YOU GUYS ARE THE FIRST ONES TO WANT TO DO A STORY ON THIS CAR.

Really?
While were certainly pleased that no other magazines have chosen to fea-
ture Mike Maiers 1966 Mustangand that were the frst ones to show it to
youwe also have to question the sanity of the rest of our industry. Maybe,
in some bizarro opposite world where cats chase dogs and Glenn Beck drives
a Prius, this car is not worthy of ink and dead trees. But in the world where
we live, where cool thingslike Quentin Tarantino movies and handsome
guys with indecipherable European accentsare revered simply for their
coolness, we just couldnt resist throwing some love toward this machine.
The Man
The name Maier may already be familiar to some of you out there. The
more senior generation may recall the elder Maier, Bill, a fella who had
some success in the SCCAs Trans-Am series with a privateer Mustang
effort against some serious factory hardware in the early 1980s. Maier is
also a well-known name to legions of Mustang owners, who recognize
Maier Racing Enterprises as one of the leading suppliers of replica and
custom fberglass panels for every generation of the Ford pony car.
The younger readers may know the name from the companys support
of Frank Stagnaros multi-time Solo championship C Prepared Mustang.
That car won titles at the capable hands of both Stagnaro and Mike Maier.
So, yes, the name is recognizable to those in the know, and it certainly
belongs on the side of any Mustang hinting at some kind of performance.
But the blue beast you see on these pages has much more humble origins.
In fact, had it not been for a mild domestic challenge, the car may have
never reached its true potential.
The Machine
Purchased from a family friend in 2001, the Mustang that sat beside the
Maier Racing Enterprises shop was barely a shadow of the monster that
graces these pages. Sickly green, with brakes that barely worked and foors
that gave the driver an excellent view of the streets of Hayward, California,
the car served mostly as storage for the parts Mike hoped to bolt on one day.
The original plan was a mild buildfun, quick, but nothing earth-
shattering. Mike had expressed to his then-wife-to-be, Brianne, that
hed like to have the car fnished in time for them to drive it away from
their rapidly approaching November 2005 wedding reception. She was
on board with that plan.
On board with it, that is, until it became clear that they would indeed
not be driving away from their wedding in it. In August 2005, Brianne
let Mike know that she was making limo arrangements, seeing as how the
Mustang had only progressed toward becoming yard art, not the chariot
that would whisk them off to their future lives together.
Put down that phone and hand me a wrench, woman! Mike replied,
in our imaginations. Actually, his response was probably something simi-
lar, and we fgure there must have been faint strains of Bill Conti music
playing as the threat of a limo became all the motivation Mike needed
to get busy on the Mustang.
In the three months leading up to the weddingprobably in montage
formMike stripped the car to bare metal, fxed the rust, applied the
blue paint over the formerly green bodywork, and bolted on a little more
performance in the suspension department. The fnal assembly took
place not long before Mikes tux went on, but the car made it through
the wedding without a hitch.
Grassroots Motorsports 59
Mike Maiers 1966 Mustang Marries Classic Pony Car Looks With Modern NASCAR Muscle
SOMETHING BLUE
story and photos by j.g. pasterjak unless otherwise credited
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Upping the Ante
From there, the car became a bit of a guinea pig for
Maier Racing Enterprises projects. A 302 replaced the
original 289, a top-loader trans took over for the original
gearbox, and a radical rocker-arm suspension took shape
in the rear.
The unique rear-suspension
arrangement places the JRI coil-
over shocks in the trunk and acti-
vates them using pushrods. These
pushrods are attached to the rear
axle at one end and to rocker
armswhich connect them to
the shocksat the other. This
setup reduces unsprung weight
and simplifies tuning by orders
of magnitude. Spring changes can
be accomplished in minutes and
without the use of tools, as each
end of the shocks is secured with
quick-release pins.
With developments like those,
the car was becoming increasingly
intense, so the Maier crew started
trying to fnd it a suitable competi-
tion outlet. Mike was well versed
in the SCCA Solo and road racing
scenes, but this car clearly didnt slot easily into any of
the existing classes.
These Guys Are Good
The solution presented itself in the form of the then-
budding Goodguys AutoCross series. Goodguys Enterprises,
Inc., runs a series of car shows and swap meets focusing on
older American iron, street machines and hotrods. With
the emerging popularity of pro touring-style machines at
its shows, Goodguys added autocross events to the mix.
This appealed to the Maier crew as a good showcase for the
blue Mustang. A bonus feature of these autocrosses: Theyre
highly promoted. Fans line the edges of the pavement at
every event, something the Maier camp wasnt used to
seeingeven in high-level SCCA autocrossing.
Mike, a national-caliber autocrosser, was piloting the
car, so it was no surprise when the car came out of the
chute winning.
What started out as a mildly prepped alternative to a wedding limo quickly went
the hardcore route. A lightly used NASCAR motor was dropped in, providing
obscene amounts of motive force. Inside, the car remains largely stock, but Sparco
race seats occasionally replace the stock seats for autocross and track use.
source
Maier Racing Enterprises, Inc.
maierracing.com
(510) 581-7600
photo courtesy mike maier
photo courtesy mike maier
Grassroots Motorsports 62
Next Level
Of course, racers will be racers, and even though the Mustang was a peren-
nial winner in the Goodguys events, Maier wanted to turn things up a notch.
