LOUISVILLE SLUGGA - AN SN95 Mustang that hits like a big leaguer

story and photos by

Tabitha Sizemore

K

entucky natives take their sports pretty seriously. And being a resident in the land of the Louisville Cardinals, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that John Pryor is a pretty serious Louisville fan. So much so, that when friend Charlie Bennett tagged Pryor and

his Cardinal Red & Tuxedo Black 1997 Cobra the Louisville Slugga, the name stuck.

Pryor didn’t start his racing career with the sleek Cobra, however. Instead, his first car was a 1985 four-eye Mustang GT. “I first started racing, probably like most kids, on the street, just out of high school in 1997. Back in the

day, Preston Highway was huge for cruising and hanging out to talk about cars and street racing,” he said.

Close friend and current crew member Gary Dugan also had a Mustang, and the pair had a number of good races on the street.

“I also met one of my best friends while street racing.” Pryor shared. NMRA

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LOUISVILLE SLUGGA

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NO SECRETS HERE If the Rio Red paint doesn’t get your attention to begin with, the fabricated intake plenum peeking through the pin-on ‘glass hood, front-and-center turbo inlet, and the massive driver’s side exhaust bullhorn sure will.

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Mod Motor racer Adam Cox was a big influence and always seemed to have one of the fastest cars around—especially on Preston Highway— in those formative years. “The first time I met Adam was after he absolutely embarrassed me on the street,” Pryor said with a laugh.

Having grown tired of the oh-so-common Fox-body, Pryor opted to change over to a later model Mustang, an SN95, when it came time to initiate a new build.

“The Fox-body cars were everywhere, and honestly I was tired of looking at mine,” Pryor said. On the hunt for a new car, the Ken-

tucky native decided that the more modern and swoopy 1994-2004 platform would be a welcome change of pace. And although the car you see now is an impressive machine in every detail, it sure didn’t start out that way.

“I found the car as a roller on RacingJunk around 2009, and I almost walked away when I went to pick it up,” Pryor recounted.

The online ad was misleading, and as Pryor shared with his friend Adam Cox, the car was basically junk from the doors forward.

Once the car was home, the resurrection commenced. A little

paint and body work went a long way, and the Mustang started to come into its own.

“I had a little small block Ford nitrous engine sitting in the corner out of a Fox-body that I had previously run in Limited 8.5 with the Outlaw Street Car Association. We put that engine in the car for a couple of years and ran some no-time shootouts with it.” At that point in the cars history, it just had a 10-point roll cage and an 8.8 rear housing.

“I didn’t like the way the cage was done in the car, so that’s when I decided to cut it out

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LOUISVILLE SLUGGA

at the end of the 2011 season. I contacted Derek Bivins for the chassis update and I made the decision to change the combo,” Pryor said.

Bivins handled a full rework of the car’s cage and suspension. Up front, a tubular K-member and control arms were partnered with Menscer shocks and

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struts. Meanwhile, out back, a custom Moser fabbed 9-inch housing was filled with a Strange center section, a Strange 3.90 ratio gearset, and Moser 40-spline axles before being suspended via a 4-link with coilovers.

As the chassis was being prepped to handle more power, Pryor turned his

march 2019 | RPM Magazine

attention to piecing together a new bullet to produce it. Out was the tired nitrous motor, and in its place, a 400-cube fortified forced-induction small block Ford (say that three times fast) started taking shape.

A Callies crank was partnered with GRP rods and boostready 11.5:1 Diamond

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Use The Best CARDINAL SINS Pryor is a big University of Louisville Cardinals fan, so the red and black color combo just made sense.

The factory Rio Red hue has been dressed up with a Tuxedo Black top and wing by Matthew Dearinger and Allen Richard. The machined and black Weld Wheels match the theme perfectly.

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LOUISVILLE SLUGGA SMALL TIRE FRYER A fabricated 9-inch rear rides out back on UPR tubular control arms and Menscer coilovers. The Mickey Thompson X275 radials provide plenty of hook.

Damian Pereira photo

pistons. A Little John Motorsports solid roller cam was spec’ed out and mated with Jesel roller lifters, Trend chromoly pushrods, and Jesel roller rockers with stud girdles to complete the bulletproof valvetrain. Those rockers are mounted aboard a set of trick

Hammerhead Hemi heads by Greg Brown, making for one bad little baby Boss mill.

Engine assembly was adeptly handled by Competition Automotive Machine.

It isn’t every day you see an old-school SBF equipped with fuel injection, let alone a coil-on-plug

THE

ignition, but knowing he wanted to go high-tech turbo racing, Pryor leaned heavily on the folks at Haltech for a complete electronics system to control the whole package.

A Price Motorsports billet cam synch sends signals to the EFI & ignition, and

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Damian Pereira photo

LOUISVILLE SLUGGA WHAT THE...WHUT? There’s a 400-cube small block Ford in there somewhere, we promise. The Haltech coil-on-plug setup is enough to make you think it’s an LS, and the Hammerhead Hemi heads might make you think Boss 429...but both would be wrong!

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JOHN PRYOR’S 1997 X275 FORD MUSTANG COBRA Chassis Type & Mods: 25.3 cert chromoly chassis by Derek Bivins Race Cars.

Suspension & Brakes: FRONT: UPR tubular front suspension with Menscer shocks and struts. TBM brakes. REAR: Stock-style 4-link with UPR control arms Menscer coilovers. TBM brakes.

Body & Paint: Pin-on fiberglass cowl hood and Outlaw front bumper by Schoneck Composites. Racecraft fabricated aluminum rear wing. Hairy Glass fiberglass doors with Optic Armor windows throughout. Two-tone Red with Tuxedo Black basecoat/clearcoat paint prepped and painted by Matthew Dearinger and Allen Richard.

