THE TEACHER - Martin Girard

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T

here’s no denying that the Fox Body Mustang is one of, if not the most popular platform for drag racing.

Brand loyalties aside, if you stop and think about it for second, few people would dare put a Ford or Mopar engine in a first Gen Camaro, yet we’re starting to see as many LS powered Mustangs as we do Ford powered ones over the past few years. Call it what you will, but the fact is that, pound for pound, the Fox body is hard to beat if you want a lightweight candidate to build into a street or strip car.

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec’s Martin Girard could be considered a purist with his wild ’91 dragstrip-dedicated build – yes, it’s powered by a small block Ford but, despite being brutally quick, he still jambs through the gears with a 5-speed transmission!

“The story started when I was 17 years old with the purchase of my first Fox Body Mustang. It was a street car with some modifications,” said Girard. It was his first Mustang that, like it did for so many, set the hook and would be the catalyst to Girard continuing on with the Fox Mustang body, and also getting in-

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The owner-modified 25.2 cert Chromoly roll cage and chassis work was originally done by Hooken Chassis Race Car in Missouri.

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The wicked small block Ford started with a Dart block and bullet proof rotating assembly and boasts Blue Thunder heads reworked

by BES

Two Pro Systems Dominator style 1050 custom nitrous carbs top off the SBF.

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The Teacher in the staging lanes with the teacher, Martin Girard.

I was driving a 10.20 street car with a naturally aspirated 408inch SBF to work every day! volved in drag racing them.

By the time 2000 rolled around Girard would buy another Fox Body that would see street and strip duty. “We started with running 12 seconds in the ¼, then 11 seconds and eventually 10s, all while keeping it a street car,” Girard explained. The one thing that’s a bit different in this story is that Martin nev60 60

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er swayed from shiftn’ gears, “I’ve always driven manual transmissions in my 20 years of drag racing, I never had an automatic! I like the feeling of driving a fast car and changing the gears myself.”

Just like many of us who have experimented with manual transmissions during the evolution of building a car to go quicker and faster, with each new modification Girard experienced the trials and tribulations of that game, finding the limitations of each transmission along the way.

“That second Mustang had a Tremec transmission but at one point I decided to install a Ford Top Loader 4 speed pro-shifted by Liberty. I was driving a 10.20 street car with a naturally aspirated 408-inch SBF to work every day!”

When daily driving the car became not quite so practical,

[Above] From left to right: Marc-André Fortin, Gabriel Jetté, Martin Girard, Patrick Donnelly and Yves Bourgeois with Martin’s kids William and Kariane.

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A carbon fiber one! Mark Williams carbon fiber discs and pads help with the stopping duties out back.

A carbon fiber pro stock style scoop si of a custom cowl hood pulls massive atmosphere in to feed the twin D

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itting on top amounts of Doms.

the decision was made to convert it to mini tub and cage it. From there, nitrous was added to the street motor along with a GF5R G-Force 5-speed clutchless trans. The results were a 9.27 ET, then, with a few more upgrades and a swap to a G-Force GF 2000 the following year, 8.91s.

By 2008 Girard decided he had reached the limit of the 408 SBF and grabbed an old class engine built to run Hot Street with NMRA; a naturally aspirated 398-inch with 865HP good for 10,000 rpm, and, as always the 5-speed found a home behind it. When the car was completed, however, the unthinkable happened the first time out and Martin crashed, completely destroying the car. “It was a total loss and I got away with just a few minor injuries, thanks to the safety equipment,” Girard said.

This sequence of life events led Martin to the

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Not one but two nitrous kits, both from Induction Solutions, provide the extra hit needed to take on the turbo crowd in No Time drag racing.

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Mustang you see here, a 1991 former Hot Street class car that has been completely overhauled. Carroserie Xtreme took care of the body and paint, a new engine was built by Claude Gauthier and spec’d by Sam Vincent, and, once again it’s a Liberty Extreme clutchless 5-speed trans backing up the sprayed small block Ford.

Body and paint on the car speaks for itself, it’s flawless and kept that way by Girard and his team. The chassis was originally built by Hooken Chassis Race

Car and modified by Martin. Inside, the car is 100% racecar with the exception of the dash, but it is the G-Force trans that screams “hardcore”, that, and the Induction Solutions nitrous bottle.

The 422-inch small block Ford started life as a Dart Iron Eagle block. A Crower crank with GRP aluminum rods and Diamond custom nitrous pistons with Total Seal rings rotate inside, while a Bullet custom nitrous 55mm cam spec’d

by Sam Vincent actuates the valvetrain.

Blue Thunder 4.3 heads reworked at continued on page 72

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Girard not only keeps his Ford all Ford but just couldn’t part with shiftin’ gears after he had his first 12-second Mustang. Now, this deep 8-second (if not much quicker, but we didn’t say that) Mustang relies on a Liberty Extreme clutchless 5-speed trans with Trick Titanium bellhousing and McLeod soft lock single disc 10.5 clutch kit all redone by Cale Aronson.

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TIGHT FIT

Martin Girard 1991 Mustang Drag Car

Chassis Type & Mods:

Power Adder:

Suspension:

Electronics:

Modified Fox Body chassis, stock front firewall/stock front and rear frame rails, mini tub,25.2 cert Chromoly roll cage originally built by Hooken Chassis Race Car in Missouri and owner modified.

