Source: Upshift 360 & No Prep
It’s been 2 weeks since we last heard Chris Hamilton’s (BoostedGT) voice echo through the speakers. It is race #13 ferocious battle to Catch the undisputed Champ Ryan Martin continues and the “battleground” is the Rockingham Dragway popularly known as “the rock”.
Just like the coliseum the stands quickly filled up with fans to cheer for their favorite “gladiator.” Bets were being placed left and right, money constantly changing hands and fans screaming to the top of their voice to get heard. It was total chaos but that of positive vibes and happiness.
It was an unforgiving track that claimed more that later claimed more than 3 cars consuming them in fire with drivers sometimes getting close mortal like was the case with Robin Roberts who had to be airlifted to a medical facility from the track or like Mike Bowman who narrowly escaped a flaming car after hitting both walls of the track struggling to save his brand new 68 Chevelle.
With his achievements in the no prep kings series and a bounty on his head, Ryan Martin has become the most targeted man in no prep racing as every other driver wants the bragging rights to say “I put Ryan on the trailer”.
First round chip draws were done at 2pm and as a tradition the event was started by a word of prayer and the national anthem. Round one started with 16 races of 32 cars in the invitationals going down to 16 cars in the second round. The greatest surprise came in round 2 when Ryan ran into some issues in a race he was clearly winning and was eliminated by Giuseppe Gentile in the Gucci nova. I could hear some fans saying “there is nothing to watch here again” and some started leaving the property out of disappointment that Ryan Martin and the fireball Camaro was out.
Meanwhile other racers saw this as a golden opportunity again to grab that trophy. The likes of Kye Kelley and Justin Swanstrom were the people’s favorite to win the Rockingham event but this choice was narrowed down to just Kye after he beat Justin Swanstrom by a lot in round 3. Now was the greatest opportunity for Kye to narrow down the gap between him and Ryan and grab that trophy but nobody seemed to see the yellow Pontiac GTO. Silently creeping to the final like a tiger looking moving towards its next prey was veteran drag racer Jeff Lutz in the yellow turbocharged GTO.
Photo by Lutz Race Cars
The final was not only between Jeff Lutz and Kye Kelley, it was between Team 405 and Team NOLA which is the greatest team rivalry in no prep kings. The cars stage, NOLA on the right and 405 on the left. The lights turned green and the cars took off. Battle between nitrous and turbo down broadway. 330 feet down both cars are still door to door. They both go past the finish line at the same time and a winning light comes on. Exactly 358 days since winning an invitational race in Belle Rose Louisiana and we have a new name in the circle of winners in the NPK 5 and it is Jeff Lutz.
Photo by No Prep
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