CRAZY LIKE A FOX! - Alan Felts

As horsepower-loving gearheads devoted to going quicker and faster with every modification we make to our beloved rides, it is hard to deny that we live in a world where almost anything goes these days.

Engine brand swaps have arguably become more accepted in recent years, and the most popular among them; sliding an LS Chevy mill into a Fox Body Ford platform. Alan Felts, however, would have none of that for his winning low 4-second 1/8th-mile Mustang, instead, he probably spent a bit more time and money and stuck to his small block Ford. Is this guy crazy, you ask? Crazy like a fox, we say!

Flashback to the decade of the 1990s when so many great things were happening. The economy was good, one hit wonders were topping the charts, and of course, drag racing, and more specifically street car drags, were peaking in popularity. A young Alan Felts was just getting his fix in racing and although technically he started watching roundy round action, it didn’t take him long to notice drag racing, and he liked what he saw. “My dad

always had some pretty bad hot rods, and the itch grew bigger and bigger for me,” Felts explained. “Over the years my passion grew as I entered high school, by then I knew I wanted to drive fast.” After graduating high school, Alan had his sights on his future, attending WyoTech to become a diesel mechanic, and after paying his dues and gaining enough hands-on experience, he opened his owned business in February of 2006.

The Fox

The car was purchased for Alan by his parents Johnny and Tena when he was a tender 16 years of age. We all remember when were 16 and just itching to get our license and hit the road, now imagine getting one of the most powerful production cars of the day right out of the gate! The Mustang GT was powerful, fun to drive and easy on the pocketbook, too. Alan’s new ride was far from perfect, though; “It had been in a wreck and the driver side door and quarter panel were destroyed,” Felts added. “But with help from my dad, we repaired it and painted the entire car. I drove the car to high school, but it didn’t remain stock for long.”

Alan’s dad started taking him to the famed Beech Bend Raceway and he learned to drag race, starting in bracket racing, eventually hitting 6.50s in the 1/8th mile.

“My most memorable moment would be the day I saw my parents bring this hot rod on a trailer into the driveway for me...”

Alan Felts

This Mustang was once an original partially wrecked GT bought for Alan when he was 16 years old and underwent two previous builds. In its current state, the car still retains its factory steel body tub but lightweight doors, fenders and hatch have been installed along with a ’glass cowl hood and carbon rear wing. Factory style ground effects have been kept to give off that original GT vibe.

MoPower to You.

Trick Flow PowerPort 190® cylinder heads are the new standard for small block Mopar engine builds.

Improvements over stock: A356-T61 aluminum castings; enhanced intake ports; CNC Street Ported runners; stronger rocker arm shaft bosses; and 3/8" pushrod clearance. There’s also standard features like bronze alloy guides, ductile iron seats, 11/32" stainless valves, PAC Racing springs, steel locks, and chromoly or titanium retainers.

PowerPort 190 heads fit all non-emissions, LA and Magnum 318-360 engines. That’s right, Magnum owners can now—bonus!—use LA parts on their builds using these heads. What a great time to be a small block Mopar owner!

Test Engine: 10.92:1 compression 365 c.i.d. LA-series engine with Trick Flow PowerPort 190 cylinder heads (TFS-61417802-C00), custom hydraulic roller camshaft (230°/236° duration @ .050"; .577"/.572" lift; 110° lobe separation), Trick Flow roller lifters (TFS-21400010), Trick Flow Track Heat® intake manifold (TFS-61400111), 750 cfm carburetor, Trick Flow billet aluminum carburetor spacer (TFS-2141501B), Hooker Super Competition headers with 13⁄4" primaries, 3" dual exhaust with Flowmaster mufflers.

Your Recipe for Small Block Mopar Performance!

New heads are just one component of the horsepower recipe. To make it complete, you’re going to need some more ingredients.

