Danny Jimenez' 2018 Drag Car

For some people, racing is a fun hobby they pick up sometime in their life before making it into a serious sport for themselves. However, in some cases, it is ingrained in them from a young age and becomes a major aspect of their lives. That is what happened to our friend Danny Jimenez, owner ofDannyBuilt and driver of a heavily Steeda-modified 2018 Mustang GT.

From the start of his first S550 build, Danny has been dead-set on modifying his car to be as fast as it can be while still being 100% daily drivable. Having a background in modifying cars, racing them,and all-around enjoying anything to do with the Mustang, in particular, Danny’s work with his car and others has made him a friend of many of us at Steeda as well a serious competitor on the dragstrip.

About Danny Jimenez Q&A

How did you get into cars and racing?

I basically have been into racing since I was born. I was that boy that got separated from his parents at the grocery store every time we went out, but it was always to go to the same place. I would sit and read all the car magazines and would literally not want to leave until I finished them or my parents bought them for me. I literally knew every car’s 0-60 times, 1/4mile times, and hp/tq.

What cars have you owned and/or raced?

My first car was a 2003 F-150 King Ranch as my parents always had trucks and wanted me to be in one as well. That didn't last long as that turned into them getting me a 2004 Infiniti G35 which because of me being young and reckless, I got it into a small fender bender. It was stolen from the body shop where it was getting repaired. From there they got me a 2004 Nissan350Z which again only lasted a few months due to me getting some speeding tickets where they took the car from me. Fast forward a few months and I bought my first car myself at CarMax which was a2004 Mustang GT. I ended up fully modding that one with high compression pistons, ported heads,custom cams, intake manifold, headers, etc. I had fun with that car for a few years until I got my first S550 which was a 2016 Performance Package which I also modded and was able to achieve 515whp with headers, ported Cobra Jet, mono blade, cold air intake, and custom cams topped off with a Lund Racing tune by Jon Jr. Fast forward a couple of years and I trade the 16 in and get an 18 in Feb of2018 which was a game-changer for us.

What has this build been for you so far?

So this build started the day we purchased the car. I ordered my tune while we were waiting for the finance manager to come back with our papers. From there we installed the headers from my previous car. We were one of the first few to get a Cobra Jet on the Gen 3 which was done with a Gen 2 throttle body that required a converter box to work since the Gen 2 and 3 have different throttle body signals to and from the PCM. That was all done to achieve our goals of being one of the first few to run 10s in the 1/4 naturally aspirated which we did in April of 2018. That we couldn't have done without the help of the guys over at Steeda who installed some crucial suspension components as well as an alignment that morning before the track rental. From there we just wanted to continue to get faster so we were working with Michael at L&M to get some cams made for our car. We got some made and added them along with a Nitrous Outlet plate kit with a 150 shot which with Jon Jr at Lund Racing working his magic, we got the car down to a [email protected] mph and won us multiple 10.0 index classes at Mod Nationals, NMRA and Street Car Takeover.Now the car sits as the quickest/fastest 2018+ S550 at [email protected] on nitrous only which with the new setup we plan on pushing that number much further and running some low 8 sec 1/4 miles runs without boost.

Have you attended any racing schools?

I never attended racing school and like a lot of us learned from practice. I started learning in manual cars and my parents always had a stick shift at the house that they taught me to drive in. That turned into me getting myself manual cars every time we purchased one asI was in love with the control you have of the car when driving a stick shift. From there I started going to the track with my car on Friday nights and took a lot of stalling, red lighting, or blowing the tires off from over-revving at the tree to finally dial it in. Then all we had to work on was reaction time which took some time understanding the difference between full tree, .400 pro tree,and .500 pro tree and learning how to react faster than my opponent on each. When I got my 2018 it was the first sports car in an auto I've had which I thought would make launching easier but in reality, it takes just as much to get an auto to work as it does a manual when you are going for your best times. We had many trials with different tire sizes, tire pressures, suspension settings,launch rpm, rear end gear ratio, etc until we got a setup that worked for us pretty consistently.

Suggestions for those who may want to get into racing but they’re not sure where to get started.

I would advise anyone wanting to get into racing that the most important part of a successful racing career is "Patience". This works for most things in life but especially in the racing world as every little thing makes a difference. No matter how you build your car or which setup you decide to use on your car, don't get discouraged if it doesn't work its first time out.Many times we have gone out with proven setups and they just seem to fight us every step of the way.This is again where patience is key as you just need to test and record all the info/specs for the passes you are doing so you can compare at the end of the night and see what worked best for you as every car is different. Always be open-minded and don't be afraid to ask for advice. There is a wealth of knowledge available both online and at all car shows and track events where you can get a lot of info and help about how to go about achieving your goals from people that have done it and can help guide you down the right path.