Scott Oksas “Dark Horse” Mustang on the Move

Scott Oksas made his first ever final in Pro Street Competition with his new “Dark Horse” Turbo Mustang this past weekend at the Pacific Street Car Association’s California Nationals May 21- 23, 2010. It marks the start of a new exciting challenge and many first’s to come for Oksas who made a giant leap in class competition from Extreme Drag Radial late last year to the PSCA’s top class. Oksas said he was inspired to make the change after watching Pro Street contender Clint Hairston one day in his Turbo GTO running an easy 6 second pass. On the same day, he got an offer to good to refuse.

Friend and fellow racer Bill Hickok of Hickok Race Cars just happened to have an unclaimed near complete Pro Mod chassis sitting in his shop. As all great ideas start in casual conversation, he approached Oksas with an offer to finish the car and step it up. Oksas said, “It was an offer I had to take. Hickok told me to sell off the Drag Radial car and he would help with the investment to put together a new Pro Street Turbo powered entry. Hickok built all my cars through the years and I had faith that we could team up to create a competitive car.” Oksas who had previously always run nitrous applications was ready to convert to Turbo. He said “I am tired of blowing up the nitrous engines, somehow the Turbo just looks easier to manage.”

The “Dark Horse” 2009 Mustang is powered by a 434 cubic inch small block ford engine with twin 88mm Precision Turbo’s. The engine produced 2800 horse power on the dyno at Duttweiler’s shop and was built by Jason Pettis. The team has been working with Mikes Transmission to research and design a Turbo 400 transmission. Oksas has the first one of its kind in the Mustang. “Mike has been right there with us on this project and we have been working to match the right converter.” The team employed the expertise of Shane Tecklenburg (“Tuned by Shane T”) to tune the engine using a MoTec engine management system. Oksas said “This car is so different than any other I have had because everything is tuned using a computer. There are no carburetors and nothing to adjust on the engine itself by hand like we used to do. Shane goes into the computer and controls the ignition, injectors, timing, and everything. The system is completely digital. It’s all new to me and so high tech.”

The”Dark Horse” Mustang made its first showing for the 2009 Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas qualifying in the 30th position. For Oksas and the team who finished the project just two days before, just qualifying was as if they had won the whole event. Since that time, the team has been working the bugs out of the new car and has run a best of 6.42 @ 225 mph. The success of the project is attributed to having a group of highly experienced people working on the car from the start. Oksas hopes to run competitively in the 6.20’s and 6-teen’s range in the future. The car has been making solid passes in the 6.40- 6.60 range. The team has been making one step at a time. Oksas himself has been on a sharp learning curve with the “Dark Horse” Mustang project and loves to go fast.

Oksas is the 2006 PSCA True Street Champion and missed the 2008 Championship in Extreme Drag Radial by a margin of just a few points. Like many racers of the time he got his start racing on the street in high school. Oksas said “it all started when my Grandfather gave me a 69 Mustang. I had to work to get it running so I would have something to drive to school. I then got into a crowd of people who liked to race. With the start of PSCA, I started racing at the track.”

The “Dark Horse” Mustang backed by Oksas business Payless Water Heaters and crewed by car chief Tim Albiston, Allan Shaw and Kristy, Joey and Anthony Oksas along with Bill Hickok and Shane Tecklenburg. Oksas would like to thank his sponsors and supporters. Bill Hickok Race Cars, “Tuned by Shane T”, Lucas Oil, Modular Mustang Racing (MMR), Precision Turbos, Hoosier Tires- West, Injector Dynamics, Mikes Transmissions, and Jason Pettis.

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