I'm in the process of finishing up some travel plans. No, I'm not going on a vacation (yet); just getting things in order for another tech road trip.

The plan, which you'll of course read about in a future issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords, involves installing some parts on a brand-new 'Stang, making dyno hits, and tearing up the dragstrip, too.

Late-model Mustangs are made for the dragstrip, aren't they.

I know drag racing isn't for everybody. But, I really hope that many of you either take your Ponies down the 1,320 fairly regularly--or at least have hit the 'strip just once.

Here in Southern California, the hard-hookin', eighth-mile dragstrip at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, definitely is the hot spot on Thursday nights.

I went out to "The 'Dale" and took in the action a few weeks ago, and really had a good time.

Working on T-top Coupe yesterday, and the around-the-shop chatter about making 1,000 street-driven, rear-wheel horsepower is the thing that made me think about street racing this morning and all the "wrong" that goes with it.

A thousand ponies at the feet is obnoxious power for managing in a Fox-body Mustang, especially on the street. It will be a challenge to simply drive the car with any semblance of normalcy, so why would I even consider "racing" it on one of our local boulevards?!

I guess those thoughts are the catalyst for this morning's message: Even if you don't make anything close to 1,000 horsepower, take your racing to the track, you guys.

In this new age of very fast "street" 'Stangs, we're all much better off if we save the high-speed racing exploits for the places where they're OK. I'm glad the cats and ladies who run at Irwindale have got that figured out. It really looked like everyone was having a lot of fun out there.