{"id":78391,"date":"2025-08-28T19:04:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/?p=78391"},"modified":"2025-08-28T19:29:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T19:29:20","slug":"behind-staging-lane-with-peter-stevens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/behind-staging-lane-with-peter-stevens\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Staging Lane with Peter Stevens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands, 28th August 2025:<\/strong> Drag racing is contagious. Once you are in it, it will become a part of you for the rest of your life. No Matter what role you play, either mechanic or driver, you will always want to continue, especially if you have ever been behind the wheel of a race car. Sometimes one will take a step back, but will return as soon as possible. Just ask Peter Stevens, who just returned behind the wheel after eighteen years of absence. Peter re-ignites his racing career, this time in the sportsman class, Pro E.T. So, who is Peter Stevens, and why does he compete in Pro E.T.? What is his story? Let us take you through his journey and history with his current race car in this edition of Behind Staging Lane.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Text: Benjamin Wefer
\nPictures: Benjamin Wefer, Peter Stevens (Velocity Racing Team)<\/p>\n

So, who is Peter Stevens? Well, Peter was born in the golden era of muscle cars (the sixties), and currently works as an electrical engineer in an industrial environment. His first car was a 1968 Pontiac Firebird (which he still owns). And of course, he spends his spare time working on American cars, reliving the golden era of the American Muscle cars. <\/span><\/p>\n

One day, he and a friend of his decided to visit a race at Drachten Raceway, where a 1968 Ford Mustang fastback (called Blue Angel) caught his attention. The car itself has a great history; in 1995\/1996, it was competing in the Pro Stock category with Heidi Lackey behind the wheel. By 1999, the Mustang had Blaupunkt as its main sponsor. The name ‘Velocity’ on the Mustang refers back to the audio line from Blaupunkt, and ‘Blue Angel’ leads back to Heidi. Previous owner Jan Scheppers purchased the car in 2001, brought it to the Netherlands, and retained the original paint job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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When Jan Scheppers began discussing the world of drag racing with Peter, he knew it was something he wanted to pursue. Soon, the idea arose to turn his Firebird into a quarter-mile street machine, and it was his first step into the world of drag racing! Stevens started racing in the street category and later moved to Super Street. After a while, Peter decided to put his passion on hold, but didn’t want to stay too far away from the racing world; therefore, he decided to join the Velocity Racing Family as a Mechanic.<\/p>\n

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The Velocity Racing Family continued to race for a while, until they put their quarter-mile abitions on hold to participate in some off-road racing. The team sold the Mustang, and the car went to Germany and later to the USA, where it remained parked for nearly a decade. In 2017, the \u2018Blue Angel\u2019 made his re-appearance on Dutch soil, with Peter still part of the team. The team prepared the Mustang to compete in Pro E.T. and revived their racing passion. Here is where Peter\u2019s passion for this category started to grow.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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When the Velocity team bought a Dodge Viper to compete in Super Pro E.T., it was evident that the team would need to sell the Mustang. But not before getting a significant update. Among the updates, a new blown engine with a BDS 6-71 blower (built\/tuned by David Vegter. Peter knew that this was his calling. He would need to buy this Mustang and keep it in the family!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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At the end of Last year, Peter bought the Mustang and entered himself to compete in Pro E.T. this year during the French Championship at Clastres Raceway. After 18 years of being absent from behind the wheel of a race car, Peter returned with success! He won the French Championship in Pro. E.T. with 202 points. Of course, we took the opportunity to ask him a series of direct questions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Have you always wanted to race Pro E.T. (PET)? <\/span>What is so interesting about racing in PET? Being a crew member while the Velocity team raced in Pro E.T. brought me closer to this category. It\u2019s such a beautiful class, where the difference between winning or losing a race is in a thousandth of a second. It\u2019s bracket race at its fullest! The Mustang should be able to run in the 8 seconds (Super PRO ET), but I prefer a safe setup and stay in PRO ET. I think.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Buying the Mustang was like answering a calling, but what are the plans for the Mustang? <\/span>As mentioned, the Blue Angel Mustang was the reason I got involved in drag racing. I love the car and its history. The name, the paint job, the body – it\u2019s a work of art and should never be changed. My intention is just that: leave it as it is, with no need to change anything.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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What are the expectations with the current setup? <\/span>I like the car\u2019s performance as it is and do not want to change anything, so achieving low 9-second runs and consistent times is what we will strive for. I would also like to thank the whole Velocity Racing family for everything they did for me. Without a great team, you can\u2019t race and have fun!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What would be the most remarkable moment you have ever experienced in your racing career? <\/span>Most notable is, of course, June this year (27th European Dragster) at Clastres raceway, where I qualified first and won the race. A few weeks prior, I had renewed my racing license after an 18-year<\/span> break.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

How do you see your future in drag racing? \u00a0<\/span>You know, Motorsport is excellent, but safety is most important. Peter replied. I am already 61 years old, and I am still fit enough to race. I want to continue racing until I can no longer safely exit the car in the event of an emergency.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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So, what does drag racing mean to Peter? Drag racing is like a vacation with best friends, where you meet even more friends, and help each other so everyone can race their car and have fun.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now you know a little more about Peter Stevens, why he came back behind the wheel, or better said, why he never left drag racing, his success, and his passion for the quarter-mile races.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blue Angel Specs<\/strong>
\nChassis Build-by: Engelage
\nMake & Model: Ford Mustang Fastback
\nYear: 1968
\nEngine: DART 406
\nTransmission: Powerglide
\nSupercharger: BDS 6-71
\nFuel Type: pumpgas
\nBest E.T.: 9.11 seconds at 236 km\/hr<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands, 28th August 2025: Drag racing is contagious. Once you are in it, it will become a part of you for the rest of your life. No Matter what role you play, either mechanic or driver, you will always want to continue, especially if you have ever been behind the wheel of a race car. Sometimes one will take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":78420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/M17A8256.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78391"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78564,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78391\/revisions\/78564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcobcur.com\/ver5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}