Ford’s popular SVT Lightning F-150 pickup trucks have long been a hit with the automotive enthusiast market; nearly as much so as it’s sister, the Mustang, but in significantly smaller numbers. They may be big, heavy, and punch a big hole in the air, but they are more than capable of running incredibly quick on the dragstrip, as we’ve all seen.

At the recent PSCA street car nationals in Fontana, CA, renowned turbocharged doorslammer racer John Mihovetz was behind the wheel of a really sharp looking Lightning owned by Steve Cooper from San Francisco, who regularly competes in the Super Street class – which runs on an 8.60 index – with the truck.

The Lightning is powered by a 5.4-liter modular Ford motor, which most notably powers the venomous Shelby Mustang GT500, with a 3.4 Whipple supercharger on top – feeding it the boost that it craves. The 5.4 also is the driving force behind the race-oriented Cobra Jet Mustang, but this one in particular has a custom cam and piston designed by Mihovetz himself. The engine is backed by a three speed TurboHydro transmission, and has run as quick as 8.30 at 162 miles per hour while weighing in at a surprisingly light (for a truck) 3000 pounds. Cooper and Mihovetz are already fielding phone calls from FoMoCo out of curiosity as to how they ran that quick when the Cobra Jet with a similar combination can’t even get close.

Hats off to this group for building a truck that just flat moves out and entertaining those of us that enjoy seeing a truck go fast.