Ford Mustang Roundup - Sensory Over Load

Randy Dunphy was flat-out driving hard through the corners. No doubt the car and driver surprised many high-powered late-model participants, what with a 400-plus-horse 331, Dralle Engineering prepped suspension, and Randy's considerable experience.

We hitched a ride in the impressive '96 Cobra racer run by Brad's Custom Auto in order to get a glimpse of the FE-powered Cobra replica at speed-er, OK, that was just part of why we were riding shotgun with Brian Holsten at the helm. We're suckers for fast cars of any genre, and the 600-horse Vortech-blown four-cam car was one of the elite on this day. Thanks, Brian!

The morning of the Pony Trails dawned bright and beautiful, with some 200 participants showing up for a drive to the park at Mud Mountain Dam, where lunch and plenty of car talk/admiring would ensue. Groups of approximately 15 cars were sent out in staggered starts, with this '73 Mach 1 being our team leader. We want to thank Jeff Winne and Jeanie McCain for letting us use their convertibles ('03 Cobra and '06 GT) as mobile shooting platforms.

Canadian Peter Bulcock makes the trip to Seattle from British Columbia almost every year in his '78 Cobra II, and included Pony Trails in his schedule this time around. We never tire of checking out this car's engine compartment, where-surprise-we find a dual-quad Boss 302 with custom headers that are a near work of art.

Good tunes and nitrous surely made for a fun drive in this '70 Boss 302.

Performance Fords of all shapes and sizes made the road trip this year. Seen here are a tastefully modified '66 GT coupe and several Panteras.

Saturday is traditionally the judged show, with classes from concourse to modified. One of the most striking of the latter was this silver '70 Mach 1, sporting now unavailable Edelbrock wheels.

This pretty yellow coupe was another modified- this one with quite a story behind it. James and Judy Joki are the original owners, though the couple sold it in 1975, finally buying it back as a basket case in 2000. This time around the car obviously runs an injected 5.0-liter, looking for all the world as the factory would have done it.

Sunday is the biggest day of the event, with a giant People's Choice show with upwards of 1,000 cars. Dave McDonald's '66 Shelby is always a crowd favorite, being 1 of just 29 non-Hertz GT350s to come from the factory with a black topcoat. Other than the R-model apron, it looks stock, but it sports a 347 stroker built on a Boss 302 block.