During our time in the pits while meeting with racers at this year’s NMRA World Finals event in Bowling Green, Kentucky, we saw our share of some extremely fast Mustangs (and Ford-bodied cars alike). Amongst many of those Mustangs were a few rare ’03-’04 SVT Cobras; and two specific Terminators stood-out amid the rest in our eyes. The first of the two was Nicholas Shortridge’s Redfire ’03 Cobra – which puts down nearly 1,500 horsepower at the rear wheels, thanks to a custom twin-turbo kit.

The second Terminator was Steve Simpkins ’04 Mystichrome coupe, which was spotted on the first day of our event coverage in the pits, pushing more than 1,000 horsepower at the rear wheels as well. And just like Nicholas’ Cobra, Steve’s Terminator is also turbocharged; though he chose the single turbo route for his Mustang. We had the opportunity to interview both owners – Steve’s being a Grudge car, and Nicholas’ being a True Street car (and a competitor in the Tremec GT500 vs Terminator shootout).

Nicholas’ Cobra runs consistent low 9-second passes as it is, but has seen mid 8s as well.

“The car is an ’03 Cobra,” Nicholas said. “The build consists of a Teksid aluminum block, and is still running the stock cubic inches using a stock forged crank. The rest of the build consists of a set of Oliver Racing Parts I-beam connecting rods and Diamond Racing forged pistons.

“I’m using Shelby GT500 cylinder heads on this engine, a Hogan’s Racing intake manifold, HPP Racing turbo camshafts, and a CG Fabrication twin-turbo kit. The kit uses Precision 64/66 turbochargers. The car still uses a Tremec 6-speed manual transmission, and it’s still rocking the independent rear suspension [though now modified with a Full Tilt Boogie Racing bushing kit].”

“It’s got a Ram Clutches 900 series twin-disc clutch that Ram modified,” Nicholas continued. “I built the transmission, and sent the gears to Liberty’s Gears to have them face-plated. I’m also using a ProEFI 128 standalone ECU, which was tuned by Induction Performance Alpha Tuned.

“We made 1,450 RWHP just the other day, but unfortunately ran out of injector. It’s on pump gas using E85 right now, so that’s about the max on my current injectors. I plan to buy some bigger ones and turn it up here soon. I would assume it’ll easily make between 1,600 and 1,700 RWHP before we max out the turbos.”

Nicholas’ best pass to-date is 8.735 at 166.66 MPH in the quarter. He’s shooting for the fastest 6-speed manual/IRS Terminator in the world, though it looks like he may already be there.

While Steve’s ’04 Mystichrome Terminator might be turbocharged as well, that’s about where the similarities end in comparison to Nicholas’.

Amongst a sea of hundreds of Mustangs, Steve’s Mystichrome Terminator could be spotted on the grounds of Beech Bend Raceway no matter where you looked. “Basically just a stock engine still,” Steve told us. “We’re using the stock cylinder heads, camshafts, block, connection rods, and crankshaft. The only upgrades we’ve made to the engine are the use of Diamond forged pistons, and all ARP hardware. We’re using a 76mm single turbocharger, and the engine is paired to a TH400 automatic transmission.

“We’ve converted the car to a straight axle in the rear, and we’re using an air-to-water intercooler setup. We’re also utilizing a Big Stuff 3 electronics setup, and a complete Aerospace Components front and rear brake setup. We’re running a set of Weld Racing Alumastar front and rear wheels, and they’re double bead-lock. It’s just your basic street car stuff, man!”

“On the old tune, we had some issues – so we’re hoping to go faster this year,” Steve continued. “We’ve only ran eighth-mile racing, and we’ve been in the mid 5-second E.T.s at a little over 130 MPH; so we’re just looking to keep going faster. The car is making a little over 1,000 RWHP, and we drive it all of the time on the street.

“My wife, my son, and I always do cruises, races – you know the whole deal. It’s tuned to use E85 fuel, so we pretty much drive it anytime we want. The car actually has just a little over 100,000 miles on it, too. The goal at the end of the day is to go faster than we’ve ever been. The car has always been a blower car – up until about a year ago – and we’ve been working with the turbocharged version of the car now ever since.”

As he mentioned earlier, Steve’s Terminator is a Grudge car – so times and MPH are none of his concern (although the car has gone 5s in the eighth-mile).