Back in June we told you all about Joe Caldwell’s quest to bring Racin’ Jason Betwarda’s iconic, trendsetting twin-turbocharged Mustang back to life.

The car recently spent a lot of quality time at the hands of Charlie and Fred Bauer at C&F Racecars in Mount Vernon, New York to have a complete makeover of the chassis, as Caldwell and driver Mike Ragusa determined that the early-’90’s construction could stand to have some assistance for the expected horsepower boost in its new life.

C&F completely dissected the car and they had to dig a bit deeper than was originally expected to get the car prepared for racetrack duty. The rear suspension crossmember needed to be replaced along with quite a bit of tubing in the nose of the car. Charlie and Fred found a number of issues with the way the car had been set up previously, so changes were made to accommodate the current setup. “The car was dangerous – I don’t know how Mike drove it, to be honest, so we decided to put all brand new parts in the car,” Caldwell says. 

In addition, Team Z Motorsports supplied one of their Outlaw K-member packages, while C&F tuned up a killer 9-inch rear for the car. The bodywork and some of the paintwork has been completed (with the rest to be finished after assembly) by Brighton Collision in Brooklyn, New York, using a brand-new VFN cowl hood and decklid to replace the 20-year-old VFN parts that were on the car when Caldwell acquired it.

There have also been a few changes from the earlier plan, most notably the powerplant and supporting gear. An ATI Powerglide transmission will be used, and new, larger, 88mm Turbonetics Y2K turbochargers were sourced from Tim Essick and Dan Whetstine of Essick Motorsports. 

Kenny Duttweiler of Duttweiler Performance, Jason’s longtime engine builder, contacted Caldwell to offer him an opportunity to re-purchase an engine that had belonged to Jason. 

“Back in 1998, Jason bought an all-aluminum small-block from Hurley Blakeney but passed away before he could use it. Jason’s dad sold it to a local racer here in New York that never used it, and it’s been sitting at Duttweiler’s all these years. Kenny contacted me to tell me about the engine, which ran 6.60’s at 208 MPH in Hurley’s car, and long story short, I got a great deal on the engine. It’s a dry-sump, 404 cubic inch all aluminum engine, and Kenny went back into the engine and completely re-did it to upgrade it to today’s standards.

“The short-block is currently done, and he’s working on the heads right now to get them finished up. Kenny feels that it will make 2,000 horsepower pretty easily,” says Caldwell.

During the process of reconstruction, Caldwell and the gang have removed a few hundred pounds from the car in an effort to make it a more efficient race car. 

The car is slated to head to Frank Soldridge’s PSI Speed Solutions in Palmerton, Pa. in the next few weeks to be assembled, plumbed, and wired. Best of all? We’re going to head over there to check out the car in person, as a 2014 debut is planned for this piece of heads-up racing history. Stay tuned for more updates only here on Dragzine!