Hurst’s Mustang Sweepstakes Winner Meets His Muscle Car

‘You’re not getting me out of this car!’ says lucky winner Stephen Randall, who recently traveled to California to pick up his rad ride.

As the name suggests, the Hurst Elite Series Mustang Sweepstakes was a contest held by the folks from Hurst to give away the company’s first Elite Series Ford Mustang GT. This was the car used by Hurst to develop its Elite Series package for the 2015+ Mustang GT. So, it has a long list of aftermarket upgrades inside and out. Entering the sweepstakes was as simple as signing up online or at one of the many events around the country where Hurst had a display in 2017. The once-in-a-lifetime sweeps was open from February through November, and the winner was chosen at random from the entries, which likely numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Meet the Luckiest Mustang Fan on Earth

Stephen Randall of Louisville, Kentucky, was picked as the winner of the Hurst Elite Series Mustang Sweepstakes. Recently, he got to fly to California with his wife, Jessi, to meet his modified Mustang GT. The team from Hurst put a video up on the Hurst Performance YouTube channel, chronicling the exciting trip.

The video begins by introducing us to Randall. In early December, the longtime Mustang enthusiast received a phone call from the folks at Hurst, explaining that he had won the sweepstakes and that he needed to fly out to the company headquarters in Santa Rosa to accept his prize.

“Last Wednesday, I got the call that I won the car,” says Randall in the clip. “I didn’t want my wife to know at the time. I was going to try to make it a surprise, but I was so excited that I ran into the house and blurted it out.”

The video then heads outside, where we get to meet Randall’s daily driver at the time: a Ford Escort ZX2 with 172,602 miles on the odometer. His sporty little compact had huge teeth in the grille, too, as well as SpongeBob stickers on the gauge cluster and a stripped out interior. So, a 2015 Mustang GT was surely a welcome upgrade.

Going to California

The next morning, Randall and his wife headed out to California to meet their new Ford Mustang GT.

Representatives from Hurst were waiting for the Randalls at the airport and their first stop along the way was a tour of the Flowmaster Mufflers factory in West Sacramento. Flowmaster provides components for the Hurst Elite Series Cat-Back exhaust system, so the Randalls got to see their mufflers being produced.

The second stop on the California trip was B&M Automotive Repair in Sacramento, where they toured the facility while eagerly awaiting the introduction of his Ford Mustang Hurst Elite Series.

At first, they uncovered what appeared to be a rental-spec V6 Mustang, joking that they had painted his car red, but that was when the actual car came roaring into the parking lot.

The Hurst Elite Series

The Hurst Elite Series Mustang is a GT fastback with the 6-speed manual transmission and the GT Performance Package. The Hurst Elite Series package added the Hurst Stunner wheels, the Hurst Elite Series cat-back exhaust system, a Hurst Competition/Plus shifter, a Hurst spring package, Hurst embroidered floor mats and the Hurst exterior graphics package.

Unique to this particular Hurst Elite Series Mustang is the spread of carbon fiber components (mirror caps, hood vents, rear diffuser, rocker panel splitter, front bumper lip), unique Hurst black-and-white leather seats and some under-hood bits, including an oil-air separator, a coolant expansion tank and a some dress-up items.

‘I don’t want to fly home.
You’re not getting me out of this car!’

The end of the video shows the Randalls checking out their new Ford Mustang Hurst Elite Series, giving us a look at the customized car from every angle as the new owner revs the 5.0L engine. The couple then heads out for a short test-drive and when they return, Stephen seems pretty impressed.

“I don’t want to fly home,” says Randall as he revs the engine. “You’re not getting me out of this car!”

Unfortunately, he did have to get out of the car and fly back to Kentucky, and the Hurst Elite Series Mustang was shipped out to his home the following week.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

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