Welcome to Jim Breese Racing

About Jim Breese Racing:

After two (2000 and 2002) NMRA Modular Muscle championships, Jim Breese felt the need for a change. After watching Mike Wesley and Tim Matherly successfully campaign the only Modular cars in Real Street—a class primarily powered by pushrods—Jim found his newest challenge.

You may remember Matherly's car from our feature in October 2003. Well, the MV Performance team finished the '03 Season by running a 10.14 at the NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, Kentucky. That run proved the MV team's potential and gave Breese the confidence that MV was the crew he wanted to work their magic on his future Mustang. The catch was that Breese wanted to debut the car for the NMRA '04 opener in Bradenton, Florida.

Having several years of experience and success competing with the Modular motor in his 97 Cobra, Breese wanted to stick with the new technology power plant for his Real Street ride knowing he could prove its ability and further promote the motor's use in the sport of drag racing.

The end product is a sister car to the MV team's class-leading car. Breese began by sourcing a '04 body-in-white from Mustang Parts Specialties as the basis to build from. F

irst up was the chrome-moly roll cage and through-the-floor subframe connectors, which were welded in for the proper chassis stiffening. The Mustang was then sent to Carnes Customs for several coats of House of Kolor Kandy Brandywine paint for eye-catching zeal. After painting, MV Performance went back to work on stuffing the front suspension with a Steeda/QA1 tubular K-Member and Steeda Control Arms.

Next came the QA1 coilover springs wrapped around QA 12-way adjustable struts. Steeda camber plates ensured the suspension should be dialed in correctly after the proper height was set.

Suspension in the rear consists of stock springs over top of QA1 12-ways, supported by Steeda adjustable upper and competition lower control arms. A Chassis Engineering anti-roll bar finishes off the list. Aerospace Components brakes were set at all four corners for stopping power. Covering the brakes are Bogart Force 5 rollers wearing Mickey Thompson E/T Drag tires.

With the chassis ready to roll, the MV crew turned their efforts to the drivetrain. Starting with a 4.6 aluminum Cobra block and Cobra crank, they attached ModMax Racing rods topped with Ross pistons, and ringed with more ModMax components. The bump-stick is stock, due to the strict rules. Topping the Ross pistons are a set of PI Two-Valve heads, ported by Scott Milner (thanks to a rule change right before the season opener) and set with Crower valvesprings. A Bullitt Intake and Throttle Body

were sourced for their known agreement with forced induction machines. Speaking of forced induction, the 285 c.i.d. motor is fed air by an ATI ProCharger P-1SC2 supercharger huffing 14lbs. of boost. Fuel supply is courtesy of a Weldon 2035 fuel pump and regulator, steel braided fuel lines, UPR fuel rails, and FRPP 50-lb/hr injectors.

Tuning was accomplished by using a DiabloSport Revolution chip sending electricity to a MSD DIS-4 box, and down to NGK TR6 plugs. Spent gasses exit the motor via FRPP shorty headers, a Bassani x-pipe, and Bassani mufflers dumped in front of the rear axle.

Bolted to the back of the mean 4.6 is a Pro-Motion Powertrain-built Tremec T5, custom RAM clutch, and a Pro-5.0 shifter. Power is delivered to the ground with the help of a Moser spool, 33-spline axles, and 4.30 gears.

Inside the car is equipped with a plethora of AutoMeter gauges, where the A/C and stereo components would normally sit, disseminating any information Jim may need during his stints down the 1320.

So what happened when Breese rolled into Bradenton Motorsports Park in March 2004 for NMRA's season opener after just taking delivery of the Brandywine beauty? Two-to-three foot wheels stands happened, that's what! Did we mention that, to this point, the car was untested and had yet to make a trip down the track? Needless to say Breese was well pleased with his new ride. The evidence could easily be witnessed in his ear-to-ear grin. But all that power has presented a new learning curve for Breese.

Driving a forced-induction machine that is two seconds faster than his Cobra makes things come "a whole lot quicker—shifting, lights, etc." So these days Breese is spending as much time as he can at the track testing and getting used to the new car. That practice is starting to pay off, as the Mustang has gone a best of 9.97 and 138 MPH. But our guess is those numbers won't last long, as Breese and his team are getting ready for the Atco, New Jersey, race just a few days from now—with a goal of carrying home a 1st Place trophy.