Cody Sanders owner of Cody Cattle Company in Paris Texas and Manny Alvarez, the owner and mastermind behind HPP Racing in Garland Texas have joined forces to create this incredibly sexy 2020 Mustang GT500, built for one thing only, to go after the No Prep King Title.
“Tuned by Manny” is his passion as Manny has tuned thousands of cars since the creation of HPP Racing in 1998. But since 2019, when he was invited to create his first competitive No Prep Kings car owned by “Monza” Jerry Johnston, he has had his mind on one thing ever since, and that is the hunger to compete at the highest level of racing and currently the biggest thing going in drag racing, Discovery’s #1 hit show Street Outlaws No Prep Kings.
So, what made Manny decide to get out from behind the computer and put on his driving suit? The desire to continue where he left off after the devastating crash of the Vette, the thrill of the competition and getting back into the driver’s seat. Now with the enthusiastic car Owner Cody Sanders, they both decided Manny was the best choice for many reasons. According to Cody “Having a tuner behind the wheel creates a dangerous combination, especially one as hungry as Manny is to win” Cody went on to say, this is Manny’s time, he has sat back and watched long enough.
Manny has been tuning and helping several cars on the show including Monza’s 72’ Split bumper Camaro, “Doc and his Street Beast, Bobby Ducote, Kamikaze, Dominator, and several others. Being the Tuner and now the driver will make it easier consciously to plan a strategy based on what he not only sees in the data, but how it felt in the seat.
With only 12 passes to date in the car, Manny has shattered his personal bests by over a half of a second in the 1/8th mile. According to Manny “Everyone knows what it takes to compete and to make it to the final, but not everyone knows how to get there” we feel like we have the owner, the car, the crew, and the help setting up the car to get where we need to be.
So why the name “Blue Angel”? Out of all the suggestions, this one hit us hard. We have lost some great friends over the past year but mainly due to Tom Wagner – Mentor, friend and always there for us, and then of late Mike Helmann (Mike Mike Mike) producer of the show who both passed away so suddenly and way before their time.
Cody Sanders has been the biggest influencer in making this all happen; Cody and his wife Jana have been in the scene since Armageddon 2019. Cody knew they needed to upgrade their setup to something that could easily handle that kind of power. So, in November of 2021 they began negotiations with the seller in Houston to obtain the Mustang and once that was done, Cody officially became the owner of this beautiful 2020 Mustang GT500.
When Cody was asked about Manny being the driver, his immediate response was “I am all in, Manny is the professional image this team needed, his reputation proceeds him. We now have a driver who is so excited about getting back into the car to be all encompassing as both tuner and driver, but also as a true teammate and visionary of where we want to be at the end of the day as a team” Manny is selfless, he genuinely cares about everyone on this team and always puts his fellow teammates first”.
So, we are ready now for this to all come together and see where it takes us, we all have visions of grandeur, and seriously with a Tim McAmis built chassis finished by putting in a Steve Morris 481X with a single Harts 140mm Turbo driven to the rear by a first class Rossler Transmission and finished with a bad to the bone Marty Merillat Rear Assembly, we should be able to compete immediately.
The main crew consists of James Stacey, Carlton Crow, Darrell Way plus Cody and Scotty driving the rig to all the races.
Lastly when asked, what are your expectations, Manny said “Winning a race, proving to myself that I could tune it plus winning behind the wheel to prove to all the ones that have helped me that we can do it. One win all the way to a championship is the goal, I honestly believe we have what it takes to win.”
Photo credits go to Mallory Elizabeth Photography
Thank You’s belong to: Wife Liana, Brother Ozzie, Clyde and Gaylen from XRP Raceway, the incredible staff at HPP, Steve Morris Racing Engines, FuelTech, Racequip, Boninfante, Kicker, Protorque, Harts Turbos, Turbosmart, Vibrant, RC Components, Diesel Pros, AFIS, Go Lithium, Maven, Dynamic Driveline, PTP – Turbo Blankets, Mr. Wendell’s Motorsports, Diode Dynamics, Marty Merillat, HPL
