Street racing is among the most dangerous American past times, and the rash of race track and drag strip closures in recent years has only exasperated the problem. Local police departments responded by challenging street racers to “Beat the Heat” at local drag strips, enlisting donated or confiscated cars as drag racers. The Beat the Heat program has been very successful in educating the masses, and it gives police officers another awesome perk.

Sergeant Ron Bradley of the Davie, Florida Police Department has informed us that recently a 2011 Mustang GT was donated to his department as their new Beat the Heat drag car.

According to Ron, the Davie Police Department has been a part of the Beat the Heat program since 2002. Ron and fellow officers devoted over 1,000 hours into building up a donated 1986 Ford Mustang GT back in 2001, and since their first race in 2002 they have reached over 125,000 people. Street racing has completely ceased in the town of Davie as a result of these efforts, and for a while the Davie Police Department even ran a tubular drag car based on the Chevy Berretta.

A full-blown drag car is a costly endeavor however, and it began to cost the department money. In an effort to make the program more manageable, a 2011 Ford Mustang GT was donated by Larry and Cathy Danielle of U Pull It. A base, block Mustang with the automatic transmission was delivered, and thus far it has run a best down the drag strip of 12.26 @ 116 mph. A round of base modifications have been added to the Mustang , including American Racing Headers, Ford Racing springs, 4:10 gears, a Magnaflow cat-back exhaust, and a complete drag suspension from UPR. A DiabloSport tune, Steeda Cold Air Intake, and Mickey Thompson drag radials are also on the table. We salute Ron and all the officers participating in the Beat the Heat program, and we’re kind of jealous of their awesome Mustang. We wouldn’t want to see that bad boy in our rearview mirror!