During this time, the Maier gang was also forging a relationship
with Roush Yates. You may have
heard of that team from a little
series called NASCAR, but heres
something you probably dont
know: In addition to building
and campaigning topnotch stock
cars, they also maintain one of the
greatest racing garage sales in the
history of ever.
See, if youre running in an
incredibly competitive series with
major bucks at stake, you tend to
be a little free with the credit card.
When thousandths of a second
matter, you dont worry about get-
ting the most life out of your components, and you tend to replace them
far before their actual service life has expired. One of the side benefts
of this luxurious, hedonistic motorsports lifestyle is that these lightly
used parts need to go somewhere. In this case, that somewhere is Roush
Yates, and one call to them can net you some supreme racing hardware
for pennies on the dollar.
Engines, transmissions, rear ends, gears, safety gear, suspension
components, brakesnearly every part you can think of is available in
lightly used condition from Roush Yates. The Maier crew took delivery
of a one-race-old road course motor from the Nationwide series. While
the builders wont reveal specifc numbers, this motor blats out about
825 horsepower, makes roughly 550 lb.-ft. of torque, and spins easily
to 9200 rpm.
The C&R four-speed transmission is really about three gears too
generous, as the car is capable of spinning the tires in any gear. Given a
deft right foot, however, the amount of power it can put to the ground
through the torque arm-aided rear suspension is quite astounding. Lean-
ing into the throttle in second gear is like hitting the fast-forward button
on real life. Things that are in front of you are suddenly behind you, and
things that are behind you are suddenly irrelevant.
But the car does most of its work on street tiresGoodguys rules
require 200 treadwear or aboveso thats a lot of power and torque to
fnesse through rubber that was probably never designed with such lofty
power levels in mind. As a driver of a nationally competitive CP car,
Mike is no stranger to horsepower, but hes also used to putting it to the
TOP: One of the most radical parts of the car is the rocker-arm rear-suspension setup that places the JRI coil-overs in the trunk. Mike Maier
swapped out the springs in about 5 minutes before we headed out for a photoshoot. LEFT: That big NASCAR motor bolted right in and
started on the frst crank. It puts out more than 825 horsepower. When the engine arrived from Roush Yates, it was complete except for
the ignition and induction. Mike bolted on a carb, slapped in a distributor and drove away (at a very high speed, we imagine). BOTTOM
LEFT: A look underneath the car makes it clear why the Mustang doesnt win more car shows, but always manages to impress on the
stopwatch. BOTTOM RIGHT: The rear suspension is located by a torque arm longitudinally and a Watts link laterally. The pushrods that
actuate the shocks are attached to the stock lower shock mounts.
Grassroots Motorsports 63
pavement through wide, gummy racing slicks.
Channeling that kind of thrust to the asphalt
through street tires defnitely commands your
attention, Mike reports, grossly understating
the obviously terrifying effects.
Full of Win
Success has been a common condition
for this Mustang in Mikes capable hands.
Although the car was built to its current
specs and arrived at its frst few big events in
somewhat unsorted condition, it has brought
home plenty of trophy hardware.
At the pro touring-centric Run to the
Coast, Maier Racing Enterprises won three
of the four performance events and placed
a narrow second in the road course compe-
titionwith brakes that were completely
cooked. At the Optima Battery Challenge,
the car finished in the top five in all the
performance events, bested only by far newer
and more sophisticated machinery. And at
the Goodguys national championships, the
Maier camp scored a convincing win despite
some last-minute additions. The still-hot anti-
roll bars for the car had been overnighted to
Mikes hotel just moments before he left for
the airport to meet the car, which was being
towed to the event by his father-in-law.
As for the cars maiden voyage at the hands
of Mike Maierwhen it served as a wedding
getaway carthat was the frst in a long line
of successes for Old Blue. Mike and his wife,
Brianne, will celebrate their seventh anniversary
shortly after you read this story.
And perhaps most exciting, you
read it here frst.
1966 Ford MusTANG
owner: Mike Maier, Maier Racing Enterprises
engine: Roush Yates Nationwide road course motor,
roller cam, R452 block, Roush Yates valve-
train and D3 heads
horsepower: 825 (estimated)
torque: 550 lb.-ft. (estimated)
transmission: C&R CR1V2 Car of Tomorrow transmission
suspension: Maier Racing coil-over double A-arm, Howe
ball joints, JRI triple-adjustable shocks,
adjustable roll center, Speedway engineering
anti-roll bar front; Maier Racing Extreme
Rear Suspension, Speedway foater housing
torque arm, Maier rocker arm coil-over
system in trunk w/JRI coil-overs, 0.5-in.
rear anti-roll bar, Watts link rear
steering: ABS Power Brake steering box
brakes: Wilwood Spec 37 12x1.25-in. rotors,
6-piston Superlite calipers front; Wilwood
Dynalite calipers, 12x.810-in. rotors rear
wheels: 18x10-in. American Racing
tires: 275/35-18 Dunlop Direzza Z1
weight: 3200 lbs. w/140-lb. driver, 51/49 percent
front/rear distribution