Ziff Hudson’s name has been a mainstay in Carolina drag racing for years. After taking one of the most unique cars in radial history and pushing it to wits end, Hudson and his crew have built a no-holds-barred Ford Mustang with a huge single turbocharger peeking through the bumper destined for Pro275, Limited Drag Radial, and Outlaw 275 competition.
Hudson piloted his Mercury Zephyr in numerous events in seasons past along with putting it deep into the 4.2-second elapsed time range that marked the team as a frontrunner at nearly ever race they attended.
But this is 2016, and it seems that every team out there is stepping their game up — including Hudson. The crew enlisted Robby Keziah to design and build the major part of the car, including the chassis setup. Eric Yost at Customs By Bigun completed the custom fabrication work on the turbocharger system and exhaust. With a sleek stance and charcoal gray paint laid on the body, Hudson turned to good friend Kevin Mullins at TKM Performance for the powerplant to stuff between the frame rails and handle all the boost that will be produced by the massive 118 mm single turbocharger.
Camerons Torque Converters provided a custom-specified converter to match the TKM powerplant, topped off with a FuelTech FT500 engine management system and the AMS-2000 boost controller from NLR Motorsport Electronics. Mark Menscer from Menscer Motorsports was brought in to handle all four corners of the suspension for the new build to make sure the Mickey Thompson radial tires stay hooked up on the track and propelling Hudson to new heights.
After several years of piloting the Zephyr, Hudson looked very comfortable in the car during the initial test session at Orlando Speed World Dragway and then made the short trek to Bradenton Motorsports Park for more testing, where he lit the scoreboards with a solid number with less than 15 passes on the car. This new hot rod will be handful, and one to watch at Duck X Productions’ Lights Out 7 coming up in less than two weeks at South Georgia Motorsports Park.