I just turned in my final installment of "From the sidelines to the starting line" for Mustang Enthusiast.  With that our ME work with the famous #05 Steeda Cobra R race car has been concluded.  I am grateful to Editor Larry Jewett for giving me that project and all the pages we filled in 12 issues.

I learned to race.  Earned a license in both SCCA and NASA.  We won an enduro at the SCCA's prestigious ARRC race at Road Atlanta with co driver Dwight Kelly and then won a sprint race in NASA American Iron Extreme this summer also at Road Atlanta.

We also banged up the car a little and spent a lot of money.  It was an enlightening experience.  In the fall of 2006 I found the Steeda Cobra R racer on the Norcal-SAAC website in the for sale classifieds(I have my 1969 Boss 302 Mustang listed for sale there myself right now).  By October the car was in my garage and planning was underway for my racing adventure.

Our car had seen a 2nd place finish at Daytona in 1996 and disaster a couple of months later at Road Atlanta.  At Daytona in its first race owner Joe Sulentic and Formula 1 driver Alex Caffe scored a second place finish in the IMSA Grand Sport season opener at Daytona.  This is the professional racing series now known as Grand AM Koni Challenge. The team car was driven by cult hero Boris Said and Caffe's daring pass at the backstretch bus stop on the next to last lap gained the '95 Cobra R and Ford's top finish of the day. 

Caffe is the first F1 driver to race a Mustang since Dan Gurney drove a Boss 302 in the 1969 Trans Am series.

At Road Atlanta it rained and took out dozens of cars in one moment of downpour.  One of the unlucky was the #05 Cobra R.  It lost its nose and its tail in that mess.  We managed to dent and scratch the car, but so far have not done as much damage as what happened that nasty day in Atlanta.

After getting a competition license we raced our Cobra R at Roebling Road in Savannah, Ga, Virginia International Raceway, Road Atlanta and enjoyed a track day at historic Sebring International Raceway.  We also tried out hand at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

We got technical advice from Steve Chicasola, Frank Stoddard and Dario Orlando at Steeda.  They knew the car like the creators they were and were always available for a phone call to answer a question.

 We were pleasantly surprised to find that the car was competitive from the start even without an upgrades since 1998.  A testament to the quality of Steeda performance gear.  Even with a rookie and a novice in the driver's seat the Cobra R was always at least middle of the pack. It was often far better.  It has been good for three trophies in about a year and a half of racing.

We scored a class win and a second place overall at Road Atlanta in the ARRC Enduro.  We lost to a team that had enough money to spend on racing that their golf carts were color coordinated to their race cars.

In September at Roebling Road we finished 3rd in a NASA American Iron race. We were running second late in the race with a car in another class spun the Cobra R and we had to settle for 3rd.

We scored a 2nd with NASA when we returned to Roebling Road in May 2008.

In August we won our first race in NASA with a 1st place in AI/X.  The series director Ed McGuire was comfortably leading the race after I spun about half way thru, but finishing strong pays off even after a mistake sometimes.  Ed broke a clutch gable and was trying to finish the race stuck in 4th gear when we caught and passed him on the last lap for the win.

The car was ugly that day.  We tried blue numbers on the hood and a red Steeda bumper banner.  It didn't turnour like we wanted and when a practice mishap forced us to tape up the turn signal bay, the car just looked ratty.  But a win is a win...eh?  I will savor the cold beverages served in that beer mug NASA trophy, ugly car or not.

 The Cobra R will be entered again in the American Road Race of Champions at Road Atlanta in November, 2008.  It can be seen again at Barber Motorsports Park in April, 2009 to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the Mustang.  Come look for us.  We would love to meet you.  As always you can email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it