As far as many Blue Oval fans are concerned, the pinnacle of the sixth generation S550 Ford Mustang was achieved between 2020 and 2022 with the production of the Shelby GT500 model, which returned alongside the Bullitt edition Mustang GT after a long hiatus.
It was six years since people last saw the GT500, and the Shelby-branded Mustang was not going to disappoint – especially since it also had to top the popularity of the GT350. With many lessons learned from there, Ford Performance took its 5.2-liter V8 and used a cross-plane crankshaft to generate no less than 760 horsepower. And you would think that's enough to beat just about everyone, not just the regular Hellcats, right?
Well, as it turns out, it's time to guess again. There is no need to take our word for granted, as we have an example from the good folks over at the racing-focused ImportRace channel on YouTube, who have a nice set of brawls focused on a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 that still has the dealer's sticker attached to the passenger-side window.
Luckily, the driver doesn't need it to be removed at the local racetrack because we are dealing with Island Dragway, an NHRA-approved quarter-mile dragstrip located in Great Meadows, New Jersey. Over there, on a rather cloudy day, the gray and black-striped Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 met with a classic SuperSport, a Dodge Ram truck sporting massive clouds of black diesel smoke, a black Chevrolet Camaro RS featuring vintage looks and modern brawl, a tuned Fox Body Mustang, and – finally – yet another fellow GT500 representative.
As it turns out, this Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 was either an unlucky fellow or someone who needs to practice much harder to make the quarter-mile dragstrip appearances perfect. In effect, the driver only won the skirmish against the SuperSport (10.67s versus 12.39s) because the rest of his passes were all over the place. Next, against the Dodge Ram, it got left behind in a cloud of smoke (10.92s versus 11.3s).
After that sound beating, the beautifully restored and thoroughly enhanced Camaro RS gave it an old-school lesson in quarter-mile dragstrip manners (11.4s versus 11.86s), followed by a couple of Fords showing it how it's done. First, a white Fox Body came to the party and narrowly snatched the victory (10.72s versus 10.84s), and secondly, a fellow GT500 revealed that many things could be improved – including the ETs: 9.87s versus 10.62s. Cool, right?
If that's not enough, maybe a quirky little Audi S3 that's been tuned will make your racing day – it, too, faced a lot of hardships at the track in the form of a Mustang, a Silverado, a CT4-V Blackwing, and even a McLaren in the second video embedded below!
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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