Ohio native Phil Hines, in his 2001 Ford Mustang GT wasted no time and got straight to business during testing last Wednesday prior to the much anticipated Lights Out 4 race in South Georgia, as he piloted his Mustang to the first ever six-second pass on 275 drag radials. Hines’ Mustang, riding on Mickey Thompson 275/60-15 ET Radial Pro tires flew through the 1/8^th mile at 4.53 seconds at 167 mph and stopped the timers at the ¼ mile with a blistering run of 6.89 seconds at 198 mph. The mph is a bit flawed due to pulling the chute early, and Hines suspects the mph to be around 208-210.

The ‘01 Ford was in former NMRA Super Street Outlaw trim for the record breaking pass. Weighing in at over 3,100 pounds, the BES 430 cubic inches of engine sports Edelbrock SC1 heads and a ProCharger F3-121 brute of a supercharger.

Mickey Thompson unveiled their ET Street Radial Pro tires last year at South Georgia Motorsports Park during the Lights Out 3 race in February and shortly thereafter the tire received the DOT stamp of approval.

Following the record breaking run, Hines shot right to the top of the Outlaw 275 qualifying order in the one and only round of qualifying with a stout 4.46 before rain wiped out the next two days of on-track activities. Hines advanced to the third round on race day, before being stopped by eventual race winner Sean Ashe on a 4.45 to 4.40 holeshot loss.