The Texas Invitational (TI) is loaded with some of the most insane high-horsepower street cars known to man. Labeled as the heavy hitters in the street car world, it isn’t out of the ordinary to learn of these cars making as much as 2,500-horsepower, and that’s to the wheels. Most guys would refrain from competing at such a level of racing unless they had a car of that magnitude themselves, but Duane Biddle from Dedicated Motorsports wasn’t intimidated one bit by the deep pockets of the competition.
Duane decided to walk into the field of high-horsepower exotics, Corvettes, GTRs and Vipers with his twin-turbocharged LS-swapped 1991 Fox Body Ford Mustang. Duane’s “Dragnfly” Fox Body is one of the most well-known grudge racing cars in the south. We were a little bit surprised to see his car while walking through the maze of super cars on hand at Caddo Mills Municipal Airport in Texas back in October. Duane is one of very few people to have ever entered a Fox Body Mustang into the competition and we had a chance to catch up with Duane after TI and ask him about his experience.
What were your thoughts as you were entering the Texas Invitational, especially considering most of the entries were 1,500-plus horsepower supercars?
As I was going into the event, I was a little nervous being it was my first time attending one. I knew that the other cars would have Motec and traction control devices to help them get down the airstrip. With my car there is no traction control, and it has a standard Holley HP ECU, so I had to make sure not to over-power the tires and I had to drive the car smart. I couldn’t just punch the gas and go like a lot of these other cars, which made it a challenge, but we overcame that pretty quick and I think a lot of people were surprised.
We know that you are a pretty hard core drag/grudge racer, how do you feel about the whole roll racing movement?
The whole roll racing thing is fun and I would do it again. But my passion is grudge racing any day of the week – plus it pays really good [laughs].
Knowing that everyone kind of saw you as an underdog in an LS-swapped Fox Body, what class did you enter and what were your expectations running against some of the top street cars in the nation?
I had entered the 175mph class thinking that’s about where my old brick of a car would be. My expectations were kind of high knowing the fact that I take my car out on the streets all the time and it’s proven. Most of the cars that entered barely see any actual street time like my car does and after watching a few of their runs I felt pretty good about stacking up against the field. I felt that my 5.3 based LS had a great chance to win, the car was running amazing in the Texas weather.
I got there feeling like the ugly duckling and people looking at me like I’m crazy. I took the car out for its first pass and made an easy hit at 166mph. When it came time for qualifying I gave it a little more and I trapped 174.98 that put me in the #2 spot with #1 being 175 mph on the dot. I felt like people had a little different outlook about the ‘Dragnfly’ after seeing it make a few passes and qualifying 2nd. Some of the people I talked to thought it was really cool I was out there, but I could tell quite a few people had some hurt feelings [laughs].
We were thrilled to see you qualify in the 2nd place spot in the 175mph class, representing for a different brand of street/race people, and we’re certain you turned some heads with your performance in Texas. What was your highest speed of the Texas Invitational and what was your most memorable moment?
I ended up breaking out in the semifinals after not having a good start and I had to hit the scramble boost to try and catch the GTR I was paired up against. I went a little too fast and trapped 182.48 and broke out of the 175 class.
I would have to say my most memorable moment was finding out that people were saying that I had tube chassis race car. A lot of people were surprised it was a proven street car and were in disbelief that it’s a factory suspension 1990 Ford Mustang.
We have to admit it was pretty wild to see a Fox Body on 275 drag radials roll racing on an airstrip. Can you tell us a little bit about how you had the car setup at TI?
The car’s setup has been the same for a while now. It has an aluminum 5.3 block, forged 383ci Texas Speed-built motor. It has PRC 227 CNC heads, Holley HP EFI system and an Aeromotive mechanical fuel pump and runs on E85. As far as power adders it has twin 76/83 billet BorgWarner turbochargers with a Boost Leash controller. We ran all that power through a PTC Powerglide transmission, 8.8 rear end with 3.55 gears on 275 drag radials. The car makes just north of 1,400-wheel horsepower.
We remember you telling us after the Texas Invitational you were going to switch things up a bit, what setup are you working on now for the future?
We are sticking with the same motor combo, but we decided to go with a new Gen 2 Precision 91mm Pro Mod single turbo with single Tial 50mm BOV and two Tial 44mm wastegates. Brad Harmer from Dedicated Motorsports built a custom 2,500hp intercooler just for the car. We put in a Lil’ John Motorsports custom grind cam and Brian Tooley valve springs. We are expecting a little more horsepower out of this combination, and we can’t wait to get it back on the streets and track so we can hurt some more feelings!
Check out the video below by 1320Video of Duane’s passes during the Texas Invitational!
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