Roush Performance Puts Propane Power on the Fast Track

If you follow racing, then you’re surely familiar with Jack Roush and Roush Performance Products. His long and successful motorsports career includes a noted talent for pumping big horsepower and performance from engines of all types.

These days, he’s also a champion of propane power, with recent activities finding him engineering, building, and selling low emission alternative fuel Ford pickups and now E-Series vans for the fleet market. Propane is “as American as NASCAR,” says Roush, pointing out that “more than 90 percent of the propane used in the United States is produced in North America, much of it from the U.S. natural gas supply.”

Racing has historically brought new technologies and approaches to the highway, so what could be more natural than Roush combining his dual focus of speed and alternative fuels in the racing scene? That’s just what he’s doing with a pair of Roush Mustangs for NMRA (National Mustang Racer’s Association) drag racing.

The 2005 and 2010 Roush Stage 3 Mustangs use all-aluminum 5.4-liter V-8s originally designed for the Ford GT supercar that are modified with variants of the conversion kits Roush uses on its propane fleet vehicles. The V-8s are converted to be naturally-aspirated with compression ratios altered to 12.5:1, which works well with propane’s higher 106 octane rating. Other changes include CNC ported cylinder heads, high performance camshaft and valvetrain, and a wet sump lubrication system. All these changes should help this engine generate in excess of 600 horsepower, allowing onlookers to view alternative fuels at a blur.