Car owners: Jerry and Linda Bridgforth, Savannah, GA Driver: Jerry Bridgforth Car: 1966 Mustang G.T. 350H Chassis: Tim McAmis Body: Hairy Glass(?) Paint: Unknown Engine builder: Charlie Peppers Block: Ford (tall deck) Heads: Ford (new-generation hemi) Crank: Crower Pistons: Venolia Rods: GRP Cam: Comp Cams Pushrods: Smith Brothers Rocker arms: WW Industries Valves: Manley Oil filter: Fram Ignition: MSD Digital 7 Computer: Racepak Fuel tank: Jaz Fuel pump: Magnaflow Fuel regulator: Barry Grant Carbs: Gary Williams Dominator 4500s Nitrous: Nitrous Works/Fulton Headers: Tek (stainless steel) Radiator: Ron Davis Transmission: Lenco (4 speed) Clutch: Ram Bell Housing: Trick Titanium Shifter computer: MSD (air shifter) Suspension: Lamb Rearend: Mark Williams Brakes: Bickel (carbon fiber) Tires: Goodyear (1490s, rear) Rims: Weld Wheels Seat: McAmis Steering wheel: Grant Gauges: Auto Meter Pro-Comp Seatbelts: Stroud Fire suppression: Safecraft Parachutes: Stroud (air activated)

By this time, Bridgforth, who had been racing a nitrous-assisted Thunderbird in local Quick-8 and Fun Ford events, had decided to return to his racing roots, so he borrowed the ‘67 Mustang body mold that friend Mike Herring used to create the car Troy Coughlin is currently campaigning as a teammate to reigning NHRA AMS Pro Mod champ Mike Ashley.

“As soon as he put it together Mike Ashley got the contract with Unique Performance and needed a car immediately, so before Mike Herring even raced that ’67 he sold it to Mike Ashley and that’s the car he ran last year,” Bridgforth explains. “Then Mike [Herring] loaned me the mold to build my own ’67 and my car had been in construction for about a year and was probably 80 or 90 percent finished when Mike Ashley called me and wanted that one, too. I told him what it would take to buy it and he said, ‘No problem.’ And that’s the one he’s presently racing. Troy got last year’s model and Mike [Ashley] has the car I was building.”

Bridgforth makes it sound like a simple transaction, but his wife reveals it wasn’t such an easy decision.  “[Jerry] wasn’t sure he wanted to give up the ’67 after waiting so long to build it. In fact he said it was the only car he wanted,” Linda Bridgforth says, “but that’s when I reminded him there was at least one other car he’d love to have.”

That conversation led to a phone call to Raynor, who led Bridgforth to Patrick, who steered him toward the Yoak family’s Ford dealership in Ellenboro, WV.

“Jon never raced the car. He planned to get around to racing it one day, but it had never been on a track since it left Bickel’s place,” Bridgforth says. “I don’t think he (Yoak) was all that interested in selling it, so he threw a price at me that about knocked me off my feet, but

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fortunately I got enough from Mike Ashley for the ’67 to help pay for it. I feel I was very fortunate to purchase it.”

That was last July, and with the rolling chassis on its way to his shop, Bridgforth sent the engine from his T-Bird to fellow Georgian and IHRA Pro Stock standout Charlie Peppers “for freshening up,” while Gene Fulton in Spartanburg, SC, received the intake and complemented the original Nitrous Works system with a second, custom-built stage. Finally, everything came home, Bridgforth says, and he started putting it all back together last fall.

With the engine and transmission installed, the car was sent early this year to Alan Pittman in Greenville, SC, for scaling and balancing, and after consulting with McAmis on a few chassis tweaks, in late April it finally hit Savannah Dragway’s eighth-mile strip for a few short bursts “just to make sure it went straight.”