1976-1980 - 1976 Ford Mustang II Pro Stock
No NHRA Pro Stock car had to carry more weight than the Cleveland powered Fords, and it showed in the results. The only national event win for Ford in ’76 was by Bob Glidden who won the Winternationals. Though event wins eluded Dyno Don, he did well match racing with bored and stroked Cleveland’s that measured anywhere from 390 to 406 inches and pushed the Mustang to bottom 8 second times. Jon Kaase was now on board as chief wrench. Don’s best showing for the season was a runner-up in Comp eliminator at the NHRA Summernationals where he ran the Mustang II as a C/Altered.
Don and Kaase put a concerted effort forward to win the NHRA Pro Stock crown in 1977. Those efforts saw the pair win three NHRA events while playing runner-up at two more. To get the job done, Don ran a 340 cubic inch Cleveland which moved the Mustang to record 8.50 times. In the nine NHRA national events Don ran in 1977, he qualified number one 3 times, number two, 4 times, number three once and number four once. In regional points meets, he qualified number one at all of them, and won them all.
The world champ Mustang II racked up the miles, doubling down as a match racer through 1978 powered by a 516 which was built upon an aluminum 429-460 block and aluminum heads. On a Wednesday night in August that Don used the 516 to record Pro Stock’s first 7 second pass. The historic moment came at a match race at Englishtown’s Crazy Eddies Night of Thrills when Don recorded a 7.97 at 175 mph.
Like many worn race cars, the 3-year-old Mustang was sold to finance a new car. Johnny Dowey purchased the Mustang at the end of the 1978 season. Dyno would buy the car back after crashing his first Fox body car, and campaigned it into 1980. A trick “clutchless” transmission drove competitors nuts and was frowned upon by the NHRA.
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