The roar of the blown Ford Godzilla engine echoed through Maryland International Raceway as Brad Schehr took a Dez Racing-prepared Fox body Mustang across the finish line in the fastest time ever recorded with a Godzilla. The 2024 World Cup Finals was an action-packed weekend, live-streamed by Flo Racing. Schehr and crew entered the week looking very strong in the JPC Street Fighter class, running low 7s in testing and even laying down a single 7.0 at qualifying.

His final, 6.950 at 189.280 mph sealed a place in drag racing history to show the incredible potential of Ford’s 7.3L V8. Schehr’s record-breaker used a prototype American Forced Induction AFX-94 supercharger that uses direct drive, intake manifold by Brian Tooley Racing, and FuelTech engine management. Like everybody else in the Ultra Street class, where rules actually constrain the displacement of the engine to 440ci, his team worked carefully to de-stroke the Godzilla to 6.8L.

Chuck Bartholme owns the record-breaking Fox whose Godzilla features aluminum rods, custom pistons, and Stage 3 ported heads from renowned engine builder Brian Wolfe. A solid roller camshaft with a Jesel Valvetrain rocker arm setup sees to it that there is precise valve control at high RPM, while a dry sump system from Dailey keeps the engine lubricated under extreme racing conditions.

The car itself is really proof of detailed engineering including the Marty Merrilatt stock-style suspension and Kinetic Energy shocks that help give the car the traction. The front suspension is from Racecraft and includes Santhuff struts to help transfer weight. Dez Racing installed some Mark Williams axles and Mickey Thompson 275 Street R tires to put all that action into motion.

We may be only scratching the surface of the Ford Godzilla’s potential, but time will tell. Thanks to Dez Racing, we are inching closer to finding out the true potential of the platform.