Engine: 400 ci small block Ford with Hammerhead Hemi heads by Greg Brown.

Engine assembly by Competition Automotive Machine. Callies crankshaft with GRP rods and Diamond 11.5:1 pistons. Little John Motorsports solid roller cam with Trend chromoly pushrods. Jesel roller lifters and roller lifters with stud girdles.

the octet of coils have been mounted via Motion Raceworks mounts.

Induction and fuel delivery is unique, as a Holley Hi-Ram cast aluminum intake lower half has been mated to a sheetmetal upper intake plenum

by Blake Hughes from 417 Motorsports. The combo just barely peeks out of the custom fiberglass hood, but is enough to make would-be challengers take notice. A flow-matched set of Precision 550 injectors

are fed via an Enderle mechanical fuel pump.

Pressurizing the whole package is a Precision Turbo ProMod 85mm turbocharger—but plans are already afoot to outfit the Stang with a larger blowdryer for the upcoming season.

Backing the potent powerplant is a Bilbrey Racing two-speed TH400 trans with a PTC stall converter.

Once the car was finished at the chassis shop, the new engine and trans were complete around the same time, so Pryor

and his team managed to piece together a wicked racecar in the span of just a few short months. “Derek (Bivins) hadn’t wasted any time getting the Cobra ready to go, as it only stayed at the chassis shop for three or four months,” Pryor said.

Body mods have been kept to a minimum, but mostly serve to reduce weight. A Schoneck Composites pin-on fiberglass cowl hood and Outlaw-style front nose with custom turbo inlet were

Induction & Fuel Delivery: Holley HiRam intake lower with sheetmetal upper intake by Blake Hughes from 417 Motorsports. Precision 550 injectors with Enderle mechanical fuel pump.

Power Adder: Precision Turbo ProMod 85mm turbocharger.

Electronics & Ignition: Haltech electronics system. Price Motorsports billet cam synch. Coil-on-plug setup with Haltech coils and Motion Raceworks mounts.

Haltech digital dash.

Transmission & Driveline: Bilbrey Racing two-speed TH400 with PTC stall converter.

Differential: Moser fabricated 9-inch rear with Strange center section 3.90 Strange gears. Moser 40-spline axles.

Tires & Wheels: FRONT: 17x3 Weld Racing black anodized AlumaStar wheels with Moroso DS-2 front runner tires. REAR: 15x12 Weld Racing double beadlocked black anodized AlumaStar wheels Mickey Thompson Pro Bracket Radial tires.

Special Thanks: Friends & crew: DJ Nipper, Gary Dugan, Allen Richard, Mathew Richard, Mathew Dearinger, tuning by Victor Contreras, Victor Contreras, Jr. Sponsors: Bilbrey Racing Transmissions, Haltech, Competition Automotive Machine, World Products, Bivins Racecars, UPR Products, and Hammerhead Performance.

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both fitted and prepped along with a pair of Hairy Glass doors.

Optic Armor windows have replaced the heavy factory glass, and a Racecraft fabricated aluminum rear wing adds style along with some top-end stability.

Paint on the car is a custom two-tone of

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factory Rio Red and Tuxedo Black.

But it wasn’t really repainted on purpose. “The first outing with the new engine and I didn’t realize how much more power it was making. I loaded a previous tune-up in the boost controller and the ignition box,” Pryor recalled.

The engine

made so much more power that when the car got out around the 100-foot mark, it spun the tires violently and got out shape. The track did not have walls in the left lane and the Cobra bit hard and rocketed out into the field.

“Once I got into the dirt, the tires dug in and sent me rolling.

march 2019 | RPM Magazine

COOL COCKPIT

LOUISVILLE SLUGGA

The interior of the Slugga is purpose-built, with the Derek Bivins Race Cars funny car cage surrounding a single racing bucket with a G-Force harness. An on-board fire system adds another measure of safety. Ballast in the trunk can be adjusted for track conditions.

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I rolled the car six times before it came to a stop on the roof,” Pryor said.

Several racers helped flip the car back over and the crumpled remains were transported by farm tractor back to the trailer.

“It was hard to look at for sure. I thought for sure the car was a total loss,” he said sadly.

However, as friends often do, Pryor’s squad came to the rescue the very next day. “My team came to the house and helped me unload it

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and assess the damage.

Most the damage was cosmetic (fenders, quarter panels, roof), with a broken A-arm and bent wheels, too,” he said.

Ready to throw in the towel, Pryor’s friend Mathew Dearinger—who just so happens to be a body

man/ painter—told him to go in the house, calm down, and come back out in about an hour.

By the time Pryor returned, Dearinger and other friend Allen

LOUISVILLE SLUGGA

PROGRESSIVE PONY Here you can see the Mustang’s changes over the years.

The fenders, hood, and nose changed from 2016 (top middle) to 2017 (bottom middle), and 2018 saw new rear wheels and some other more subtle changes. After a horrific wreck, Pryor says he was ready to walk away if not for the help and persistence of friends Mathew Dearinger, Allen Richard, and others.

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LOUISVILLE SLUGGA Richard were outside beating things out, and before long, the car was rolling again.

Within a week the car was back on the track, repainted and faster than ever. “We ac-

tually went on to win the next three races,” Pryor said with a smile.

As it turns out, Louisville Sluggers aren’t just good for getting hits.

They can take ’em, too.

SLUGGA READY FOR THE HIT Pryor stages prior to a run at the 2018 Turkey Bash.

TEAM SLUGGA (L to R): Gary Dugan, DJ Nipper, Matthew Dearinger, John Pryor, Kevin Pryor, Allen Richard, Mathew Richard, Victor Contreras, Jr., Victor Contreras, Sr.

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