History of the Dominator
What follows is the historical archive of the development and campaign of the Dominator GTA. Special thanks go out to J. Bittle at JBA Racing for locating and releasing the majority of the information that follows.
March 1989
Road & Track Editor Garrett Lai invites JBA to participate in an upcoming Road & Track "Special" issue titled "Supercars", 24 of the Worlds Quickest Cars. This invitation coincided with the 25th Anniversary of the Ford Mustang. J. Bittle was quick to capitalize on this and put a plan into action to be able to acquire, build and campaign a new Ford Mustang for this Silver Anniversary.
In no time JBA had responded to the invitation and began the daunting process of acquiring a subject car in time to build a competitive high speed challenger. The "Supercar Shootout" was scheduled for April 23rd, 1989. Less than 30 days!
Ford Motor Company pulled a few strings that allowed JBA to acquire a new 1989 LX Mustang from existing inventory at San Diego's Drew Ford. Their was just not enough time to wait for Ford's Fleet department to ship a car from the factory.
March 30th, 1989
JBA takes delivery of a 1989 Ford Mustang LX Sport. VIN#1FABP41E8KF178914, Ford Tag # 042D962. A $1 payment was made to allow title transfer.
April 1st, 1989
JBA immediately began installing the HD suspension components the Dominator would require. Like any "Supercar" program JBA contacted every vendor and friend for support with the Team Dominator program. Here we have a copy of the letter sent to Susan Bogan in the Marketing Department at Keiper Recaro. The high performance front seats and matching rear seat are still in perfect condition today. Matching material covers the accent in the center of the door panels as well.
(For a more detailed equipment list review the Dominator GTA "Powertrain" page)
April 3rd, 1989
JBA began body construction of the modified fenders, hood, front end, rear valence and deck lid. The Cabernet Red Original Color was replaced with 1988 Ford Merkur Red.
April 10th, 1989
Road&Track magazine (Diamandis Communications Inc.) sends a confirmation of invitation acceptance to JBA. At this point the Dominator GTA was tentatively named "Supercar" and the Road&Track special issue was being referred to as a "Book on tuner cars".
April 11th, 1989
Dorthy M. Mack of FORD Motor Company's Transportation & Special Programs sends a letter to Joel Glatte at Drew Ford in San Diego CA thanking him for relinquishing the subject vehicle to assist with the Road&Track / 25th Anniversary promotion.
April 17th, 1989
The Dominator returns from Paint and Body to the JBA assembly room where the roll cage, interior, gauges, engine, fuel systems, exhaust system and drive train were installed.
(For a more detailed equipment list review the Dominator GTA "Powertrain" section)
April 22nd, 1989
On the morning of April 22nd 1989 the JBA Team Dominator GTA roared to life. Finishing touches were worked on until 4:00pm when the Team then departed for the test. Road&Tracks "High Speed Shootout" was set to take place at Nissan's 5.6 mile 35 degree banked test track center in Stanfield, Arizona. The 6 hour tow from San Diego put the Dominator GTA and the JBA team in Stanfield at about 10:30 pm. At that point the Dominator was unloaded and some final tuning and adjustments were made.
April 23rd, 1989
The test began at 7:00am. Road&Track arranged for Steve Millian of IMSA GTP fame to drive each of the 14 participants cars. The program was one warm up lap, one hot lap and one cool down lap. Each participant was able to get in two runs. The JBA Dominator GTA recorded a speed of 173 mph on the first run and 175 mph on the second run. The fact that the second pass occurred at 11:30am in 98 degree heat and that the Dominator ran trouble free made this maiden test phase a huge success.
May 9th, 1989
JBA issues a press release announcing the success of the JBA Dominator and a personalized thank you letter to all those who participated in the Team Dominator program.
June 1989-1992
The Dominator went on a performance campaign for JBA and was an active competitor in Open Track events, Drag Racing events and was the test bed for JBA Power Plant optimization. The Media Blitz was a big part of the next 3 years where the Dominator was featured in many magazines, trading card collections and Automotive enthusiast print media.
1992-1993
The Dominator Concept took on a new dimension in 1992. JBA R&D began on the Dominator GTB program. A program that would bring three levels of Dominator Packaging to the Mustang owners of America. A second Mustang was pulled from the collection of J Bittle and the development of the GTB with Fiberglass body panels designed for mass production and a supercharged power plant. Dominator Packages were sold for many years. An estimated 27 Dominators were produced by JBA alone. Many more were built by authorized Dominator Dealers. Dominator GTB fiberglass is still available today.
1994
To help finance the GTB program the Dominator GTA was sold to a local car collector where it sat next to a very nice Pontiac GTO until it was repurchased by JBA in 2002.
2002
JBA Master Mechanic Greg Smith purchased the Dominator and built what is arguably the most powerful drive train in Dominator History. The 5.8L Lightning Short Block with GT40 Upper and lower intakes topped with N02 and mated to a T-56 6 speed transmission! Shortly after the modern day build was complete Sales Manager Greg Raymond purchased the Dominator so that Greg Smith could build a 1967 Turbo powered Fastback Mustang that was voted one of the best rides of 2004 by Hot Rod Magazine and featured on the cover! But that’s another story.
2002-2008
Maintained and campaigned as a piece of Ford history for JBA. The Dominator GTA saw zero track time, but amazed the masses at the annual Coronado Speed Festival, San Diego Mustang Club show and Fabulous Fords Forever at Knott’s Berry Farm.
2008-2009
Purchased by Latemodel Restoration Supply. Road course Track time has been logged at the 2008 SVTOA event at Texas World Speedway in Bryan and at the Tulsa Shelby Meet in Tulsa Oklahoma. Many people at those events stopped by once they realized that this was the ORIGINAL Road & Track shoot out car and told stories about how they remember it in all the magazines and that it IS one of the most influential Fox bodies of all time.