ARTICLE REPOSTED FROM DRAGZINE.com by Andrew Wolf
One of the most popular feature cars we’ve ever published, Pro Modified racer Mike Knowles’ stunning “Mob Edition” 1967 Ford Mustang, is finally set to make its debut nearly two years after its completion and exclusive unveiling right here on Dragzine at next weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals in Florida. It will be the first foray into official competition for the car crafted by Tim McAmis Race Cars in Missouri that has custom features inside and out that place it squarely among the most spectacular drag racing machines in history.
At the time the Mustang was completed, Knowles, from Grand Junction, Colorado, was refining an engine and torque converter combination in his 1968 Camaro and opted to forge on with the car his team was familiar with while working to achieve consistency with the new setup. Once there, the engine and driveline package could be transferred over to the Mustang.
Knowles closed out the 2013 season with the tried-and-true Camaro, but life’s demands away from the track — his growing business and his two young sons’ involvement in school sports — limited his time not only to test a new car, but made competing on the full NHRA Pro Modified tour a challenge. By the 2014 season opener, the Mustang still hadn’t seen any time on the track, and going by the old mantra, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, Knowles made the decision to stick with the Camaro for the 2014 campaign.
After months of planning, the Mustang was sent down a race track for the first time following the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis last fall, with shakedown runs to check out all of the electronics, the fuel system, ignition, and ensure all of the other systems and components on the car are in working order. Unfortunately, Knowles was unable to get more than a short hit out of the car during that session and hasn’t run it since, but decided during the long winter — one that kept him busy at the office and saw his company, Knowles Transportation, collect Grand Junction’s “Large Business of the Year” award — that one way or another, the Mustang would make its long-awaited debut this season.
The “Mob Edition” Blown Money Racing Mustang, which can you read about in detail in our original feature, carries a Mob-style theme throughout, with airbrushed portraits of famed mafia members and even real $100 bills on the cars exterior, while the interior features such touches as a knife-like parachute lever, a shifter made to look like a Tommy gun, and fire bottles painted like dynamite. The car is a head-turner down to the last detail, and in some respects, is almost too immaculate to race. But Knowles, who has always gone above and beyond in the appearance department — from his race cars to the transporter he hauls them in — wouldn’t have it any other way.
Knowles and company are in Florida to test the car this week before heading to Gainesville, where they’ll take on 25 of the baddest legal Pro Mod cars in the country to kick off the 2015 season.
Share On
