Bo Butner’s Mustang: Zero to 60 mph in 1.52 seconds in a production car!

(Joe McHugh photo)

Words by Bret Kepner
Photos by Joe McHugh, Steven Bunker and Bret Kepner

The current global horsepower war among production auto manufacturers has led to amazing achievements in acceleration and carmakers rely on often stunning “0-to-60-mph” times to promote their latest offerings. It appears, however, the Ford Motor Company may have produced the quickest-accelerating production vehicle of all time and the numbers gleaned from the debut of American Drag Racing League’s SuperCar Showdown division seem to prove it.

(Bret Kepner photo)

Although several production cars have proven capable of 0-to-60 times under three seconds, the 2012 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport is generally acknowledged to be the quickest after verified tests prove it can hit 60 mph in a mere 2.57 seconds. Equipped with an eight-liter, 16-cylinder engine with four turbochargers, which produces 1,180 horsepower, the 4,162-pound All-Wheel-Drive Veyron carries a list price of $2.4 million.

Bo Butner can now dispute the Bugatti’s record. In fact, he downright destroyed it with his new Ford Mustang Cobra Jet during the ADRL’s season-opening CarSafe Automotive Repair Protection Dragpalooza VIII held at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas. Incredibly, Butner was unaware of the Mustang’s 0-to-60 capabilities since he seldom concerns himself with those statistics.

“As drag racers, we look for different numbers to tell us how the car is performing”, said Butner after claiming the first SuperCar Showdown title. “We’re much more concerned with the car’s first sixty feet of travel and we always use elapsed time, rather than speed, as the reference. The only actual speed reading we’re concerned about comes at the finish line and, even then, we’re more concerned about the elapsed time”.

Officials from the ADRL were granted access to the onboard telemetry of Butner’s event-winning Cobra Jet and found the Ford was unknowingly shattering records almost every time it ran down the dragstrip. On his best eighth-mile run at the fabled Texas strip, the past World Champion launched from a standstill and hit 60 miles per hour in a mere 1.52 seconds!