For the last 40 years Ronald Aschtgen lived, ate, and breathed drag racing. He grew up surround by fast cars and at a young age he developed an addiction to speed. His dad is responsible for helping him catch the addiction, as he fixed and raced cars in the ’40s and ’50s. Aschtgen was lucky to have grown up in the golden age of American Muscle. As a kid, he grew up watching the races at drag strip in Santa Maria, California, and it quickly became his second home. It was there that he had a front row seat to witness the gassers, the early days of funny cars, and the super stock wars well into the 1960s.

In the late 1960s, Uncle Sam called him to service and he was sent to the jungles of Vietnam. Upon his return home he purchased a 1963 Ford Galaxie for himself that he would use as a race car, family car, and a daily commuter for over 25 years. He lived close to Orange County Raceway, which would became another second home for him and his sons, who, like their father, had become addicted to speed as well.

Not only does she run 10 seconds, she has a killer sound system too.

Years later he sold the Galaxie, then he bought it back, and then he finally sold it for good. Eventually he purchased a black 2000 Mustang GT as a daily driver; it was fast, but not too fast so it did keep him out of trouble. On the side, he had a Ford Lightning project car which he was willing to sell. He received nothing except low ball offers until a man named Atila (seriously) offered to trade his 1968 Mercury Cougar drag car. Aschtgen saw the photos of the Cougar and simply fell in love with the black cat drag racing machine.

This ferocious cat was built by Luis Araya of Payless Auto Repair. With a budget of $60,000, Luis went to town to transform this Cougar into a lethal beast. He built this machine to have the looks of a show winning fairground cruiser but with enough menacing power to hold its own against dedicated drag cars at the strip.

Araya began the project by pulling the out the 302 Windsor and replacing it with a Dart Ford 427 block. He stuffed the Dart block with a forged 4.00 Eagle crankshaft connected to forged Eagle connecting rods, with Probe pistons to make up the bottom end with rugged internals. A custom camshaft with a lift of .670 and a duration of 260 @ .50 thumps inside of the car, while on top the block is an Edelbrock RPM air gap intake manifold with a CSU Holley 750 carburetor delivering the 91 octane juice.

Feeding the beast is dual 1000 Aeromotive fuel pumps to keep the cat purring. Right from the onset, this machine was built for speed – not gas mileage. The compression is created by a set of aluminum Dart heads while a Vortech V-7 YSI supercharger delivers 9lbs of wheel standing boost to the motor.

The engine exhales its fire through a set of custom 2-1/8-inch headers which feed into a custom 4-inch exhaust system equipped with ten mufflers (yes, ten – two collector mufflers, six Borla mufflers and two Dynomax mufflers). The reason for this collection of silencers is to avoid receiving an infamous California “fix it ticket” for noise and to keep the car stealthy to surprise its stop light racing victims.

A look at the ten-muffler exhaust from the front of the car.

To stand up to the titan power of the 427, Araya built a valvebody-shifted Ford C4 transmission. He tore the tranny apart and reassembled it with stronger internals, such as Alto Red Eagle clutches, Kevlar bands, and a pair of 35-spline axles in the differential, which simultaneously work together to handle the 1000 horsepower the 427 produces.

Furthering the racecar inspired build are a trans brake and a 3,500 rpm stall converter, helping Aschtgen to get the weight transferred during those hard launches. A Ford 9-inch rear end with 4.11 gears burns the rubber on to the pavement when the spurs are put to her.

The Cougar pounces on its prey by using legs made up of a set of coil overs all around, and a pair of ladder bars to keep the rear planted. Its feet are a set of Mickey Thompson 295/60/15 drag radials mounted on a pair of Weld Racing 15-inch wheels, and after the cat has been on the prowl, a set of Wilwood disc brakes grind her to a halt.

The man and his machine.

Araya made sure the interior was comfortable since this machine is also used for cruising when it’s not out drag racing. A roll bar and a five-point harness were installed for safety, while a pistol grip console shifter and a steering wheel mounted tach were installed to assist the driver during those passes down the 1320.

Aside from these racing improvements, the interior still boasts luxuries such as leather seats and a woodgrain dash to make cruising in the stop-and-go So-Cal traffic less tedious. Originally the Cougar was designed to blend luxury and muscle, and this interior does an excellent job at putting a little bit of that luxury at the hands of the pure musclecar that this Cougar has become.

Araya created a stealthy appearance using metallic black paint with silver accents to enhance the car’s original luxury influenced muscle styling. Further enhancing the musclecar look is an air scoop from the hood of a Boss Mustang.

The Cougar’s fuel cell in the trunk. Faster race cars use a trunk mounted fuel cell instead of a gas tank underneath the car for weight reduction and to prevent fires.

The Cougar hurdles down the strip at the lighting-fast speed of 10.17 @ 135 mph in the quarter, and 6.41 in the 1/8th mile. Believe it or not, both of these ETs were set using only 3/4 throttle. If Aschtgen ran faster than 6.40 in the 1/8th he would fail tech inspection and have to install a full roll cage in order to race again. That roll cage is part of his future plans, but for now he’s keeping it in the mid sixes in the eighth-mile until the full cage appeals to him a bit more.

Aside from drag racing this blue oval machine at the strip, Aschtgen loves showing off his beloved ride and cruising around town. He frequently takes it to car shows at the local fairgrounds and attending the Hot Rod Reunion. Racing has continued in the Aschtgen family as his son, Ron Aschtgen Jr., caught the hot rodding bug and is the current owner of Outlaw Motorsports in Riverside, California. He races one of the fastest super stock Fords in Southern California and has built a 454 cubic inch aluminum Ford Windsor block for a Popular Hot Rodding Magazine project.

Aschtgen plans to continue to race his Mercury Cougar for many more years to come. One day he will give it a proper roll cage and break 6.40 in the 1/8th but for now he plans on enjoying this 10 second wild Cougar.

The only view of this car most people will ever see on the road.