No Prep racer Charlie Davis illustrated the unpredictable nature of No Prep-style of racing recently when he went for a wild ride in his 1969 Pro Mod Camaro nicknamed “The Lizzard” during the taping of a Cash Days race for Street Outlaws New Orleans.
Davis has been racing in the South since his high school and has always been fond of F-bodies. His 1978 Camaro was running 9.90s on nitrous, and was eventually replaced with a Big Tire 1981 Camaro that clicked off low 8-second passes. The Lizzard is the most radical of the cars he’s owned, though, sporting a TRE-built, 565 cubic inch engine with Dart Pro 1 heads and a giant F3 ProCharger.
Since his return to racing, Davis has mostly stuck to regional No Prep races. “We debuted the car at Hub City Raceway during the Fat Tuesday race, and won the $10,000 Amarillo Dragway No Prep race earlier this year too,” Davis says.
Davis was invited to run at the taping of a Cash Days race for Street Outlaws: New Orleans, but things didn’t quite go as planned. “We were racing from the 1/8–mile to the 1/4-mile mark at the track for the event. The car caught traction and pulled the tires off the ground, then went hard right down track. I wheeled it back into the groove, but it drifted left.
“I was running against one of my friends, so I tried to do everything I could to make sure I didn’t hit him. The car went out of control and cleared the guardrail when I hit it. It was a smooth impact — after I landed I said to myself ‘did this really just happen?’. I got out of the car and told the safety crew the Dukes of Hazzard ain’t got nothing on me’,” Davis says.
The damage to The Lizzard looks worse that what it is, according to Davis. The plan is to have the tubes from the firewall forward cut off and redone. Earl Schexnayder will be checking the engine over, while M&M Chassis and Mike Jones will help with other repairs. Davis plans to do more No Prep races when the car is fixed, because he enjoys racing at the track for the fans. Look for The Lizzard to slither back onto the No Prep racing scene very soon!