Once again the Steeda Stampede Event attracted Mustang and Ford performance vehicles from all over Florida, the South, Arkansas, New York and Michigan. There were many things to see as some of the best turned out Mustangs, Lightnings, Foci and Shelbys filled every parking space on the Steeda Campus as well as lining the lanes of the complex. Enthusiasts started to arrive early Saturday, groups like Southfloridastangs.com came early and were able to park together. This group of patriotic Mustangers conducts a 9/11 Tribute Cruise every September, then donates the proceeds to a 9/11 charity. All their Mustangs look great and go fast.
The Saturday morning activities included campus tours and tech seminars conducted by Steeda President, Dario Orlando. The latest suspension parts were showcased, including the latest 14 inch front brakes with cooling ducts from the Steeda competition front end. One of the most popular tour stops was the Steeda multi-million manufacturing facilities. Here everyone witnessed the remarkable machinery in action, where bars of billet aluminum gets turned into a Steeda shifter or any number of precision manufactured parts. The speed of the operations is amazing and the audience saw first hand how Steeda manufactures more performance parts than all the Ford aftermarket companies combined. On display were the latest Steeda Mustangs, Focus and Fusion cars. Howard Lucus, the owner of Lucus Ford, Southhold, New York checked his latest Steeda Q, a Vista Blue Metallic Q400. It was shipped to his dealership the following Monday, but not before the car was checked by the Stampede Event attendees who were impressed by the Mustang's MagnaCharger supercharger.
There were bargains galore in Frank's Garage where people found everything from slightly used wheels and tires to clutch quadrants and rear end gears.
The event was well covered by the media. Steve Turner, the talented Editor of 5.0 Mustangs & SuperFords magazine came in a day early to check out the many new Steeda parts. Steve was joined by Primedia Performance Automotive Group Publisher Bruce Jones who together with Account Executive Wendy Turner toured the Steeda Campus. Mustang Enthusiast Publisher John Nichols drove in from Lakeland, Florida with Editor Larry Jewett and Associate Editor Denise Rounds. Dennis McGavock, President and Executive Editor of mustang.com made his first visit to Steeda Autosports and covered the Stampede Event and Ford Power Festival.
The event concluded with a raffle featuring products from Steeda Autosports and the company's marketing partners. Among the prizes were sets of performance tires from Nitto, BF Goodrich and Goodyear, Steeda suspension parts, a set of rotors from Powerslot, cases of oil from Royal Purple and a full Magna Charger supercharger system from Magnuson.
After a sixty mile trip up Florida's Turnpike to the Moroso Motorsports Park, enthusiasts enjoyed the Ford Power Festival. This annual event featured a car show where the owners of Steeda vehicles had the opportunity to win the Steeda Best Engineered Award and the Steeda Best of Show Award. Kristin Hill, drove her 2001 Steeda Focus from West Palm Beach to win the Best Engineered Award. Her Focus is equipped with a custom Garrett turbocharger for plenty of go power and the Steeda suspension pieces to allow the car to handle the increased power. A well turned put car that impressed the judges with the attention to detail and the total engineering effort.
A veteran of many Steeda Stampede Events, Rob Golden drove his 2003 Mustang GT from Bradenton, Florida. Rob's Mustang has a Steeda installed Vortec supercharger along with just about every Steeda performance part in the Mustang catalog. He has very tastefully chromed many of the engine parts, added a stereo/DVD system that is state of the art and has installed Lamborghini doors to complete the custom look. For his efforts Rob Golden took home the Steeda Autosports Best of Show Award. With the number of well turned out Steeda Mustangs and Foci the judges had to work overtime to select both awards.
During drag racing action, Steeda Sales Representive Jason Porcelli, drove the Steeda F-150 Red Thunder for the first time with the MagnaCharger supercharger. With the new power adder the truck was almost one second faster than with the previous Roots type supercharger. The truck also gained 70 horsepower with the Magnacharger.