There’s a large contingent of you out there in reader-land who believe that “no-prep” racing is a dumb idea and that it is the current flavor of the week when it comes to drag racing. We disagree on both fronts because the no-prep scene is not just growing, it is exploding. The number of tracks that have announced races for next year has mushroomed, the amount of money involved has increased exponentially, and the caliber of cars that are now gravitating to no-prep racing is on a distinct rise. Why? We think the answer is simple.

For the same reasons that lots of guys hate this stuff, we love it. There’s absolutely no predictability, there’s certainly an increased focus on driver skill and ability, and there’s an absolutely awesome amount of diversity mechanically. In many ways, no-prep racing harks back to the era that made drag racing so popular in this country. When a fan walks in the gate he has no idea who will be there, he has no idea if the guy that kicked ass last week will be left for a chump this week, he doesn’t know if someone is going to bounce the car off every hard surface in the place or if someone is going to resent a track or national record. The script is never written with this stuff and that cannot be said for the fan experience at a lot of drag races these days. Yes money helps, but in no-prep competition there’s a very wide window for wit and guile to take the day.

We’re talking about this because just before Christmas an announcement was made about a no prep event to be held at San Antonio Raceway March 11-12 and that event will have the latest payout in the history of this style of racing. The $50,000 set aside for big tire cars and the $10,000 set aside from small tire runners is guaranteed. If one car shows up, the payout is the same as if 300 show up.

These are the richest purses that have ever been laid out for this style of racing (we believe) ever. Mike Murillo is a driving force behind this one and we’re going to catch up with him in the coming days. Information is light right now on this one but as the story develops we’ll update you.

Real money, real crazy excitement,

Here’s the poster announcement for the race in San Antonio, we’ll be back with more soon –