Modern Shelby GT500 Races Old Pontiac GTO, Loser Should've Stayed Put

Speaking of the latter, although in the GT500 configuration, it remains a dream machine, one that can hold its ground against Dodge's crazy Challenger Hellcats, albeit not the Demon 170 and Chevy's Camaro ZL1. With a little bit of work, the S550-based Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 can give supercars a run for their money, so it's always great to see various examples in action.

The crazy muscle car may have a smaller displacement unit compared to its biggest rivals, but it boasts plenty of power. The 5.2-liter supercharged V8 steams out an impressive 627 pound-foot (847 Nm) of torque and develops 760 horsepower (771 ps/567 kW). This makes it about as punchy as the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat models and more powerful than the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

According to the Blue Oval's initial estimates, the S550 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 can run the quarter mile in around ten seconds. This has been proved multiple times in the real world to the point where everyone attending drag races can tell you how fast it is. Still, there are some even quicker units out there that can send shivers down the spines of real hypercars for a fraction of their money, yet those were visited by the tuning fairy, which is why they sit in a different league.

Should you type Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 drag racing into your favorite search engine, countless videos will pop up almost instantly, showing this beast go head-to-head down the 1/4-mile against numerous other rides. In this case, it went against an older Mustang and a pair of classics, including the legendary Pontiac GTO, and it was the latter race that caught our eye, as it's not every day that we get to see the first-generation GTO take on a modern muscle car.

The direct battle between the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and the Pontiac GTO starts at the 0:31 mark in the video embedded below, which came courtesy of ImportRace on YouTube and was shot at the Island Dragwag in New Jersey.

You probably suspect which of the two crossed the finish line first, don't you? Probably, yet you should also keep in mind that certain GTOs have been heavily modified and are real dragsters in disguise. Is it the case for the black vehicle depicted below? There's only one way to find out, and while we won't reveal the winner, we will tell you that four seconds separated it from the loser.