No prep racing has absolutely exploded over the past year in popularity across the racing landscape. Racers are attracted to how close this style of racing mimics real street racing, while fans love its wild and unpredictable nature. The recent Redemption 6.0 race at Tulsa Raceway Park had some great racing action, and one very big close call for Steve Melton in his red Pontiac.

It’s pretty much a given at any no prep race that there will be a lot of pedal-fests because of the extreme levels of power racers are trying to put down to an unprepared surface. The extra amount of tuning and knowledge required to get down the track is what many of these racers love about this style of racing.

In this battle of nitrous-assisted F-bodies, things got out of hand right away for Melton in his Firebird. Right at the hit, Randy Thorn in his Camaro in the near lane strikes the tires and has a front row seat for the wild ride Melton was about to go on. As the Pontiac rockets down the track, Melton has to pedal the car quickly, as it begins to lose traction, and that’s when things go south.

The Pontiac’s suspension becomes very unsettled, makes a slight move to the left, and then a very big move to the right. As the car careens across the track collecting a timing block, Melton appears to keep his calm and corrects the car enough that it just barely misses the far wall in what is one of the more epic saves we’ve seen in a long while. In this video from the National No Prep Racing Association you can see just how close Melton and his Pontiac came to clipping the wall with its rear bumper and making a bad situation much worse.