This, however, will be hard to beat:

Unlike a regular bungee jump, there’s really no limit to the g-force attainable by this lash-up. Want to rip your girlfriend/wife/sister into several chunks? Just hook the ripcord onto something a little heavier than a quad (like an F-150) and keep pulling until those wrist-thick bungee cords are banjo-string tight. Take it from someone with a lot of experience launching water balloons - once you pass the structural threshold of whatever you’re launching, instead of acceleration, you mostly get a fine mist…

That took the form of a Class I (wheelbarrows, Radio Flyer wagons, and kids on skateboards, age 10 and under) Hidden Hitch from etrailers.com, which goes under the part number 60887 for my particular Mustang. This same hitch is also sold as Reese part number 77029 and Draw-Tite part 24687, which says something about the stranglehold the international hitch cabal has on the market.

The hitch mount uses two existing bumper mount bolt holes, plus two new ones in the bumper core itself. To figure out where to drill, step one is to prop the hitch up in position to mark where the holes will go. Here, I am using the world’s oldest 15mm wrench to pull the factory bolts so that I can temporarily secure the hitch.

A step drill makes the job easier, but the bumper core is made of very hard sheet steel. ProTip: wear safety glasses, and sweep up all the little bits of steel before continuing or spend the next 24 hours picking them out of your scalp.

To actually secure the hitch to the bumper core, the kit uses two carriage bolts with rectangular backing plates dropped in from above. In order to actually do this, you have to enlarge a couple of the existing holes in the bumper, then fish the bolts and plates into position. Dad made quick work of the holes with the sabre saw, which turned out to be the easy part. We ended up using some mono-filament fishing line to pull the bolts over to the holes, then stood them up and dropped them through with the help of a powerful magnet.

To prevent the heartbreak of accidentally pushing the bolts back up into the bumper as we lifted the hitch into place, we threaded the nuts on as a preemptive strike.

Tada! The hitch is installed. We stuck the supplied spacers underneath the back two bolts to drop the receiver down at the rear to clear the bumper valance, and ended up with the drawbar exactly where we wanted it.

With the drawbar out and the receiver plug in place, it’s hard to even notice the hitch if you’re not looking for it. Very inconspicuous…

I have a feeling that the clock is ticking until I jam the trailer tongue against the bumper, but I’m going to be as careful as I can be.

The wiring kit I bought along with the hitch simply plugs into the taillight harnesses in the trunk, and rather than drill another hole, I just ran the plug out and gently closed the wire between the lid and the weatherstripping. Two hours of cursing and chasing circuits with a multimeter later, and the lights were working - to cut to the chase, I’ll just say, “always check your grounds first” and leave it at that.

With the War Wagon done, all that’s left is to get the tires balanced and take it out on a shakedown cruise to Fontana this coming weekend.

The last PSCA race in Vegas convinced me that I needed a better way to get my stuff to and from the track, and lock it up while I’m there. I can fit my jack, toolbox, drag radials, helmet, jacket, and spare nitrous bottle in the trunk and back seat, but there’s not much room left for anything else, and once I’m there, a long chain threaded through everything and wrapped around a light pole is the best I can do for security while I’m actually racing. When KJ brings his rig out to Fontana, I can throw my junk in his trailer, but I’d rather not have to mooch a chair and cooler space.

With a 20% off coupon in hand, I went down to my local Harbor Freight and bought one of their mini trailer kits. I stepped up to the 12-inch wheel version, not because I needed the extra weight capacity, but because it will pull better on the freeway than the one with the dinky 8-inch wheels.

$200 and a couple of hours of work putting it together later, and I was ready to build it out into something practical. My main goals were to have some locking storage for loose stuff like my jack and tools, and slots for my drag radials on the road, and my street tires in the pits. As a side note, it’s surprisingly hard to find big locking poly storage bins around here - I finally ended up with a 50-gallon Contico Pro Tuff bin from Lowe’s.

The bin is screwed down to the plywood deck, so it doesn’t need to be strapped, and it’s got a built in key lock, plus padlock hasps. Realistically, it’s not very secure - anybody with a hand saw, crowbar, or even a claw hammer would be able to get into it pretty quickly, but as my dad says, it will keep the honest people honest. About the worst-case scenario for it will be sitting empty in a motel parking lot overnight.

