In late March at the Victoria Regional Airport in Victoria, Texas, the big news that rocked the standing-mile world was the insane 293-mph Ford GT run at The Texas Mile. However, we can’t let that overshadow the fact that the Jordan Weir piloted his 2015 Mustang to over 245 mph and he had to get out of the throttle when the windshield came unglued, so there was definitely more in it.

“We built the car with the intention of it being a well-balanced, streetable racecar that could run True Street-style quarter-mile events all the way up to the standing mile. The cooling system, brakes, and such required to run top-speed events make it perfect for True Street quarter-mile events,” Jordan explained. “My goals for the car were a 7-second quarter mile, a 225-mph half mile, and a 250-mph standing mile with limited changes between events. We will be focusing on the half-mile in the near future.

Dubbed Nemesis, Jordan’s Mustang is a unique fusion of drag racing tech, GT500 power, and the vaunted S550 chassis. The result is a modern Mustang that is pushing 2,000 horsepower and can run record-setting times in standing-mile and half-mile events.

Creating The Combo

To create this potent pony, Jordan turned to Chad Epperson, Willie Taylor, and the team at London Chassis Dyno in London, Kentucky, for a combination that could conquer the quarter, half and full mile.

“Being primarily a drag car builder, I wanted to do something safe. Mile events and half-mile events are usually very fast and very open when it comes to safety,” Chad said. “So I asked around and the mile techs were cool with accepting NHRA/SFI specs. I felt the safest thing to do was build a NHRA-certified, 25.3 chassis.”

Chad set up that chassis as he would with a typical 9-second Mustang drag car, but in this case, he opted to retain an IRS out back.

“We decided to keep the independent rear suspension for the ability to dial in stability,” Chad said. “The rear center section is a custom Strange 9-inch from Jack McCane. It is fortified with all the stuff UPR has to offer and G-Force supplied the axles and center housing. The front suspension is all BMR for a 2010 GT500. We made custom caster/camber plates to make it all work. We also have off-the-shelf QA1 struts and shocks.”

Unexpected Engine

Likewise, Chad opted for a familiar engine combination. One that he had plenty of experience with and one that he knew could withstand the kind of abuse applied by a full mile of Jordan standing on the accelerator pedal.

“As far as power goes, I knew we needed to make reliable power and most importantly for long durations if, we were going to do these types of events,” he said. “I work solely with Bischoff Engine Service. Having made 2,000-plus horsepower with the Trinity 5.8 multiple times with multiple cars, to me it was an easy decision to do a Trinity and give Tony Bischoff the go-ahead.”

While there are certainly plenty of powerful 5.0-liter engines out there, Chad just didn’t want to take any chances given the intense environments where Nemesis would compete.

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Take away the parachute and the decals and you might expect that this Mustang is just another clean S550 rolling on Forgestar wheels. As you can see by its results at The Texas Mile, Nemesis is anything but ordinary.

“With the Coyote scene in full swing, many people probably wonder why we didn’t keep the 5.0? We could have, but you are better off with what you know and have experience with,” he explained. “The power adder of choice was turbocharger from the beginning…”

Those turbos are based on Borg-Warner 76mm housings and supported by tubing from Race Parts Solutions and hoses from Forced Inductions. While turbos are a pretty modern power adder, Chad definitely went retro on the ignition side of things in deference to the simplicity of a proven combo.

“We decided to throw a curve ball at the masses by using a valve cover-mounted distributor drive,” Chad explained. “The fuel and spark is controlled by Big Stuff 3, and the ignition is run by an MSD 7531. This makes the car like 90 percent of the 4-second drag radial cars out there. ‘Keep it simple’ has been the idea from the start…”

Getting The Job Done

From the 5.8 engine to the distributor, Chad definitely followed the plan. Keeping it simple right down to the lack of a high-end traction control system. Jordan gets that job done with his right foot, as evidenced on his first run in Texas, where the car got a bit off track.

“We made two full passes this weekend at The Texas Mile with the first going 237mph after losing traction and getting sideways around the half mile. The second pass went 245.1 mph,” Jordan added. “On that pass the glue popped loose on the windshield around 235 mph causing me to lift for a split second before getting back in the throttle. At those speeds a split-second blip in the throttle easily causes a 5-plus-mph drop. The tuning was very conservative to keep the engine healthy at WOT for 20-plus seconds. The car is definitely capable of a lot more.”

“I think it will be interesting to see what the car will do with drag radials. The record we set at Arkansas in the half was 207.7 on Hoosier street tires. We backed it up at Texas with a 206.1 and wanted to go upper 250s on that run out backdoor, but the front windshield came loose on the bottom center and began banging around at around 235,” Chad added. “Jordan was taken off-guard by the noise and lifted before realizing what it was. He still managed a 245.1 pass. We normally see 50-plus-mph interval changes. I think we may look at everything and decide what the future holds and concentrate more on the half-mile.”

We can’t wait to see how quick and fast Weir Racing’s multipurpose Mustang will run in the future. Propelling a stock S550 body to nearly 250 mph without the aid of traction control is definitely an impressive feat.