Photos and Story by: Deborah Woodard

The infamous Garrett Turbo Mustang is back in action with a new driver. Veteran racer and former Champion Rick Snavely has teamed up with the car’s owner, Bothwell Motor Sports, to get this turbo terror back to the track. The 2007 twin turbo Mustang, previously driven by Ron Lummus, still remains the Pacific Street Car Association’s (PSCA) Outlaw 10.5 ET record holder. The team ran a stunning 6.805 last season at the PSCA World Finals in 2008, which has stood as the record for a year.

Snavely said, he met with Steve and Gil Bothwell striking a deal to drive the car and contributed sponsorship funds to the team in trade for the opportunity. While Garrett no longer sponsors the car, Turbo Direct who has affiliation with Garrett has stepped up to help along with Casner Construction, and O’Brian Electric. Snavely hopes to get the Mustang into the 6.60 range and surpass the current team record.

Snavely and Bothwell Motor Sports recently attended the PSCA’s Mickey Thompson Fall Nationals in Las Vegas for their first test session and first race with Snavely driving. Snavely stated that the goal was to really get used to the car, do some testing, and hope to get down the track. The team made an impressive showing running a 6.98 @ 207 mph during qualifying and plans on attending the upcoming Street Car Super Nationals in November in Las Vegas.

Unlike many Outlaw 10.5 competitors running big cubic inch, the Team Bothwell Mustang is powered by a small block Ford 390 cubic inch engine. The tremendous power addition comes from the twin Garrett GT4718R dual ball bearing turbochargers with 60mm waste gates. Backing the engine is a Keith Neal transmission with a Marty Chance converter that spins a set of 3.90 rear gears. The combination is finished with a 15-inch-diameter 33×10.5W Mickey Thompson tire on the rear. The Chassis was originally constructed by Smith Racecraft of Dallas Texas, and has a single-frame rail construction. Hang on! The estimated horsepower is 2800-3000 hp. That’s a lot of Pony’s under the hood and a big handful to get down the race track.

Amazingly if it were not for the colorful graphics, the car could be easily overlooked for a completely stock vehicle at first glance. The Mustang has a flat hood with no readily observable body modifications. However, it’s clearly not stock once it hits the track. This Turbo Champion spools up and hangs the front wheels in the air with the best.

Snavely with previous partner Bobby Frye is the 2004 True Street Champion, 2002-2004 Xtreeme Street Champion, a previous Outlaw 10.5 record holder, built the car and tuned for the 2003 Orlando World Street Nationals Drag Radial winner, and was one of the first to go over 200 mph in an Outlaw 10.5 car on the West Coast.