Steve Mautsek had Larsen Race Cars build him a beautiful 2007 Mustang GT 500 last year to race in the NMRA Pro 5.0 class, NMCA Pro Street and NHRA Comp Eliminator. The car was fast out of the gate and he was successful with the mod motor powered Mustang. This year the NMRA eliminated the Pro 5.0 class and went to an Outlaw 10.5w class so Steve decided to add the World Street Challenge to his schedule since it was between NHRA races.
On the one good pass he was able to make, the car went 6.49 at 221 to put him eleventh on the qualifying ladder. Steve went into qualifying on Saturday trying to improve on that position. After another pass of 220 mph there was some trouble with the chutes. They haven't figured out exactly what happened to the chutes, but they did not pop out and help slow the car down like normal. Steve did what he could to slow the car down before it went barreling through the sand trap, busting through the retaining fence, and hitting the hay bales pretty hard.
Matusek was in good spirits after the incident but was a little sore and disappointed the car was tore up. They headed home with the car Sunday afternoon. The Aeromotive crew had the car apart and over to
Larsen Race Cars Monday evening. As of Thursday evening the guys at Larsen Race Cars had everything fixed on the car other then mounting the fuel and water cells, mounting the windshield, doors and front end. They also reconfigured the chutes to rid any possible problems. Larry said they would have that finished up by noon on Saturday other then mounting the front end.
They have a truck on the way to Florida to pick up a new front end for the car on Saturday. I was pretty amazed to hear the Mustang will be back out at the
NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kansas. This is the home track for the
Aeromotive crew. We hope their hard work and dedication pay off with a win!