One glance at Domenic Friguglietti’s 1967 Mustang coupe will suggest it is a full-on race car, and as it currently sits, he plans to race it in local 28-inch tire classes. But considering today’s typical drag-and drive machines, it’s also easy to see that the lines between street car and drag car have been blurred completely. With its turbocharged engine combination, it wouldn’t be hard for Friguglietti’s Mustang to do both.
The veteran paint and body man found the Mustang for sale on RacingJunk, and it has an interesting backstory.
“I bought the car the summer of 2017 in Indiana,” says the Bloomington, Illinois, resident. “I called about it and it turns out a guy who worked for John Force owned it. He was one of his assistant crew chiefs. It was a pretty cool experience — got a tour of the shop and liked the car and brought it home.”
Friguglietti originally planned to drag and drive the Mustang, and while “messing around” one night, he hurt the engine. That kicked off the build.
“I was going to build the car for Drag Week, then started following Ultra Street and decided to take the car in that direction,” Friguglietti tells us, but eventually he changed his mind.
“I liked Ultra Street. It’s a great class, I just only have so many vacation days, and the traveling I don’t enjoy as much anymore. Or the cost.” With those thoughts in mind, Friguglietti switched gears once more and decided to focus on a local 28-inch tire class.
His Mustang still rides on its leaf spring rear suspension, but it has been fitted with Tin Soldier Race Cars leaf spring mounts. The leaf springs suspend a fabricated 9-inch rearend by Burkhart Chassis, and the same company installed the 25.3 roll cage to keep the classic colt stiff, sturdy, and safe. The unibody will need that, as Friguglietti has a highly capable powerplant for it.
Starting with an 8.2-inch deck, World Products Man O’War block, the Jeff Burns Racing Engines-built powerplant measures 356 cubic inches in displacement and is topped by a set of Bennett Racing 265 High Port cylinder heads. The Ultra Street-spec 76mm turbo fitted to the small-block Ford in the photos is soon to be replaced by an 88mm unit that is currently being updated by a Forced Inductions.
Turbos, of course, are the most popular power adder for drag-and-drive cars, so the valvetrain choices are possibly the limiting factor over the car’s diet of M1 fuel, which many drag-and-drive racers use and either switch fuels at the track or run dual fuel systems.
Just as well, Friguglietti could do okay with the three-speed Turbo 400 transmission, torque converter, and shifter by M&M Transmission, though it could benefit from a Gear Vendors overdrive, or a very tall street tire which is the choice of many competitors. Add in the capable tuning by Redline Motorsports’ Matt Bell and perhaps there might be some drag-and-drive events in the Mustang’s future. For now, it’s local competition, however, and spending less time traveling to events and more time with family and friends.
“I have a great family… my wife Renae, daughter Anna, and our Boxador Charlie,” notes Friguglietti. “I have a lot of great people that help, too: Matt Bell, Brian Edwards, Chuck Burkhart, Jeff Burns, Clint Derango, Gage Sattler, but most all my wife for putting up with this madness.”
