinations and getting it back on the track.
Transmission
The Mustang runs a rebuilt C4 automatic with a 3,000-rpm stall converter.
The valve body could use an upgrade, and that's on the list for 2027.
Rear End
Out back is the stock 1969 Mustang rear end, fitted with a Detroit Locker and 3.89 gears.
Current Performance
The current quarter-mile best is:
12.74 @ 107 mph
And just as important as the ET is the consistency.
That's something we're not interested in screwing up just because we can bolt more horsepower onto the car.
2027: Leave the Damn Thing Alone
The plan for the 2027 season is probably the least exciting thing we could do to a race car.
We're going to leave it alone.
The Mustang is running consistent as fuck right now.
So rather than spend the entire season changing things, chasing horsepower and wondering why the car suddenly doesn't do what it did last weekend, 2027 is going to be about racing the car.
The immediate needs are a set of ET Street tires and the valve body upgrade.
Beyond that, the priority is consistency.
The car has already shown that it can run 12s. Now we want to see what it can do when we stop trying to change it every five minutes.
What's Next
The long-term goal is still to get the Mustang into the 11.90s.
But that's not the 2027 project.
After the 2027 season, we'll start looking at what it will take to make the next step.
Potential changes include:
Holley carburetor
Possibly converting to fuel injection
A new camshaft
Increasing compression to approximately 10.5:1–11:1
A complete suspension rebuild
Other changes as we figure out what the car actually needs
The idea isn't to make a list of parts and start throwing them at the car.
We'll see what the car tells us.
That's part of racing.
The Stories
The Mustang has already had more than one chapter.
Drag Racing Since 1967 tells the larger family racing story and the history that this car is part of.
The Mustang Makes a Comeback: 15 Years Later, We're Back at the Dragstrip picks up the story when this particular Mustang finally returned to racing.
This page is the reference point for the car itself.
The stories are where we tell what happens when we actually take it racing.
BTB Racing
The Mustang is one piece of the racing side of Bigfoot Trails Basecamp.
There's a lot more to that story than one car. Racing has been part of the family for decades, and the Mustang is still adding chapters to it.
For now, the job is pretty simple:
Get the tires.
Get the valve body.
Go racing.
Keep the car consistent.
And see what happens.
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