2008 Gurney Signature Edition Ford Mustang

Carroll Shelby has a Mustang of his own (a whole bunch of 'em, in fact). Parnelli Jones has a Mustang of his own. And now another legendary racer, Dan Gurney, has a Mustang of his own, too. It's a limited-edition Saleen; just 300 will be sold. And, yup, like the Mustangs of his rivals, it's real fast.

Gurney hasn't raced professionally since 1970, but he's nearly as famous now as he was in the Sixties. His resume includes four wins in Formula 1 world-championship events (including one in his own Eagle F1 car), seven Indy Car victories, five NASCAR wins, and countless first-place finishes in sports-car events. He was also, as he learned from the father of Jim Clark at the Scotsman's funeral in 1968, the only rival driver feared by the late, great two-time world champion. Since 1970, Gurney has been the sole owner of All American Racers, a team that has notched 78 race wins (including the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of Daytona). The man knows a tad about fast cars.

The Saleen-built Gurney Signature Edition Mustang certainly boasts an impressive spec chart. Under the hood lies the company's supercharged, 4.6-liter V-8, good for 465 horsepower and feeding a short-throw five-speed manual that drives a 3.73 Max Grip limited slip. Suspension is a stiff Racecraft design with a Gen-II Watts-Link rear end (a first for a Saleen), which lowers the car's roll center and helps keep the live axle centered under the car (improving handling balance). Tires are high-performance Pirelli P Zero Corsas (285/30ZR-19s in front, 285/35ZR-19s in back) on five-spoke Heritage Edition gray alloys. Brakes are 14-inch vented discs with four-piston calipers up front, 11.8-inch vented discs at the rear.

The dress-up includes a Gurney body kit, "duck-bill" rear spoiler, hood pins, and custom graphics. Inside await excellent leather sport seats with Alcantara inserts, stand-up boost and air-temp gauges, and Gurney's felt-pen signature smack-dab on the center of the dash.

Compared with a production Shelby GT500, the Gurney Mustang kicks out 35 fewer horsepower. But you'd hardly know it by the stopwatch. The Gurney rockets to 60 mph in just 4.3 seconds (same as the last GT500 we tested) and trips the quarter-mile lights in 12.9 seconds at 111.3 mph (compared with 12.6 seconds at 114.2 mph for the Shelby). Braking performance is actually better than the GT500's: the Gurney stops in just 108 feet, versus 118 for the factory Ford. And thanks to its Racecraft underpinnings and grippy Corsas, the Gurney trumps the GT500 on handling power, running our exclusive Figure 8 test in just 25.5 seconds (versus 25.9 for the GT500) and wringing out 0.96 g of maximum lateral grip (compared with 0.89 g for the Shelby).