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Mustang Club of America 2026 Grand Nationals

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This past weekend (August 27-30 2026) it was our pleasure and honor to attend the 50 th Anniversary of the Mustang Cub of America Grand National meet held at Michelin Road Atlanta in Braselton GA. This event had an estimated 400 or more Mustangs in attendance. There was even a GTD and a real GT 40 race car and several Boss 429s! The event even included a shared event with the SAAC (Shelby Cub). I have never seen so many Mustangs, Shelby’s and Saleem’s in one place in my life! The weather was sweltering with temperatures well into the 100’s feels like temperatures.

There were two highlights of the event for my wife and me. The first was an early morning ride along with a professional race driver in their car. Katrina was first excited and then a little intimidated. She wanted to do it but was scared for several reasons we won’t go into. At the last minute, she got brave and put on her helmet, jumped into the passenger seat, strapped in, and held on. I was in the car behind her, riding with a heavy footed racer. We were both in 2017/2018 race prepared Mustangs.

The first lap was to warm the tires, the second was to build speed with the next 3 to put down some really fast times. The track has two very steep hills. At those locations, it is impossible to see what is in front of you until you actually go over the crest of the hill. If someone spins out or has mechanical issues and has stopped, it is impossible to see them until it is too late.

In far too short a time, we were pulling into the pits. The thrill ride was over. I was anxious to see what Katrina thought. She jumped out of her car and gave the driver a hug. She was exuberant and thrilled with her ride. She was soooo glad she did it! I was equally thrilled with the experience and was ready for another 20 laps, but no such option was available.

As fun as that was, the next activity, later in the day, was to take on the same track in our own car! No, we were not going to race, just do some fast laps behind a skilled trainer. His job was to show us the proper lines and keep our speed at a safe and reasonable level for a novice. We had our 2012 Boss 302 Laguna Seca all cleaned up for judging but luckily we were able to have it judged before hitting the track. We did have some second thoughts because the car only had 105 miles on it at that point. (We have other Mustangs/Saleen’s for street use.)

The Laguna Seca was designed and built to be a track car. Its development and testing took place at Laguna Seca Raceway in California. The way it handles and accelerates is fantastic. I hit the rumble strips on target with no disturbance to the handling. Acceleration was thrilling. The challenge was holding the car back to the instructors mandated limits. These were not low speed parade laps. I glanced at the speedometer at one point and saw 100 mph! We were having fun, but just as we were getting comfortable, time was up and we exited the track for the pits. We will do this again any where it is offered. Oh, the odometer on the Boss showed 120 miles when we pulled into the pits.

Not all of the event was on the show field or race track. We also attended the Banquet on Friday evening. We fully expected another rubber chicken meal and boring lecture. WRONG! There was a welcome variety of all you can eat high quality food and desserts I actually had two of and wanted more! The speakers included Steve Saleen, who showed a very entertaining 15 minute video. Shelby’s son was there and spoke about the design, development, and testing of new Shelbys.

The Banquet was as good as the food, and we will definitely do this again as well.

One of the most stressful parts of any show is preparation for judging, waiting for the judges, and being judged. This show was no different. We wanted to get our car judged prior to doing the track parade laps. We also didn’t want rain. It was getting late on Friday; our track time was set for first thing Saturday.

We were in luck; the Judges were doing the car next to us. Just as they finished and began their walk toward us, the rain began! I grabbed a soft rag and kept wiping the rain off the car. It turned out to be a very light short lived sprinkle. I finished wiping the car, and the Judges returned.

The car showed very well, and the Judges moved on quickly after a brief review of their findings. We did well.

Awards were on Sunday. The heat continued to be an issue with large amounts of liquids consumed. Unlike most shows, where awards are given out in the morning in an enclosed air conditioned building. We were treated to outdoor awards in full sun. Our class was last or next to last. As the awards were given out, most folks headed to their car, loaded up, and headed home as soon as their class was awarded. As the awards continued, the announcer’s mic died. There were maybe 12 people left. He walked out to the few of us still there and simply yelled out our names and placement! What an anticlimactic finish to an otherwise great meet.