January’s Rad Ride belongs to Jim Petroski. Jim’s green 1999 Mustang GT is not only special because of its racing modifications, but also because of the special story of the day he bought it.
When Jim was a child, he lived a short distance from Watkins Glen International racing facility in New York. He saw some of the best and fastest cars of the 60s and 70s. According to him, racing is in his blood. One day, Jim’s neighbor went to go buy a new coffeemaker and a few hours later, the man returned with a gold Porsche. Later in life, Jim always told his wife when their coffeemaker broke, it would be a sign he needed to buy a car. In 2001, Jim learned a local Ford dealer had a green Mustang for sale and told his wife he was going out to look at cars. He brought the Mustang home on a road test and laughed at his wife’s shock. He beat the coffee machine and bought his car first!
Soon after, Jim learned about a local road race course called Nelson Ledges in Garrettsville, Ohio and took the car out to see what it could do. After his first zip around the course, Jim was hooked and began modifying the car and improving his driving skills. Jim modified and upgraded the entire suspension, tires and brakes. He has worked on the car himself; installing a roll bar, seats, safety harnesses and repairing the brakes. Other difficult and specialized modifications required the skills of racing professionals at racing shops.
We’ve been lucky to see Jim’s Mustang at our Garfield Heights location where Rad Air technicians installed two engines, replaced clutches, performed alignments and installed other custom parts.Jim now has ten years of experience on road racing courses around the U.S. and looks forward to continuing to modify his Mustang.
Jim says, “My Mustang is part street car, part race car, and part dream-filling car to let me be on famous race tracks. Even though there would be better track cars I could buy, I like this one too much and plan to keep it in my stable for a while. For anyone who owns a special car – show car, muscle car, track car, historical car – you know what that means. We share a bond with each other around our vehicles no matter what the make, model and year – because we like cars and driving them (some of us to excessive speeds).”
Do you have a rad ride? Send us a picture of your vehicle and tell us why it’s unique by e-mailing to radrides@radair.com. And let us know what you think of Jim’s Mustang in the comments below!