The Galloping Ghost was built by North American Aviation as a P-51D-15-NA, Army Air Force serial number 44-15651,[3] at the NAA's Inglewood, California, plant[4] for military use during World War II.

Around that time, Steve Beville and Bruce Raymond were looking to compete in the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, that were to be held in September.

Beville was able to secure the aircraft from the WAA on July 22, 1946, even though P-51 sales at Walnut Ridge Army Air Field had formally ended.

[12][13] The aircraft was rebuilt again, this time with a very small canopy taken from a Formula One air racer and a smaller belly cooling scoop.

In 1973 he qualified the airplane in the third position for the Unlimited Class Gold Race and he took second place behind Lyle Shelton's winning Bearcat.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) examined whether the loss of a component of the tail played a role in the crash of The Galloping Ghost.

[17] News reports included a photograph taken right before the crash while the airplane was inverted show a missing left elevator trim tab.

[17][18] A similar event had taken place in 1998: the left trim tab was lost by a modified P-51 Mustang named Voodoo Chile, piloted by "Hurricane" Bob Hannah, during the Reno Air Races.

The 1998 incident did not lead to a crash, but Hannah reported that when the elevator trim tab came off, the airplane pitched up and subjected him to over 10 g and a loss of consciousness.

[19][20] In the NTSB investigation report, the cause was attributed to extreme pitch-up to 17 g+ caused by the loss of the port elevator trim tab due to wear in the trim tab mounts, exacerbated by lock-nuts on the mounting bolts losing their self-locking ability due to use past their normal life.