Mustang victories bookended what was otherwise a tough season of racing in the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season. The eleven races that made up the 2013 series saw Mustang BOSS 302 Mustangs battle entries from Aston Martin, Porsche, BMW, GM, and Nissan. Defending series champions Rum Bum Racing repeated their success by emerging from Lime Rock Park as repeat series champions. Their Porsche 911 Carrera claimed three victories, four podiums, and finished outside the top ten only once.

The season opened with the BMW Performance 200 at Daytona International Speedway on January 25th, where for the second consecutive year, Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson claimed victory. The driving duo had a recent history of “zero to hero” performances at the famed 3.56-mile track, starting in 2011 when Jack Roush Jr. stuffed his Mustang in the tires with brake failure on the race’s second lap. Roush and Johnson redeemed themselves in 2012 with a solid victory, and followed it up with a repeat win in 2013.

Round two commenced at the newly-completed Circuit of the Americas outside Austin, Texas on March 2nd. The race included the debut of Phoenix Performance’s Mustang BOSS 302, a switch for the team from their usual Subaru entry. Jack Roush Jr. was the highest-qualifying Mustang (he started 7th), but with twenty minutes remaining in the race, the #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang’s race ended in a very un-Roush-like fashion, while running third the #61’s engine expired with co-driver Billy Johnson behind the wheel. The highest finishing Mustang was 8th, driven by Roger Miller and Ian James.

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Left: Jesse Cox jumps over the fuel hose when the MoonPie Racing team practiced pit stops prior to the BMW Performance 200 at Daytona International Speedway. Right: Roger Miller rounds turn 18 during qualifying, as viewed from 251 feet above at Circuit of the Americas. Miller and co-driver Ian James were the highest finishing Mustang 8th.

Barber Motorsports Park was the third stop for the series on April 6th. ROUSH Performance had the fastest Mustang with Jack Roush Jr. starting 11th on the grid. Teammates Shelby Blackstock and Joey Atterbury brought home their #51 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R 9th, the best of the Fords. Rum Bum Racing backed up their 2012 win with another this year at the tight and winding northern Alabama track.

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Left: Jim Garrett straps in after taking the controls of the #05 Racers Edge Motorsports from Joel Janco. They suffered a few setbacks round two of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, and ultimately finished 23rd after qualifying 26th. Center: After last year’s high-flying start antics, the 2013 GS-class start at Barber Motorsports Park was much cleaner. Charles Espenlaub leads the field through turns one and two. Right: MoonPie Racing goes to work adding fresh tires and fuel to the #59 Mustang Boss 302R at Barber Motorsports Park while Dean Martin straps in behind the wheel. The team was forced to retire a few laps later after a hydraulic clutch release bearing failure. They finished 22nd.

John Edwards was the first to drive his Camaro under the checkered flag at Road Atlanta during the PricewaterhouseCoopers 250 on April 20, 2013. Edwards and co-driver Matt Bell benefited when Ian James slid his #158 Mustang BOSS 302R into the tire barrier at turn twelve late in the race. The high-speed turn leaves little room for error, and is notoriously dangerous. The severe impact left the Mustang upside-down on the tires, and the race clock expired before repairs to the track were complete. The #61 Mustang BOSS 302R of Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson finished 6th.

Rum Bum Racing notched their second win of the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season when drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi took the checkered flag during the Diamond Cellar Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The win on Father’s Day weekend helped the defending series champions maintain their 2013 championship points lead over the #9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro of Matt Bell and John Edwards. The Mustang teams struggled throughout the weekend to find the pace to match their competition, though the #51 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R finished 4th in the race.

Mark Boden and Bryan Sellers capitalized on their quick pace by winning the Continental Tire 150 at Watkins Glen on June 29th in their #46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3. To improve Mustangs competitiveness after Mid-Ohio, Grand-Am gave the Mustangs a 2mm larger air inlet restrictor (to 57mm total) and increased their rev limit 500 more RPM (now 8,000 total). However, Mother Nature played the biggest role during the weekend. Scattered rain showers peppered the racing surface with rain and sun, often at different points along Watkins Glen’s 3.4-mile circuit. The rapidly changing track conditions kept the crews, drivers, and corner workers on their toes. Sadly, the Mustangs newfound horsepower didn’t help on a wet track. Several cars went off-track in the alternating conditions, including the #51 and #61 ROUSH Performance Mustangs. John Yarosz and Andrew Aquilante drove the top-finishing Mustang, surviving the melee and finishing 8th.

