S197 Mustang Takes Down S550 in Act of Pure Cannibalism
It might not be an apples-to-apples comparison, but this Mustang-on-Mustang action is still notable.
For the most part, we tend to focus on drag races pitting a Mustang against a Camaro or Dodge boat (ahem, Challenger or Charger) around these parts. Mainly because there’s nothing more fun than watching our beloved Fords destroy the competition at the strip. But every once in a while, we come across a good race pitting Mustang against Mustang. That includes this particular video from YouTuber Wheels. And even though it depicts what some might call an act of cannibalism, it is quite interesting for a number of reasons.
For starters, with the exception of the last-gen GT500, the S197 Mustang gets a lot of flack in general. And we aren’t just talking about the early 3-valve cars, either. The first-gen Coyote cars are obviously behind the 8-ball when it comes to power, requiring a bit more work to extract the same numbers as a similarly equipped S550. So if you’re doing an apples-to-apples straight-line comparison, the S550 will win nine times out of 10.
However, this particular race doesn’t appear to be equal. Our silver S550 Mustang looks to be stock, or at least pretty close. More importantly, he’s running on what appears to be a set of stock PP1 tires. The S197 lining up across from him is a totally different story. We’re not sure what mods this Mustang sports under that cowl hood, of course. But we do see his drag pack, complete with nice sticky slicks in the rear.
Thus, this particular race turns out to be a very good one. The S197 jumps out to an early lead, but the S550 hangs in there until the end. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the times either car runs. But in an earlier race, the newer Mustang mustered a fairly slow 13.81-second pass. Which leads us to believe that it’s either stock, or the driver is fairly green at drag racing. Perhaps it’s the latter, because he sure takes his time staging in this particular race.
Regardless, this clip is proof that an S197 can in fact run with an S550. Most certainly not if they’re both similarly equipped, of course. But that ever-important driver mod matters more than you might think!
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