Up front, I left slots open in the deck for the tires to sit in, and there are plenty of eye bolts to use as tiedown points. I also have a cable lock going through holes in the trailer frame to keep my Mickeys from walking off. Now, all I need to do is find a cooler the right size to fit between the tires, and I’m off to the races…

Under the hood is a twin-Rotrex-supercharged 392ci small-block Ford, pushing 10psi.

The car has a crazy level of detail - it’s stretched 7 inches from the cowl forward, it’s got a full tube frame, and a complete underbody tray with every vent and scoop functional.

(video after the jump to defeat the obnoxious auto-play)

A little bird told me that Ken & company spent some time in late March shooting video on a four-wheel chassis dyno for the follow-up, so keep your eyes peeled…

Back in the day, anything was possible. How about an Offy with a side-mounted blower on Ed Donovan’s dragster?

Nothing says drag racing like way too big of an engine stuffed into too little car; reminds me of the models I used to imagineer as a kid.

Rear slicks churning, front tires grabbing air, and, an acrobatic flagman.

Uhhh, dude? I don’t think you asked for a big enough head start.

A wheelstander with everything but the kitchen sink.

Who said snakes can’t fly? Prudhomme gets air in the lights in Seattle.

Hard to believe that today’s Top Fuelers evolved from this; from its whitewall tire s to its Rat Fink-like shifter placement, I really dig this car.

(Above) So you still think that Don Garlits invented the rear-engine dragster, do ya? (Below) Donnie and Gene Bowman’s flathead-powered Vineland Villain wasn’t pretty, but it sure looked crude. Back then, functionality trumped almost everything.

I love this shot, taken in the pits at Lions. No, not the neat old flip-top panel wagon — the lady, dressed in skirt and heels. Priceless.

Kinda funny, too, but for a different reason is Surfers pilot Mike Sorokin almost having his helmet sucked off at speed (center).

And speaking of in-car cameras, I just love this shot from Jess Sturgeon’s car.

This is a great shot, too, taken from the cockpit of one of Scotty Fenn’s legendary Chassis Research chassis that revolutionized the sport. I took some Photoshop liberties with the original to blur the background as the El Camino tow vehicle was a distraction. Love that steering wheel and big ol’ brake handle.

This is Fenn’s workshop. That’s Fenn at far left overseeing work on some of his K-88 and TE-448 chassis.

Another vintage chassis on this cool twin. Always amazing to me to see how primitive the early driver-protection devices were.

Okay, if you don’t like this photo, you can hardly consider yourself a drag fan. Classic Lions stuff.

Here’s how those early dragsters got their nickname; the driver sat behind the rear tires like a rock in a slingshot.

A couple of engines, four tires, a little extra tubing, a welder, and there’s little that early drag racers couldn’t — and didn’t — try.

Ilooooooooove this shot. The photographer did such a great job of exposing it and allowing you to see every detail, nut, and bolt on the blower. Arthur Trim tells me that this is Connie Kalitta’s Logghe-chassised Ford-powered digger, photographed on a chassis dyno in one of Ford’s labs.

Indy is a place where magical things happen. Look closely, and you can see that “Big John’s” battle-scarred ‘Cuda has all four tires off the ground.

Not all new ideas were good ones; Exhibit A is Noel Black’s two-engine, four-wheel-drive Top Fueler from 1967.

Call me an astute observer, but I reckon that “Big Jim” Dunn was pretty much done for this run at Lions in the rainbow-hued Dunn & Reath digger.

Who says you need four wheels?

“I’ll take Scary Fast Tricycles for $500, Alex.”

In the same vein, who says you even need four wheels or three wheels? The famed Leffler-Coburn Iron Mistress coupe had six! In a true example of the sum of the parts not being equal to the whole, Neil Leffler and Bill Coburn each took the fuel-burning Hemis from their competition coupes and paired them for this interesting experiment. It wasn’t real fast, but it was spectacular.

