Taking the ’Cake

Terry “Beefcake” Reeves is the pilot of the quickest and fastest S550

By Steve Turner
Photos by SID297 and Steve Turner

Terry “Beefcake” Reeves came onto our radar as the pilot of an SVT Lightning truck that ran quick e.t.’s at the drag strip. Over the years he has run a number of different project cars—from Taurus SHOs to Cobras—at Ford races across the country. Eventually, the full-time Ford new-car salesman launched his own aftermarket parts sales company, Team Beefcake Racing.

Back in the day, Terry sold health supplements and had a passing resemblance to Cartman from South Park, whose alter ego Beefcake was born when he ingested a bodybuilding supplement. Over the years, that name stuck, as did Terry’s affinity for running quick e.t.’s at the drag strip.

In recent years, the promotional vehicle for his company has been a 2011 Mustang GT equipped with a Vortech supercharger. Last season he competitively campaigned the car in the NMRA’s Coyote Modified class, but this year he decided move up to the quicker Renegade class. However, that process has taken a bit longer than he expected.

“The 2011 car is stuck in ‘chassis jail’ but the plans are to run it in Renegade,” Terry said. “So we brought the 2015 car just to pick up a few points.”

He would earn a few points in the class championship chase by entering his new 2015 Mustang GT, which was modded by the crew at Finish Line Performance, in the class at Maryland International Raceway, but the car didn’t have the performance credentials to win any rounds—unless the racer in the other lane had an issue. However, the race did provide the opportunity to see just how quickly his supercharged street car would run.

As it turned, out the car ran strong right off the bat. With a 9.78 at 142.84 mph blast, Beefcake’s GT became the quickest and fastest 2015 Mustang GT on the planet by eclipsing the previous record of 9.91 at 135 mph. He then backed his record up with an even quicker 9.74 at 144 mph pass.

What makes this performance all the more impressive is it was achieved by a legitimate street car with bolt-on parts. The car is not gutted. It doesn’t have a race engine. And, it weighs a whopping 4,100 pounds.

“I think the IRS is holding up much better so far compared to the ’99-’04 cars. The suspension is completely stock except for the BMR cradle and diff bushings and their toe rods; No springs, shocks, struts,” Terry explained.

“We’ll be adding the Viking Crusader double-adjustable shocks we sell this week, and hope to get more control over the way the tires hit on the launch to keep the tires from unloading. Sixty-foots are in the 1.51-1.53 pretty, consistently, but really the car is better than that,” he added. “We are shifting into second at 1.1 to 1.2 seconds into the run… Dropping from the 3.55 gears to 3.15s and shifting just past the 60-foot would show more impressive numbers, but for down-track, we like the 3.55s.”

Clearly the combo is headed in a racier direction, but running deep into the 9-second zone with an IRS-equipped street car is no joke.

“We had more in the car, it spun out of the hole and lost .5 seconds there. It was still spinning in Second, which caused it to drag down there, and hit the limiter on three-four shift,” Terry said of his. “The rpm dropped an extra 700 than what they normally do. All that, and we still ran the same e.t. The car had the power to go 9.5s or 9.4s on that one…”

You can watch his record-setting run right here…

Of course, making close to 900-rear-wheel horsepower with a blower and a stock engine and a stock PCM requires a special level of custom tuning. With Terry’s car burning E85 and running nearly 19 pounds of boost, it’s amazing that it was dialed in over the Internet.

“The tune is the single most important part of the equation. The 2015 cars are way more involved to tune than the previous Coyote engines. That’s why you don’t see a plethora of 2015 cars running great numbers right now,” Terry elaborated. ‘”Lund Racing really has a good handle on it, and we learn more every time we log the car for them. The car is 100-percent remote tuned. Lund has never seen a 2015 kit in person, as this was the first kit they sent out from Vortech and Lund was still able to do some impressive things with the car from halfway across the country.”

At the track, Terry was creeping up on the boost with a boost controller and trying to balance an estimated 900 rear-wheel horsepower with the realities of a nearly stock independent rear suspension. Since he has direct experience with a similar combo and a solid axle, Beefcake knows that getting the IRS to work at this power level and beyond will be challenge.

“On my 2011 car, we can run a 15-inch wheel, and get the Radial Pro under the car. The tire selection is much more limited on the 2015s, with the 17 being the smallest size that can be run,” Terry said. “The ’11 car is completely dialed in on the suspension, we can put it 5 to 6 feet in the air at will. Suspension will definitely be a challenge here. And, at 4,120 pounds with a full tank, it’s heavy!”

So if there was ever any doubt that streetable S550s would make viable drag racers, consider it removed. However, don’t expect Beefcake to rest on his 9.7-second laurels. He has big plans for this car, though keeping it streetable is still part of the mission.

“We started off the trailer at a 10.05. And with tweaking the tune via datalogging, we were able to drop that to the 9.7 range,” Terry said. “With better traction and some more logging, the goal is that 8-second pass on the stock engine.”

We can’t wait to see how this story develops. If he achieves that stock engine goal, what’s next for the quickest 2015 Mustang at the moment?

“A BES built short-block, more boost, and suspension work,” Terry said. “Enough to make it an 8-second daily driver like our 2011 car used to be.”

“Eight-second 2015 Mustang daily driver” definitely has a nice ring to it…

The Mod List

Powertrain

Block: Stock Coyote aluminum
Crankshaft: Stock Coyote
Rods: Stock Coyote
Pistons: Stock Coyote
Camshafts: Stock Coyote w/ billet timing gears
Cylinder Heads: Stock Coyote
Intake: Stock Coyote
Power Adder: Vortech JT-B-Trim supercharger w/ air-to-air intercooler and Team Beefcake Racing torque booster wastegate
Fuel System: Fore Innovations fuel system w/ Team Beefcake Racing billet rails and Injector Dynamics 1,300cc fuel injectors
Exhaust: Stainless Works long-tube headers w/ Stainless Works mid-pipe and Stainless Works LMF Retro cat-back
Transmission: 6R80 automatic w/ Circle D 3C converter, Exedy Racing Stage 2 Clutches and TCS billet shaft
Rearend: Stock IRS 8.8-inch w/ 3.55 gears, The DriveShaft Shop 1,400-horsepower halfshafts; BMR cradle and diff bushings; and The DriveShaft Shop one-piece aluminum driveshaft

Electronics

Engine Management: Stock Tricor PCM w/ Lund Racing custom tune
Ignition: Stock

Front Suspension

K-member: Stock
A-arms: Stock
Struts: Stock
Springs: Stock
Brakes: Stock
Wheels: Race Star
Tires: 215/65-15 Hoosier

Rear Suspension

Shocks: Stock
Springs: Stock
Control Arms: Stock w/ BMR Suspension adjustable toe rods
Brakes: Stock
Wheels: Race Star
Tires: 28x10x17-inch Hoosier slicks

Quickest 2015 Mustang GT Gallery

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