Early Friday morning in Fontana, California at the Auto Club Dragway’s NMCA West Street Car Nationals – we ran into Susan Roush McClenaghan with Roush Incorporated, Inc. Susan relayed to us that the team was there for the qualifier rounds, and planned to run their pair of propane powered V8 Mustangs.

This particular Mustang is a 2010 car, and was delivered to Susan in a body-in-white trim. If you’re familiar with the history of body-in-white Mustangs, you’ll know that these cars are very rare delivered to be built for racing out of the gate

Because the car is powered by propane gas, the car is able to put down a healthy and cooler 820 rear-wheel horsepower. This translates to a best time so far of 9.11-seconds at 149.97 mph in the quarter mile, ran by Susan herself at last year’s NMRA Spring Break Shootout in Bradenton, Florida.

Apart from the obvious reason that propane burns at a cooler temperature than conventional gasoline, we asked Susan why their Mustangs were dedicated to only propane fuel. She responded with, “We’ve done comparison tests in the past using VP C14 fuel, which is a 114-octane rated fuel. The power numbers were the same as using propane, so that’s what we stuck with. We’re all about American made products.”

Aside from its racing applications, Roush Industries also conducts many commercial propane conversion for various fleet vehicles at its Plymouth, Michigan facility. Several fleet operators have gone to LP power for its often cheaper cost over gasoline, and ease of on-site storage at a fleet facility.

Susan is a regular in NMRA and NMCA competition with numerous event wins to her credit. She’s often most dangerous at the starting line were her drag racing reflexes often pay off with near perfect reaction times, leaving her competitors in the dust as she rockets away down the track. We’re excited to follow Susan and the Roush Drag Racing team as they continue to impress us with their propane powered pair of Mustangs. Maybe we’ll get to ride in one of ’em one of these days?