Drag Illustrated Issue 152, January 2020 | Page 94

The Champions of 2019
[ NO PREP KINGS ]
Ryan
Martin
[ NORTHEAST OUTLAW PRO MOD ASSOCIATION ]
David Norris
F
rom going to the track in the ‘60s with his parents through his
current endeavors, David Norris has spent his entire life chasing speed and working
towards the championship title he finally clinched in 2019 with the Northeast
Outlaw Pro Mod Association. His wife, Mary Lou, has been by his side since he
was a street racing teenager, too, and also avidly wrenches and races.
Now, Norris has found his stride with a G-Force Race Cars 2018 Corvette Pro Mod. A Noonan
Race Engines-headed Hemi built by the renowned Jeff Fowler of Fowler Engines huffs com-
pressed air courtesy of a PSI Superchargers screw blower. While the combination is menacing,
Norris prefers to keep the car itself on the subtle side and lets its performance speak for itself.
Norris started the year with a No. 2 qualifying effort at the NEOPMA season opener held
in conjunction with the 11th Annual MDIR Door Wars at Maryland International Raceway in
April. Unfortunately, trouble struck in the first round and he went out early. His misfortune
continued at the following race at Capital Raceway, as he qualified second but a broken trans-
mission meant he couldn’t return for the final round.
Incidentally, Norris, who “dabbles in some amateur MMA stuff ” had torn his ACL in February
and had to suffer through one race with the injury, then went in for surgery in May and had to
sit another out as a result.
Fortunately, Norris’s luck turned around and he was able to close out the year with a string
of strong performances. Scoring the No. 1 qualifier spot at NEOPMA race six at Atco Raceway
in August with a 5.769 at 255 mph pass positioned him well for eliminations, but he made an
exit in round one. The following month, back at Capital Raceway, Norris qualified in the No. 2
spot, and he proceeded to power through rounds one and two of eliminations with matching
5.76-second hits. Tire shake in the finals, though, meant Norris went home as the runner-up.
In October, Norris headed back to MDIR and clicked off a cool 5.654 at 259 mph blast to
begin eliminations from the No. 3 position. Another runner-up finish there, too, gave him a
good advance in the points chase.
It was tight between Norris, Tyler Hard, and Chuck Ulsch in a battle of the superchargers,
but when the ninth and final race of the season at Atco was rained out and the standings final-
ized, Norris was honored by being named the NEOPMA Pro Mod Elite 2019 points champion.
“The NEOPMA is a great group of guys to go racing with and thanks to John Mazzorana for
promoting it,” says Norris, who came out of a challenging season with a new personal best of
5.63 at 250 mph on top of his new title. “We haven’t been able to seal the deal on an event win
yet – we’ve come close and something always pops up – but we got the championship regardless
and I’m really happy with that.” – AINSLEY JACOBS
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
94 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 152
R
yan Martin and the Fireball
Camaro team rolled into the third
season of No Prep Kings with
something to prove. The first two
seasons were bittersweet for the Norman, Okla-
homa-based team. Martin grabbed the points lead
early in the first two seasons, won the most races,
and held the points lead all season, but bad luck
saw the team’s championship hopes quickly fade,
as the title went to other racers in the last round
of the last race not once, but twice.
“Winning season three was a huge monkey off
my back,” Martin explains. “Missing out on the
first two seasons by five points really drove me
to try to win that championship even harder for
the third season. It’s a relief to know that I was
able to pull it off, and by quite a large margin.”
Martin battled his way race in and race out.
He started the season with a win, solidifying
a points lead that he would hold the entire
season. Heading into the last race of season
three, Martin held the points lead by 10 points.
The last race is double points, putting the sec-