Gary Pundsack's 2017 Ford Mustang GT
It shouldn’t surprise Ford fans to know that there are plenty of late-model Mustang owners who tell us they have modified their cars to make nearly 1,000 horsepower to go racing. So what makes Gary Pundsack and his 1,000-horse 2017 Ford Mustang GT that he calls “Roxie” so surprising? No, it’s not that Roxie has also been an award-winner at SEMA. Rather, it’s that Pundsack happens to be 75 years old. Check out his Mustang Story to find how Gary is having such a good time with Roxie that he has no plans to slow down anytime soon …
“Roxie is a 2017 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 that I ordered new in June of 2017, and took delivery of in September of 2017. From the beginning, it was my plan for her to be a SEMA car. The only options I selected were the 6R80 transmission and the 3.55 differential gears as I knew I'd be changing everything. Her original color was Ingot Silver and she now sports a pearl white, chrome blue and matte blue wrap. She's been a three-time consecutive SEMA Featured Vehicle (2017-2019 and had planned to be at the 2020 show as well.).
“My name is Gary Pundsack, and Roxie and I reside in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am 75 years old and this is my second Mustang — the first being a 1969 Ford Mustang Ram-Air Cobra Jet that I ordered and bought in 1969.
“My story has garnered a high level of media interest in the past and I expect more feature articles in the coming year. Part of the media and crowd appeal is that I am a 75-year-old credentialed car guy returning to auto racing after a 43-year hiatus, as a bucket list item. In addition to SEMA, Roxie has been on display at curated car shows as well. Three auto enthusiast magazines have done feature articles on my car build, my plans for it and some historic trivia about me. I have 36 sponsors for Roxie's show and race effort. She's been built in a one-car garage mostly by myself, with help from friends as needed.
“Roxie makes over 1,000 crank horsepower and is equipped with the finest parts in the automotive industry. In her simplest form, she's a stock long-block motor that has been supercharged with a large intercooler, throttle body, large MAF and cold-air induction; her cooling is based on larger radiator and more; she has a triple-pump high volume E-85 fuel system with braided steel lines throughout; high-flow fuel injectors; long-tube headers with a short street-legal exhaust system; a built transmission with high stall convertor and hardened internals with fluid cooling; carbon fiber driveshaft; complete drag race suspension front and rear; trunk-mounted battery and fuel control system electronics; she has a 6-point roll bar with 5-point racing harnesses on stock seats; and she rides on drag races wheels and tires with skinnies in the front and the biggies in the rear. When we return to the track next, I'm expecting to see her run in the low nines and over 150 mph in quarter-mile drag racing.”
