While Jack Roush, Jr. has been dutifully assisting the family business in their Drag Pack development efforts this year, it's no real secret that he'd much rather be turning the wheel than waiting for stoplights to turn green.

The Roush Performance Group is no certainly stranger to road racing. In fact, it seems that Jack Jr. has at least one highly placed ally in the organization, in the form of Terry Karges (left, above) who has been charged to assist in the development of a business plan for that particular project.

Let's step back a minute and examine some short term history. Since the release of the S197 Mustang by Ford, Roush Performance has introduced a number of their own Mustang variants. Now that's a large bandwagon that apparently has a lot of space on it, but Roush Performance has occupied a good portion of that real estate.

To enumerate, we have seen the release of the Sport, plus the Stage I, II and III variants. Recently, the 427R version was revealed. The limited edition Drag Pack Mustang was announced at the SEMA Show and, with far less fanfare appeared the California Roadster (final name subject to change), shown above.

But wait, there's more! Lurking in the wings is yet another limited edition "Black Jack" Mustang that we saw impressively tearing up the pavement at Waterford Hills this summer. Details remain to be finalized, but this edition is likely to be limited to either 21 or 52 copies.

Add 'em up, plus one for the possibility of a Grand Am homologated Mustang next year and you have a total of eight Roush Performance Mustangs on the menu.

So, what is SVT doing? Having completed a creditable job in finalizing the Shelby GT500 Mustang and farmed out most other near-term variants to the Shelby operations in Nevada, the SVT group has moved on to longer term goals destined not to arrive until the 2010 model year.

Who will actually handle the program management and assembly of the 2008 Bullitt variant is open to speculation at the moment. Some good. Some, not so much.

Still, other divisions within Ford are actively pursuing ambitious goals. One of these is Ford Racing, with Dan Davis at the helm. Having succeeded in moving Ford into a dominant position within the NASCAR and related autosport markets, he's also looking closely at more road race possibilities in the future. The FR500-GT Mustang displayed at the SEMA Show can raise the bar beyond the Grand Am level, but could also end up being an answer to a question nobody is asking.

To us, it looks like there's been a vacuum for which Ford's Shelby GT "Bold Move" is only a partial answer. If you're looking for a performance Mustang with a level of integration as high as SVT has been able to supply in the past, you'll need to have a look at the Roush Performance product line.

It's not all about going straight or turning left.