Long-time drag racer Darryl Stephen has been out of the seat of his gorgeously presented Ford Mustang for just over a year but will make his return at the Riverbend Nationals come April 5-7.
The team have had limited track time since the team’s debut in Pro Stock in 2020, however, they have been gaining ground in the new driver/car combo every time it hit’s the track. “My goal is to bring the car home in one piece with a few more runs under my belt”. The arrival of Pro Stock at the bend gives the team a good opportunity to gain experience with a planned 3 runs on both Saturday and Sunday.
Pro Stock’s arrival at the bend for the Riverbend Nationals could create a perfect opportunity for the team to race the Mustang and gain more laps and experience going into the remainder of the 2024 season. The team will have American crew chief Joe Schott in their corner for this event, hoping to get on top of their tune up and start seeing the Mustang reach its full potential.
Darryl spent his 2023 in Super Gas duties after a short stint in the Mustang at the New Year Slam meeting. “I chose to spend the last year getting the Telstar finished, I decided to step back from pro stock and go and do some sportsman racing, we recently finished building the Telstar, so we decided to take that out and get it sorted which we did and managed to win the last Super Gas race at Portland.”
The transition from Super Gas to Pro Stock has been a steep learning curve for Darryl, having raced automatic cars throughout his career to now having to change his routine for his manually shifted Mustang. “I have driven a bunch of sportsman cars and all of them have had automatic gearboxes in them so the thing I am finding a little difficult in the Mustang is hitting the right shift points, I tend to short shift from first to second. I am also a little bit shy revving it up”. Which he emphasised his engine builder doesn’t like.
The high revving small blocks are constantly on the limit throughout the run and any mistake inside the cockpit will lose vital time on the track which will be reflected in the ET. Although Darryl is confident in the car’s ability to be competitive in the tight field “if the driver can cut a light and hit the shift points there is absolutely no reason why the Mustang cannot run up there with the big guys”
So far there is 11 Pro Stock cars entered and has been talk of more to come. With entries set to close on 28 March, Pro Stock could be edging towards a 16 car field and will be featured alongside Top Fuel, Top Doorslammer, and Pro Stock Motorcycle
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Photo: Cackling Pipes