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Watson Racing rips off a pair of 8.70 passes in its IRS-equipped S550

By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Watson Racing

When we last checked in with Watson Racing’s street/strip 2015 Mustang project, the car had run the first 8-second e.t.’s in an S550 with an independent rear suspension, but the company wasn’t satisfied with those runs. That’s right, Chuck Watson Sr. was able improve upon his 8.90-second passes by a full two tenths. This time he was running at nearby Milan Dragway and the conditions were quite favorable.

We’ve been following the progress of this car since the project began before last year’s SEMA Show, including the additions of a Whipple supercharger, FAST EFI, lightweight windows, a bolt-in 9-inch IRS, and a 10-rib blower drive. On the eve of this year’s show in Las Vegas, the Watson team made two more test passes and the car ran even quicker.

“The 8.70 passes were achieved with a slight calibration adjustment and good air,” John Phillips, Product Manager at Watson Racing, explained. “…Still through mufflers and on drag radials. The track was obviously hooking by how much we’re hanging the tires.”

You can watch the Watson Racing 2015 Mustang hang the hoops at Milan right here…

Running this quick through a full exhaust on street tires, the Whipple-supercharged machine is clearly impressive. However, what’s more impressive is that there are likely even quicker times in the offing.

“This was a quick last test session for the year before we get it cleaned up to take to the show,” John added. “There is definitely more in it. A .50 or .60 would have been achieved if we could have stayed out a little longer. We just ran out of time.”

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