Queen of the Hill

Melissa Urist’s 2015 Mustang is the most powerful S550 around

By Steve Turner
Photos by Steve Turner and courtesy of Hellion Power Systems

Believe it or not, the quest to reach some performance milestones with the new Mustang platform is still underway. While many are obsessing about which 2015 and newer Mustang has run the quickest with “stock” parts, there is now no doubt about the owner of the most powerful stockish 2015 Mustang. It’s Melissa Urist. Hers is boosted by a Hellion Power Systems Eliminator twin-turbo kit, and, yeah, it is still rocking the stock PCM (with a custom calibration).

“Racing a ridiculously fast Mustang is unbelievable. It’s funny though, everyone told me it wouldn’t feel like I was going fast once I got used to the car. I’m here to tell you, they were right,” Melissa said. “I’d get the time slip and see 133 mph and think to myself, ‘Wow I was actually going that fast? Sure didn’t feel like it!’”

As you may recall, Melissa made her racing debut in the Turbo Coyote Shootout class at the NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Though she is part of the Leslie racing family, and married into the Urist racing dynasty, Melissa had never competed in a race before. That might be daunting enough for some people, but Melissa did so in what we now know is a car that makes four-digit horsepower at the rear wheels.

“The excitement and exhilaration I felt while racing at Bowling Green is far beyond what I could explain. It’s the feeling you get when you click your seatbelt together or when you put your helmet on, your stomach starts doing flips and you go over your routine one more time just to make sure you’ve got it down,” she said. “But once I was in the burnout box, it was time to get to work. Everything shifts, everything changes and you know you have one job to do, be the first to cross that line and my first round that’s exactly what I did. I actually had no idea I had won until I got my time slip and how exciting!”

Not only did she run a low e.t. of 9.50 at 133 mph in this street-driven S550, but she handily won her first round of competition against Brad Beach. If you checked out our event coverage, you already know that, but what we didn’t know at the time was how the car had been upgraded and much power this car made in preparation for the race.

“MMR did a sleeved Coyote short-block upgrade to be able to handle over 1,000 horsepower. We left the stock heads and stock cams in it. Basically the stock engine but stronger. We lowered the compression just a little bit so we could really turn it up,” her husband John Urist, of Hellion Power Systems, explained. “With that confidence we went to the dyno and turned it up to 18 pounds. At 18 pounds it made 1,034. With those 55mm turbos we know it can make more than 18, but with the larger turbos I don’t see any reason why we can’t make 1,500 horsepower with the 64/66 upgrade.”

You can watch her car run when it was “only” making 1,034 at the wheels…

Don’t think you have to run that much boost on your 2015 Mustang though; you can run the base kit and have plenty of streetable power. “These base turbos don’t have to be at 1,000,” John added. “We send them out set at 7 pounds of boost, which can make a comfortable 550 to 600 horsepower.”

Of course, after talking to us on the phone about the car’s performance, John couldn’t resist taking the car back to The Dyno Edge in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and turning up the boost. Still running the 55mm turbos, but set at 23 pounds of boost, Melissa’s car rocked the Dynojet rollers with 1,135 horsepower! As far as we know, that’s the most put down by any 2015 and newer Mustang and certainly the most from one that still carries its street credentials.

Here is the new 1,135-horsepower pull…

“To our knowledge this is the only bolt-on package that’s adjustable between 500 and 1,000-plus horsepower with the base kit,” John added. “Wait till we put on a set of 64s with the boost set at 34 pounds. That’s coming.”

For now, however, Melissa will keep driving and racing the car with the 55mm turbos. At some point the car is scheduled to make an appearance at her daughter’s school so her classmates can see the race car that the youngest Urist keeps talking about in class. When someone’s mom rolls up in an 1,135 Mustang at school, there will be no topping that at show and tell!

“I hope to race this car as much as I can!” Melissa said. “I’m completely hooked and hope that maybe the Turbo Coyote Shootout class can be run at a few more races! Next up for the ’15 is the Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas!”

And, yeah, we are pretty sure this isn’t the last performance milestone this Hellion-turbocharged 2015 Mustang will set, so stay tuned.

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