Track Heat® Intake Manifold

A perfect match for the PowerPort 190 heads is this single plane Track Heat intake manifold. Fitting all 273-360 Mopar LA V8 engines making peak power in the 3,000–7,000 RPM range, the manifold features a one-piece spider-type design with extended high-flow runners and a raised plenum floor to significantly increase horsepower and torque.

Retro-Fit Hydraulic Roller Lifters

These affordable retro-fit roller lifters permit roller camshaft conversions to be made to engines originally equipped with hydraulic flat tappet cams. The lifters are manufactured to factory tolerances for an exact fit and to provide precise oil control to keep your engine running smoothly.

Track Max® Harmonic Dampers

Put Trick Flow’s advanced engineering to work for you with a Track Max harmonic damper. Engineered for safety and power, these SFI 18.1 rated, carbon steel dampers contain an injection-molded, bonded elastomer and removable counterweights. They also have engraved timing marks for easy adjustment and a corrosion-resistant black powdercoat finish.

Bracket racing and running respectable numbers was all well and good for Alan, however, something strange happened... he went to his first ever drag radial race. We all know where this is going. The event was at Holley Springs Motorsports Park in Mississippi and featured some of the baddest small tire radial cars in the area, so to say that Alan was instantly overwhelmed with new and interesting thoughts of what drag racing meant to him, is an understatement.

“I attended this radial race in Mississippi with my good friend Marty Stinnett and I was hooked. I had never seen anything like radial tire racing before, but I knew I had to be a part of it!” Over the next 2 years the car underwent a major transformation with Jessie Coulter at Jessie’s Garage

in Bowling Green, KY. completing the Lion’s share of the work. Once finished, Alan entered the car into an X275 class where he got his feet wet and started learning to drive at a whole new level. “With a lot of work, we finally made it into the 4.50 range and were semi competitive.”

The top cars in the X275 category were running deep into the 4.30 range, though, and Alan knew it was going to take more, so in the off season of 2019 he decided it was time get compet-

itive and do a massive overhaul, with Jessie’s Garage once again putting their skills to work on the project.

A 25.3 chassis with all new suspension and a fresh new boosted powerplant would all be art of the equation and Alan and his team came out swinging for the 2020 season, competing in many of the major Drag Radial events throughout the country. All the hard work paid off with a string of event wins, topped off with the 2021 NMCA Street Outlaw

Anyone who bleeds blue appreciates a fullblood Ford build and this Fox is powered by a World Products block based 440-inch turbocharged small block Ford.

TRI LOBE DRY SUMP PUMPS

MOROSO 6TH AVAILABLE IN MULTIPLE STAGES

• Best performing pump line Moroso has ever produced

• Tri-Lobe scavenge sections feature individual timing gears to ensure proper clearance at high RPM

• Spur Gear pressure sections based off Moroso’s highly successful Billet Wet Sump Pump Design

• Weighs almost half of equivalent gerotor pumps and takes up to 40% less power to drive

• Makes more crankcase vacuum than gerotor pumps

• Steady/smooth oil pressure throughout RPM range

• Built-in mounting bracket options

No. 22326

Championship, all while setting the class record, and all in his Ford powered Mustang GT.

Throughout Alan’s 20-year span of ownership, the Mustang has gone through a total of 3 makeovers, including this most recent iteration. There’s no doubt that the Fox Body Stang

Got Billet?

Alan Felts does, with the top end of his motor looking more like art than race parts.

Air to spare...

has been instrumental in developing the world of drag radial racing to where it is today, but not many are as clean as Alan’s GT, not to mention that a number of others have been outfitted with off-brand engine swaps, and you can probably count on your fingers how many Mus-

The 88mm XPR Precision turbo picks up fresh air from the front right of the factory style air dam. The boosted atmosphere is plumbed into a jewel-like billet intake manifold.

Alan Felts’ Turbocharged X275 1991 Ford Mustang GT

Body & Paint:

Flawless White by James Brown in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Chassis Modifications:

Custom 25.3 chassis from Jessie’s Garage.

