South Carolina native Brian McGee’s new 1967 Ford Mustang fastback is one of the most visually striking cars to enter the drag radial racing arena in a number of years, and if all goes to plan, it will soon be running as well as it looks.

Photos by Allison Menscer

The Mustang was built from the ground up by veteran chassis builder and doorslammer racer Jeff Miller, utilizing a steel roof and quarter panels and a Feather Carbon carbon-fiber nose and Glasstek doors. The power is supplied by a Gene Fulton 959 cubic-inch nitrous oxide motor, with six stages of nitrous being poured in quicker than you could count them when the tree drops. McGee is handling his own tuning via the Holley EFI system, while Phil Shuler, of Steve Jackson Racing and NHRA nitro fame, has looked on and provided some consultation on the program.

“I’ve never wanted to have to relay on somebody else. That’s the way I’ve always done it. I night not be the fastest, but it’s mine, and at the end of the day, someone can’t take my tune-up and leave me in left field and can’t crank the car up.”

A Liberty five-speed with a Bruno’s converter drive and a Neal Chance billet bolt-together lockup torque converter back up the power. The car sports Menscer custom-valved, double-adjustable monotube shocks. In addition to supplying the shocks, Mark Menscer has helped McGee with the initial chassis setup and scaled the car out. The front features Strange Ultra struts.

Miller wired and painted the car its late-model OEM GT500 hue.

McGee formerly campaigned a Fox Body Mustang in Pro 275, but knew the trajectory of the category demanded a new steed.

“We wanted to do something new and better and safer…something built to run the kind of e.t.’s and speeds we have to run now to be competitive in Pro 275,” he says. “The old car versus is a big difference; it’s like going from driving a roller-skate, to almost like a dragster. The feel is so different, and it drives a lot better. It’s got 8 inches more wheelbase. It’s a well built car and it turned out really nice.”

McGee debuted the car at No Mercy in South Georgia last fall, and then kicked off his 2023 campaign at the U.S. Street Nationals in Bradenton, Florida, going a round on raceday before falling to eventual winner Marcus Birt in round two.

McGee had been a best of 3.89 with his former car, and in two races, has already clocked a 3.78 at 200 mph with the ‘67, and a best of a .977 60-foot.

“It’s good to get to this point this quick, but it’s been kind of a struggle to get faster. It’s tough to go fast early, because you do that and the front end wants to come up, or it spins. It’s been .977 to the 60-foot,. But it hasn’t been repeatable yet,” McGee says.

McGee is one of just three nitrous cars competing regularly in the class. “We’re just trying to keep nitrous alive. These big, new motors, there is way less maintenance than any other combination out there right now. It’s actually pretty fun racing. Everybody thinks nitrous is all pistons and rings and blown-up stuff all the time, but I haven’t worked on this motor yet..it’s been great. I’ve replaced a couple of valve springs, but we just run the valves and check the plugs. To get as fast as I need to get, though, I might have to start working on it some more.”

McGee is going to run the ’67 exclusively on drag radials, chasing the FuelTech Radial Outlaws points series; his son is going to run the Fox body in the PDRA Super Street class, and his other son will continue running in Pro Junior Dragster.