Yes boys and girls, Roxanne Shepard's Tangerine GT has been gone for a while. We still miss seeing the old girl (not you Roxanne, the car!) leaping out of the hole to another 12-second pass. We miss hearing the revs go skyward as the GT was powershifted into submission on every run. Thanks to the Tangerine paint, you could see the car from a mile away. Weld Drag Stars let everyone know this ride was for real, but if any doubt was in your mind about the car being just another pretty face, Roxanne erased that thought with a side-step of the clutch. Alas, the Tangerine GT has retired to the easy life thanks to its new owner. However, the story doesn't end here. Actually, it's just the beginning.
Roxanne's new ride is this '99 Chrome Yellow GT. A test bed of sorts, Roxanne's car will flog many Ford Racing Performance Parts before they hit the shelves at your local Ford dealer. One of those components is the FRPP supercharger kit, which kicks out 7 pounds of boost. The supercharger is a Roots-type unit and should be available through FRPP by the time you read this. Included in the kit and found on Roxanne's '99 is a 200-lph fuel pump, modified fuel rails and intake, 30 lb/hr injectors, and a new EEC-V. The new processor not only regulates timing, it raises the shift points of the AODE. That's right, Roxanne's '99 is an automatic. The transmission and converter are both currently stock. However, Precision Industries is working on a converter that will allow her to raise the launch rpm from the stock 1,600 up to a more performance-friendly level.
Besides the FRPP supercharger kit, the only other engine mods include a K&N filter and a Pro-M 80mm mass air meter. The factory 3.27 gears were replaced with 3.55s from Precision Gear by Reider Racing.
Roxanne's best time with the '99 is a 12.31 at 110.52 mph. This time was recorded with a smaller pulley producing 9 pounds of boost. With the car suffering serious detonation, Roxanne's crew reinstalled the standard 4-inch pulley which produces 7 pounds of boost. The car's best time thus equipped is 12.54 at 108 mph at this year's J&P Shootout. This time was accomplished through the stock exhaust, and we all know how blown cars like a free-flowing exhaust. To this end, FRPP is currently working on a set of headers for Roxanne's car, while DynoMax is coming up with an off-road X-pipe and an after-cat system.
Additional FRPP components on the car include a new steering wheel (PN M-3601-B) with a thicker rim for a better, more comfortable grip, and a pillar-mount gauge pod complete with white-faced boost and water-temperature gauges. Even with this kind of performance, Roxanne's GT still gets 18 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway. She drives the car every day and to each event she attends. This is part of an agreement she has with Ford to test the overall driveability of the supercharger kit and future FRPP performance components. Helping Roxanne get down the track as fast as possible is a set of Weld Wheels combined with Race Mark tires up front and Mickey Thompson ET Streets out back. The wheels and tires come courtesy of Harlow Race Tires. Roxanne would also like to thank her husband Barry Shepard, Bob Wheat and Jim Sevite (General Manager and Owner of Village Ford), Watson Racing, and the people at Ford Racing Technology.
Currently third in points in FFW's modular class, Roxanne says she would like to finish second in points behind Barry. With the consistency the automatic affords, that's probably a realistic goal. She recently won a bracket race after going through nine rounds of competition. With the modular class' bracket format, Roxanne's rocket will be a force to be reckoned with at every race she attends. What was that about a Tangerine car?Horse Sense: Roxanne's GT boasts 315 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels.