Watch a worked Pontiac GTO take on a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 in a pair of head-to-head street racing battles.
This week’s featured Kill Story was originally posted to the forum by Its Stock from the T maR YouTube Channel, and they show a Pontiac GTO taking on a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 in a pair of races. The two muscle cars run from a dig and a roll, with the decade-old Pontiac holding its own against the higher performance modern Mustang.
The competitors
The details on these two vehicles are short, but we know that the Pontiac GTO is powered by a 402 cubic-inch stroker motor with a high performance heads/cam package as well as a nitrous system that is only used on the run from a dig. The Shelby GT350 Mustang has had the catalytic convertors removed and the engine has been tuned to run on E85.
In other words, the Ford should be making a little more than stock power while the GTO should be making a whole lot more power than it did when stock.
The runs
The video above shows the new Shelby GT350 Mustang and the GTO running from a 30 mph roll. On that run, the Mustang jumps out at the start and walks away, beating the Pontiac by a healthy margin. There is no mention of the GTO’s nitrous setup on this run, so considering how badly it was beaten – we are going to guess that no laughing gas was used in the roll race.
In the second video (below), the two cars go from a dig and then Pontiac jumps out to a huge early lead. The Mustang reels him in, but right as the GT350 gets alongside, the GTO driver activates the nitrous system and pulls back into the lead.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
