While testing on March 24th at Holly Springs Motorsports in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Rob Valden’s hopes and dreams went up in flames – literally.
The beautiful maroon 1990 Outlaw Drag Radial Mustang, owned by Andrew Alepa, was doing pretty well right up until it “pushed some alcohol/oil out the catch can and started a fire,” says Valden. Quick to react, he hit the switch to activate his fire system and extinguished the flames while going nearly 200 mph on a set of Mickey Thompson 315 drag radials.
Fortunately, Valden was able to save the car from serious mechanical damage, but the blaze wreaked havoc on the vast majority of its electrical components as well as a substantial portion of the car’s body parts. On the list of items that now need to be replaced are all of the sensors, the Racepak system, and the BigStuff3 powertrain management system wiring harness.
With his hopes of running at the upcoming Outlaw Street Car Reunion race at Memphis International Raceway now dashed, Valden and team will instead focus on rebuilding and repairing the twin turbocharged Pro Line Racing 481X-powered Mustang. “We have already started ordering parts and plan to be back for the Holly Springs [Spring Shootout] race,” Valden confirms of their plans to be back out and racing again in time for the big radial tire event in April.
This story was originally published on March 25, 2015. 