We’ve seen lead weights and tubes filled with lead shot as front-end ballast, but a rock? I kid you not. Clearly, the Red Mountain Boys knew how to rock.

I think we’ve all seen the classic photo above of Don Garlits’ career-changing transmission explosion at Lions, but at left is the less-seldom-seen but equally-breathtaking downtrack angle. I’m not sure who circled the fan in the stands or why, but that’s how this image was posted.

I’ve never seen this car before, but it can’t be any mistake that the names on its side are Capp and Fedderly, as in future Top Fuel partners (and Indy winners) Terry Capp and Bernie Fedderly. Both are still at it years later, Capp in nostalgia racing and Fedderly as Auston Coil’s alter ego on the John Force team.

The first rule of running against a jet dragster: Always leave first.

Herman Munster , far lane, and Grandpa dueled at Lions in a ghoulish go that was featured on the popular television show.

I’m old enough to remember back when every auto parts store had a big barrel full of Cherry Bomb glasspacks sitting up by the registers, like the world’s biggest impulse buy. Today, the merchandising is slightly more sophisticated, but the mufflers and the sound are still the same. Since I’m always looking for ways to screw up my perfectly good 2004 Mustang V6 coupe, I’ve had an itch to throw a glasspack on in place of the 2-into-1 stock exhaust. I had no idea whether it would work any better, or even whether or not it would sound like ass. But it seemed like an easy project, and the parts were cheap, so I dove in. Here’s how it went:

The stock exhaust on the V6 is, as mentioned before, a 2-into-1 Y-pipe that feeds about eight feet of crush-bent 2.25 inch pipe and a regular muffler mounted ahead of the rear axle. There are a bunch of different 2-into-1-into-2 bolt-on exhausts for this car, as well as true H- and X-pipe dual setups, but they’re all fairly expensive for what you’re getting - anyone who expects more than 2 or 3 horsepower out of an exhaust is delusional. On top of that, duals are inevitably heavier than the stock exhaust, and light weight is about the only thing the V6 Mustang has going for it over it’s GT brother.

Cherry Bomb glasspacks are cheap. I picked up PN 87516 (2.5 inch inlet/outlet, 29.5 inches overall length) at Pep Boys for $30 even, while a 2.5 inch turndown cost me $7 at NAPA. The most expensive part was actually the “starter tube” that bolts to the stock ball fitting, at $38 for a pair from JBA, though I still have one left to sell. We’ll call the total cost $56.

The starter tube went into one end of the glasspack with a little gentle persuasion, and after cutting off the flared 3-inch long section of the turndown with a Sawzall, it slid right into the other. The total overall length from end to end turned out right where I wanted it at 38 inches.

As a welder, I am an awesome writer. Nevertheless, look at that penetration! The starter tube and turndown got joined permanently (with any luck) to the body of the Cherry Bomb. Note: the powder coating on this muffler was no match for brake cleaner - good to know when prepping it for welding.

Now, we separate the men from the boys - to get the stock exhaust off without dropping the rear axle, you have to cut it at some point. I picked a spot where I’d have good access with the Sawzall, and more importantly, I would be able to reconnect the pipe with a band clamp should I end up absolutely hating the way the glasspack sounded.

Once you’ve made the commitment and cut the pipe, the stock exhaust comes out easily. Rather than fighting the rubber hangers, I simply unbolted both of their metal brackets from the car instead. The forward bracket that supported the muffler was then removed and put back on the car, since I planned on using it to hang the new glasspack.

To mate the Cherry Bomb up with the rubber hanger, I bent up some steel rod I had laying around. Hooray, Chinese flux-core welder! It looks ugly, but it’s functional.

Once again, here’s the finished product. It’s short enough to completely clear the rear axle with room to spare, and hangs nicely from the stock bracket and donut. With everything bolted up, I crossed my fingers and turned the key. Much to my relief, it sounds great - lots of nice musclecar bass, and it actually gets smoother and quieter at WOT as the revs climb. I won’t say it sounds like a GT, but it’s no fart can, either, and I’m very happy with how it came out. Especially when you consider the cost, and how little effort it took to do.

Here’s a short video of how the new exhaust sounds:

Update 3/12/09:

One more video, from outside the car…