What the Hell Kind of Car is that?

In the mid 90's, I was a stock car owner of a hobby stock car with a hot foot driver.  At the time, we were racing on a quarter mile dirt track and consistently finishing in the top five every week.  I was hanging on the pit wall with my team watching our car move to the front when someone asks "What the hell kind of car is that?  Most of the cars were Camaros, so our car stuck out.  I answered the question, "Its a Ford Granada".  That was a lie.  It was actually a Mercury Monarch but who would admit to having a stock car named after a "butterfly".
I am a life long Ford lover and would like to say our key to success was the Ford hardware.  This was not altogether true.  Our secret weapon was our driver Jim "Troop" Blevins.  A second generation Ford stock car driver, he drove with reckless abandon. He was a joy to watch.  On restarts, he would normally pass three to four cars. 
My powerplant selection was the 351 Cleveland.  Once we worked through some reliability issues with the valve train, this engine was unstoppable.  On a dry dirt track, we had to severely de-tune the engine.  On a local half mile paved track, Troop could break the tires loose coming out of the corners.
The Granada was built on the same unibody as the 67-70 Mustang.  As a stock car, the stock suspension was awful.  It have poor roll steer and camber characteristics.   We solved these problems by taking some liberties with suspension mounting points and arm lengths.