This 8-Second Ford Mustang California Special Is Getting A New Turbocharged Bullet For Sick Week
With an entry to Sick Week 2023 in his grasp and only one more event on his 2022 racing calendar, Houston McClain rode from his hometown of Starke, Florida to South Georgia Motorsports Park last November to participate in an all-Ford-powered event, the ModNationals.
Just two days later, he was heading home with a wounded 2014 Mustang and an uncertain timeline.
“With parts availability, I was a little nervous,” said McClain. “Some customer cars have sat longer than I’d like because of backordered parts we can’t get elsewhere.”
Oddly enough, the 2014 Mustang California Special was originally acquired in spring 2019 to be a daily driver without much drag racing use, a different look for McClain after spending several years around Subaru models.
“When I started with the Mustang, I was considering road course use instead of drag racing,” he said, as a friend had a Coyote-powered Mustang with a 10-second drag strip set-up. But after never getting his Subaru to clock a 10-second pass, McClain made a trip to Gainesville Raceway with the Mustang and a fresh nitrous system.
“I needed to run a 10-second pass with this car.” Borrowing a pair of front tires from fellow racer John Raulerson, McClain got a 10.89 time slip that day, and the drag racing hook was set for the former Clay County Deputy Sheriff.
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By late 2020, McClain had been successfully operating McClain Motorsports for nearly three years, a shop he started to specialize in Ford and Mustang performance work.
With the Mustang now taking on a shop car vibe, he made the switch from nitrous to a single turbocharger, as well as swapping out the stick shift for a Powerglide transmission. He ended the year with his first 8-second time slip.
After a 2021 season of mostly test and tune racing, honing his skills and learning how much power the Coyote would take, Houston started the 2022 season with an 8.33 at 165 mph pass at Gainesville Raceway. The improved performance pushed McClain to start running more events, including the NMRA’s new 8.60 Street Race class, where he advanced to the semifinal round at the series’ first event of the year. McClain also qualified for the popular FL2K event in the Street Car Shootout class in October, as well as the Limited Street 8.50-index class at the 352 Shootout on Halloween weekend at Gainesville Raceway.
Following the ModNationals and the engine failure, McClain not only had to focus on replacing an engine, but also re-wiring the entire car for a switch from the stock computer to a Holley Terminator X system.
“The need for additional data at this level is paramount,” he said. McClain, along with his fiancé Kate Folmar, plan to use the additional knowledge to tackle Sick Week 2023, their first drag-and-drive event. “My first goal is to finish Sick Week. I’d also like to run an 8.5-second pass each day, but that will depend on the drives and how the week shakes out.”
Just three days ago, McClain and Folmar had the new engine and wiring completed, and fired up the car for the first time. They plan to test the car at Gainesville Raceway in the remaining time before Sick Week. But due to a busy shop schedule, McClain says they will probably only do Sick Week and possibly 2-3 NMRA events this season.
“The amount of time needed for a drag-and-drive event makes it hard to shut down the shop for a week-plus,” he said. “Kate and I enjoy our time at the track, but with her job and a lot of customers on my plate, this will be our lone drag-and-drive event for 2023. But after watching Sick Week at the Gainesville stop last year, we can’t wait to be part of the fun.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of KWS Images and Houston McClain.