Shadow Boxing in 2025 - Has the Explorer 3.0L Stock Turbo scene plateaued?

2025 started off great with the 3.0L stock turbo explorers pushing the envelope! We saw consistent low 11s from GooseTuned and others, still stock turbos!

In early 2025 we saw 1 car even run 10s for the first time in 5yrs! 1 pass, and done. Nothing more.

Anyone who follows GooseTuned has seen Luke, the current ecoboost Raptor 1/4mi record holder. 11.5@117mph!

When Luke reached out back in February his goal was simple, run 12s stock turbos and be done! So in February 2025 Luke purchased a 2021 3.0L Explorer PIU that was unmodified, with 130,000 miles on the clock!

Fast forward 1 week later he was running 12s, full-weight, on pump 93oct, no mods!

Having done that so easy, Luke decided he wanted to do something NO stock turbo 3.0L car had done before, and run 11s full-weight, no mods, on 93oct. Keep in mind, at this point the platform is 5yrs old, and still nobody has run 11s on pump gas full-weight no mods? Correct. So his goal was then modified to do so. And if you know Luke, you know once he has his mind set, it's as good as done!

Less than a few days later, he did that as well:

Now in the 11s, Luke thought maybe it was time to see where this could go with some modifications, and from here, it was game over.

Over the next 4 months Luke slowly crept down from 11.7 in May...to 11.6....to 11.5...passing 11.4, all the way down to 11.1 in JUNE...in the SUMMER even with the STOCK intake! The writing was on the wall, Luke was going to be the first stock turbo PIU 3.0L Explorer ever to the 10s! But could he do what had never been done in the previous 5yrs of the platform? Keep in mind, it's only been 5 months since he purchased his PIU with over 130,000 miles on it!

At this point, no other stock turbo 3.0 car has posted anything noteworthy. Nothing that we haven't all seen before at least. We had to ask ourselves, had the stock turbo 3.0 scene plateaued? Doesn't matter.

It was time to buckle down and do what most said was impossible.

Out of the gate, 11.0 @122 in July, 11.04, 11.01, 11.00...and finally deep into the 10s with a 10.87 @ 125mph right smack in the middle of summer! The impossible had been accomplished! The first ever stock turbo 3.0L PIU in the 10s! It took us 5 months to accomplish something that in the 5yrs of the 3.0L Explorer's existence had not been done! In "hero DA"? Hardly! Luke was NOT afraid to drive the hell out of his car, in the middle of summer! Backed by a safe and reliable tune, he knew what was possible.

Was Luke going to stop there? We all know the answer to that question, no!

On to deeper 10s!

Luke decided that not only was he going to beat the previous 3.0 stock turbo track record, he was going to destroy it by over 4mph! Now, anybody that understands racing knows that 4mph over the next fastest car is a BIG jump! So that's what he did.

10.84 @ 128mph was something that only big turbo cars had done up to this point, NOBODY had done this. But Luke once again set the stock turbo platform record, and did it in blazing fashion!

Now, with the stock turbo 3.0 track and dragy world records in his back pocket, Luke decided he wanted to give back to the community and be the first to outline what it takes for a stock turbo, stock transmission, stock motor PIU 3.0L car to run deep 10s. And after a few short months of testing and tuning, he laid the groundwork for anyone after him to follow. See his mod list below:

As of writing, Luke has over 27 10-second passes. That's 26 more than the next person. 1 hit wonder? Yeah...no. The car is still running, 0 failures, and is back in street trim for Luke to enjoy his "flowers" over the winter months!

Will Luke push the Explorer 3.0L platform into the 9s? You'll have to stay tuned to see ;)