A couple of weeks ago we broke the news that Racin’ Jason Betwarda’s legendary, record-setting convertible was for sale, and today we’ve got more news; news that will make anyone who’s a Mustang racing fan happy. Not only has the car been sold, but it’s been sold to one of Jason’s longtime buddies, Joe Caldwell, and Joe has plans to restore the car to its former glory. We caught up with Joe yesterday, and he was happy to chat with us about the plans to bring the car back to life.

“If you can believe it, the car was bought from an abandoned storage unit, Storage Wars-style, and the guy who bought it did some research and realized that it was a big deal. The car has been sitting since 1999 – it hasn’t been changed a bit. I found it on RacingJunk. It popped up and I couldn’t believe it – I thought someone had duplicated it. Once I talked to Dennis Finn, who bought it, we drove out the very same day with the VIN in hand, checked it out, and made the deal,” says Joe.

Not only will the car be back on the track, but Caldwell has big plans for its resurrection. None other than Mike Ragusa, the car’s former driver, will be back behind the wheel, and the car will be sporting 8.2-deck power straight from between the framerails of Wild Bill Devine’s ADRL 10.5 machine. Devine explained, “The engine that will be going into Jason’s car is the same 364 cubic inch small-block Ford engine that ran a 4.14 at 180 MPH in my car, and I’m proud to be a part of such a great cause. Bullseye Power will be supplying a pair of our 83mm Double BatMo wheel turbos for the new project, and we’re shooting for a goal of 2,000 to 2,400 horsepower when the engine is done,” Devine said.

When asked about the motivation for reconstructing the car, which is scheduled for a trip to C&F Race Cars in the near future for a chassis update, Joe explained,”Jason and Mike got the car into the 7’s for the first time nearly 20 years ago in 1995, so for the 20th anniversary in 2015, we’ve got plans for a big deal event at Englishtown where Mike will wheel the car into the 6’s for the first time. I want the car to resemble the way that Jason left it, but we’re going to upgrade it with new technology. We just want to get it into the 6’s as a tribute to Jason, and then every time there’s a big Ford event, we’ll get the car back out there with Mike in it to make a couple of passes each time.

“It’s not so much for competition, but in memory of Jason and the car and how important it was to Mustang racing. We’re also hoping to have it at the 50th Anniversary event for the Mustang next year. His car was iconic, and we want to return it to that.”

He’s got ODR standout and supertuner Frank Soldridge of PSI Speed Solutions in Palmerton, PA on deck to build the turbo system and tune the car once it’s running again, and with people like this behind the program, we have no doubt that Racin’ Jason’s car will fly again, and we’ll be on the property when that happens.

Since PSI Speed Solutions is just a short drive away from my new Pennsylvania base, we’ll be following along with the build here on Dragzine as it takes place. I am honored to be included in the process of rebuilding such an iconic piece of racing history.