Complete Racecraft front suspension (k-member, A-arms, bump steer, caster camber plates), AFCO spindle mount struts with Landrum springs, TBM spindle mount brake kit, RC Comp Hammer-S 17inch wheels.

Ladder bar rear suspension, Quartermax anti roll bar, Santhuff double adjustable rear shocks valved and done by Ron Galbreath at Afterwork Suspension, Mark Williams carbon fiber discs and pads, Weld single beadlock with 28” MT slick.

Body & Paint:

Carbon fiber front clip/hood , pro stock carbon fiber scoop, carbon fiber doors, Optic Armor windshield, carbon fiber quarter window and back glass by Crafty Fast Cars, fiberglass deck lid, Skinny Kid wing, red EP Ford paint code done by Carrosserie Xtreme.

Engine:

SBF 422 CI, iron eagle dart block, Crower lightweight crank, GRP aluminum rods, 4.175 Diamond custom nitrous pistons, Total Seal rings, Bullet custom nitrous 55mm cam spec by Sam Vincent, Jesel belt drive, Peterson external oil pump/pan vac combo , .937 Jesel lifters, Blue Thunder 4.3 heads done by Roush and reworked at BES, Victory titanium int/exh valves, PSI 1255 valve springs, PAC titanium locks and retainers, TD shaft rockers.

Custom stainless owner-built front exit headers, all engine spec by Sam Vincent and all assembly by Claude Gauthier (Atelier C.G) QC.

Induction & Fuel:

Wilson custom sheet metal intake, pro stock shear plate, 2 Pro Systems Dominator style 1050 custom nitrous carbs, Aeromotive A2000 fuel pump, Magnafuel fuel log, Holley 830 regulator and 4 port Magnafuel regulator.

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Induction Solutions direct port first kit and second is Induction Solution Punisher System (“I have only used the first kit, for now!), Edelbrock progressive nitrous controller.

MSD billet distributor, MSD crank trigger, Fire Core custom wires, MSD Digital 7, Nitrous Dave relay panel, Racepack V300SD with all the sensors and UDX dash, Go Lithium lightweight 16volt battery.

Transmission:

Liberty Extreme clutchless 5-speed trans, Trick Titanium bellhousing, McLeod soft lock single disc 10.5 clutch kit all redone by Cale Aronson.

Rear Differential:

Modified Ford 9 inch, Mark Williams aluminium third member & spool, lightweight 4.10 Pro gear, Strange gun drilled 40-spline axles, 5/8 studs, Mark Williams billet yoke and aluminum driveshaft.

How Many Years Racing?: 20 Thanks To:

“Thank you to all the industry people who make this passion for cars and racing possible. I couldn’t do all the maintenance between the run alone; I have the best crew; Marc André Fortin, Patrick Donnelly, Gabriel Jetté, Yves Bourgeois. Thanks to all you guys! I drive the car, tune the nitrous, read the racepack and tune the clutch each run so this car needs a lot of work! This season will be quieter because of Covid 19 and closed borders but we are doing some events in Canada and looking forward to Smackdown4 at St Thomas Dragway in September. We will continue to work hard to push on those big HP turbo guys, lol. Thanks also to JB James Broaddus the promoter of the NCSB class for helping me race in the USA, it’s not always easy when you are Canadian.”

The interior of the Mustang is all about the business of drag racing, and that is to get from point A to point B before the person in the other lane.

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As well as his own stout grudge drag car Martin developed a project car with his students which has taken on a life of its own over the past 17 years.

O

ur school project car was developed to help students learn and enjoy working together for a common goal.

Every department of the school has a job on this project; the Marketing and Sales Department for sponsorship, the Body Shop for the paint and all the body work and upkeep, the Auto Mechanics shop for some of the build and modifications and ongoing mechanical work, and the Electrical/Maintenance department for the electronics of the car, we want the whole school to be involved in the car! We have a special day each year with some of the other area schools and students around Quebec at Napierville Dragway. It’s a competition but shows the students that they can have fun at the race track where it is a controlled environment.”

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2000 Camaro

• 350 zz4 Crate engine • All forged internals, with mild Cam • Holley hi flow intake and throttle body • 150 hp nitrous shot Trans is TH350 with trans brake • Moser 9 inch rearend with 4.10 gears

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BES were studded in place, while a Wilson custom sheet metal intake with twin Pro Systems 1050 custom nitrous carbs top off the package, well almost tops it off. Nitrous comes into the equation via 2 systems by Steve Johnson’s Induction Solutions, the first being a direct port system and the second one of Johnson’s Punisher systems.

When the car was completed, Girard decided to “switch gears” and tackle No Time and Grudge racing, starting with the No Clock Small Block class at the 2018 Yellow Bullet Nationals. He also developed an identity for the Mustang, “We named the car The TEACHER because I am a mechanics teacher at

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CFCRS La Prairie QC.,” he said.

And at that first big race with the new car, The Teacher went to the semi-finals. Since then, they have competed at events on both sides of the border between No Clock Small Block and various 28-inch tire classes, but have had a light schedule this year due to Covid 19.

We’ve all been told at some point “when the teacher speaks, you need to listen”, and Martin did leave us with one final thought to take away with us, and that was simply; “we’ve only used the first kit, for now….”

So No Time racers take note, The Teacher is here and class is in session.

RPM

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