A Closer Look at the Hooligan Brothers’ 1991 Ford Mustang
The 2025 Direct Connection Grudge Match marked the first time that the class was open to non-Dodge or non-Plymouth vehicles, and the Hooligan Brothers of Fort Wayne, Indiana, brought out the ultimate street racing weapon – a Fox Body Mustang. Michael Martinez, Reyes Zamora, Nilson Mendez and Brian Orellana form the Hooligan Brothers team and they spend a great deal of their time modifying Dodge vehicles, but they wanted to go with something lightweight for the Grudge Match, which was why they picked the Mustang. However, unlike your average Ford Mustang built for racing duties, this one is not packing a GM LS engine, it is powered by the 3.0-liter, twin turbocharged Hurricane inline-six engine that is required of all teams.
Most of the teams in the 2025 Direct Connection Grudge Match made a few changes to add power, but the Hooligan Brothers decided to leave the engine stock. They removed a portion of the factory intake box and they created a custom exhaust setup that comes right off of the turbos and routes the escaping gases up in front of the windshield, but every other aspect of the Hurricane engine is unchanged. The power is sent to the rear wheels by means of a ZF 8-speed transmission that has been upgraded by Pure Drivetrain Solutions.
Rather than adding power, the Hooligan Brothers wanted to cut as much weight as possible. They installed a custom tubular front end setup, but there is no front fascia, fenders or hood, allowing everyone to get a good look at the Dodge I6 engine mounted in the 1991 Ford Mustang.
In addition to leaving the front end body panels at home, they also stripped the interior and trunk as much as possible, removing every last unneeded pound. The interior is just a safety cage, a steering wheel, a racing seat, a digital dash screen and a switch panel. As a result, when the car hits the track, it weighs just 2,444 pounds, with the driver. I have been told that the Hurricane Cat3 crate engine is making closer to 600 horsepower with the open intake and exhaust setup. Using that number, the power-to-weight ratio of this Mustang is just 4.07 pounds per horsepower. For comparison, the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT® Demon 170 has a power-to-weight ratio of roughly 4.17 pounds per horsepower.
The lightweight Ford Mustang with stock Hurricane Cat3 power proved to be a great combination, as the Hooligan Brothers powered through the Grudge Match field, taking on Morgan Evans in the finals. However, as good as the stock-powered Hurricane was all day, Evans’ 800+ wheel horsepower Dodge truck proved to be too much, leaving the Hooligan Brothers to settle for the runner-up spot.
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