Suspension:

All suspension was built at Jessie’s Garage and parts provided by Hammer Concepts. Front is Santhuff struts with tubular control arms and tubular front end. Rear is coilover setup with Precision Racing Suspension shocks and custom anti-sway bar.

Engine:

World Products block with Callies crankshaft and Diamond pistons.

Cylinder Heads:

Energy Manufacturing billet top end.

Induction & fuel delivery: Aeromotive cam driven fuel pump.

Power Adder:

88mm XPR Precision turbo

Transmission:

3 speed TH400 from Proformance Racing Transmissions, EV1 Pro Torque converter.

Rearend:

Fabricated 9inch with 40 spline axles.

Brakes:

TBM

Tires & Wheels:

Wheels are RC Components with Mickey Thompson tires

Interior:

Holley EFI management, Motion Raceworks steering wheel, M&M shifter, Ultra-Carbon seat, Fire Aid system from Mags Performance, ISP safety pads, Stroud parachute.

ET & MPH: 4.22 @ 169mph

Thanks To:

Wife Jaqueline and kids Knox and Kambree. Chassis builder and tuner Jessie Coulter at Jessie’s Garage.

Energy Manufacturing Callies

VP Racing Fuels

Holley EFI

Simpson Safety

Proformance Racing Transmission

Pro Torque

RC Components

TBM Brakes

Motion Raceworks

Precision Racing Suspension

Salvato Designs

Precision Turbo

He has been 4.22 @ 169 miles per hour which would put him in the top half of any X275 field. 2021 brought numerous wins including 2021 NMCA Street Outlaw Championship, not to mention his setting of the class record.

All the hard work has been paying off with dividends for Alan...

The cockpit of the Mustang features an expertly crafted SFI 25.3 roll cage with lots of extra goodies. The retired passenger seat has been replaced by the cooler box and Co2 bottle among other things. A factory dash has been gutted and only the Holley EFI screen is needed to relay vital signs before, during and after a run. Custom tinwork is complemented by carbon wheeltubs and filler panels along with a carbon seat.

tangs at this level still run with their factory sunroof intact! The added ground effects and trim of the 1991GT Mustang (over the less flashy LX version), most of which are still present here with minor modifications, make a great looking race car. Felts sent the Fox over to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the body and paint where James Brown laid down a slick skin of Flawless White paint.

No expense is spared where safety is concerned A dual Halon fire suppression system from Fire Aide was an integral part of the build.

Like we said, no LS swap here, instead Felts went all-Ford starting with one of World Products tough-as-nails blocks as the base for the killer boosted mill. When all was said and done the displacement works out to 440 cubic inches of small block Ford power. A Callies crankshaft and rods pinned to Diamond pistons rotate inside, while a jewel-like full billet top end assembly (including heads and intake) are from Energy Manufacturing. Complimenting the stout SBF is a single 88mm Precision XPR turbocharger, capable of handling/making nearly 2,000 horsepower.

Mated to the small block is a heavily modded 3-speed turbo 400 transmission from Proformance and a Pro Torque EV1 series torque converter. A fully fabricated 9-inch rearend with beefy 40 spline axles resides out back, hung by a fabricated coilover setup with custom anti-sway bar. Up front, the factory struts towers remain and are coupled with tubu-

THEWORLDOFEXTREMEHORSEPOWERISACLICKAWAY

lar control arms and front chassis work with a custom engine plate for mounting the small block. The stance on the Mustang is just right, thanks to the fab work at Jessie’s Garage. Besides the stance, Alan hit the nail on the head with the wheel and tire combination, going with RC Components wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber, with class-legal 275/60R15 Radial Pros located out back to provide the hook. TBM brakes and a dual parachute setup provide the whoa at the top end where Alan reaches speeds of approximately 170 MPH during his 660-foot eighth-mile hits.

In this crazy world of horsepower where some might ask; is this guy crazy for not going LS?

Rest assured, Alan Felts knew exactly what he was doing when he planned out the build of his killer ’91 GT drag radial contender. So yeah, he’s crazy alright, crazy like a Fox, and has the wins to prove it!

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