According to a recent article on CompetitionPlus and a post by NHRA Pro Stock racer Justin Humphreys on the YellowBullet message board, North Carolina based Roush-Yates Engines will be building Ford 500 c.i. Pro Stock engines for Humphrey’s new Pro Stock Mustang. This partnership is the first time we can recall a large volume NASCAR engine shop branching out into drag racing engine builds.

Photo Credit: Ford

Humphrey will start the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series driving the Pontiac GXP he raced last year but is targeting the NHRA Gatornationals in mid-March to debut the 2010 Mustang and new engine program.

“We are really excited about partnering up with the Roush-Yates guys, and can’t wait to get into our new Ford Mustang. Doug Yates and all of the guys at Roush-Yates are some really great people, and they are really pumped up to be getting into the Pro Stock game,” said Humphreys. “They have some top notch facilities, and top notch people working for them. These 500” engines will be a new venture for them, but they have the manpower and resources to get the job done. We know that this year will be a building year for us, but we will go out there and do our best. And I feel that by the end of the year we should be able to be pretty darn competitive.” – Justin Humphrey

Photo Credit: RaceRedi Motorsports

Roush-Yates Engines currently builds the majority of race engines used by Ford’s NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck teams. In addition to the NASCAR program, Roush-Yates Engines builds Ford modular race engines for the Grand-Am and European FIA-GT series.

Doug Yates runs the day-to-day operations at Roush-Yates Engines and was instrumental in partnering with Humphreys on the new program. Prior to the Humphrey deal, Roush-Yates Performance Parts has been working with Terry Bren and his Twisted Cheeto Mustang evaluating a “retired” NASCAR race engine in a Fox-body application. Doug Yates took an interest in that Grassroots program and is always looking at ways to diversify the race engine business. Recently RYE began building an ACS 360 Sprint Car motor and a 436 c.i. off road truck engine for Trophy Trucks. Are we looking at another Holman-Moody Ford powerhouse in the making?