Fall-Line Motorsports drivers Mark Boden and Bryan Sellers backed up their win at Watkins Glen when they kissed Indy’s yard of bricks after winning the Brickyard Sports Car Challenge race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26th. It was the second win in a row for their #46 BMW M3 in the 2013 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson were runners up with their ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R at the historic racetrack.

Matt Plumb drove the #13 Rum Bum Racing into victory circle as a repeat winner of the Road America 200 on August 10, 2013 after winning the same event last year. It was also the third time this season that Plumb and co-driver Nick Longhi took the top step of the podium this season, helping them solidify their points lead in the championship standings. The late Roger Miller and co-driver Ian James grabbed the best finish of the Mustangs with a 6th place finish in their Dempsey/Miller Racing Mustang BOSS 302R.

When John Edwards met co-driver Matt Bell in the winner’s circle after winning the SFP Grand Prix at Kansas Speedway on August 17, the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro gained the maximum points possible in their bid to win the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship. The victory was a welcome change from their bad luck in the previous two races that all but dashed their championship hopes. However, with their championship rivals Rum Bum Racing drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi standing next to them on the podium after their second-place finish in Kansas, the Stevenson Motorsports only closed their 54-point championship deficit by a four points.

For Mustang fans, there was a bright spot, the #51 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R finished third with Shelby Blackstock and Joey Atterbury at the controls. It was the first podium finish for either driver in their Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge careers.

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Top Left: The #51 of Joey Atterbury and Shelby Blackstock leads their sister #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R through the infield road course at Indianapolis. The 2.6-mile course utilizes the oval’s turn one and front straight. Top Right: In proper Mustang fashion, Ian James’s Mustang BOSS 302R lifts the inside front tire while exiting “Madness” in front of the fans. He finished 15th after co-driver Roger Miller started 21st at Mid-Ohio. Bottom Left: Corey Lewis and Ari Straus co-drove the #05 Racer’s Edge Motorsports Mustang BOSS 302R at Watkins Glen. Friday afternoon’s practice session was made treacherous by a drying track littered with standing water. Brave drivers drove on slicks and avoided the water. Bottom Right: Billy Johnson ended his Watkins Glen race in spectacular fashion when he slipped off a wet track and rolled his Mustang at turn six. While inverted, Johnson’s car was struck in the rear when another car skidded off the track into the helpless Mustang. Johnson and co-driver Jack Roush Jr. finished 21st after starting the race 23rd.

BGB Motorsports drivers Spencer Pumpelly and Jim Norman won the penultimate round of the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series at Laguna Seca on September 8th. The action-packed race was rewarding for some drivers—and frustrating to others. Championship leaders Nick Longhi and Matt Plumb of Rum Bum Racing came to Laguna Seca with a 51-point cushion on the only other team with a mathematical chance of an upset: the Stevenson Motosports duo of Matt Bell and John Edwards. Plumb and Longhi could clinch the championship by finishing 11th or better. Since their worst finish to date was 10th at Road Atlanta, it looked like Rum Bum Racing drivers had the championship all but sewn up. After Roger Miller’s passing following the Kansas round, Joe Foster filled in for the late driver behind the wheel of the #158 Dempsey/Miller Racing Mustang BOSS 302R. He and co-driver Ian James finished the best of the Mustangs, 4th.

Even though the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series championship was all but settled before the final round at Lime Rock Park, the race on September 28 still had plenty of surprises in store. Dramatically, on the last lap, Billy Johnson drove his #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R past Matt Bell in the #6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro, and held it to the checkered flag. Matt Plumb came across the line third in the #13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche.

The win for ROUSH Performance’s #61 Mustang BOSS 302 marks the second time drivers Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson visited victory lane this season. Their win at Daytona and Lime Rock was a victorious exclamation point to a frustrating season for the red Mustangs. Matt Bell and John Edwards capped off a strong season for the #9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro, as they finished second in both the series finale and the championship standings. Rum Bum Racing’s third place finish was only icing on the cake for an impressive season in which they only finished outside the top 10 once. Drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi earned three victories and three second-place finishes on their way to claiming the drivers’ championship, the team championship, and the manufacturers’ championship for Porsche.

Besides featuring hard-fought competition, the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Season was noteworthy for several another reason: it marked the last time the series would fly under the Grand-Am banner. Starting in 2014, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) will sanction the street stock road racing series, per the merger of the American LeMans Series and Grand American Road Racing Association.

Though we don’t expect the new Mustang road racer to be on track until 2015, next year still should prove as exciting as ever. Stay tuned!