Phoenix, Arizona’s James Strang had a rocky finish to the 2022 “No Prep Kings” (NPK) season, but rallied at the end and has been very busy in the offseason to make sure he is ready for a strong campaign in 2023.

Strang got started in the first season of the “No Prep Kings” series with a small-tire car.

“They were having a race-your-way-in situation at the time. I never had a big-tire car before that.” Wanting to step up his performance in the ranks, Strang purchased the Camaro you see here.

“It was originally a Top Sportsman car that we bought in 2019. We did a lot of chassis work to it to handle big power” Strang told us. Built around the NPK rules, the Camaro was initially powered by a twin-turbo engine combination.

“We ran the Futures class and did really well,” Strang recalled. “We were competitive, but not as fast as Ryan Martin or those guys.”

Strang eventually graduated to the invitational big-tire class, but towards the end of the season, a crash set he and his racing program back. He and his wife, Stephanie, rallied to repair the car and get back to the track. “We fixed the car in 11 days,” Strang explained. “We showed up in Texas, hadn’t made a pass, and we took the round win. And it dropped a cylinder 500 feet in.”

Amazingly, part of that extremely short rebuild process was also switching from turbochargers to a centrifugal blower with the addition of a ProCharger to his program. “We are undefeated with the ProCharger,” quipped Strang.

Once the 2022 “No Prep Kings” season was completed, Strang made some serious updates to the Camaro for 2023, starting with the engine, which was replaced with a Miner Brothers Hemi.

“It’s the only one on the circuit,” Strang explained. “They make Top Alcohol engines. This engine received lots of changes to make sure it complements the ProCharger.” Strang also made other changes to the car to lighten it up and get it at a competitive weight. “We switched everything over to Roadrunner Performance lightweight hoses and fittings. The car is now 2,630 pounds with driver.”

Strang’s Camaro is also equipped with numerous parts that enable it to compete at the highest level. The Miner Brothers Hemi is fueled with AFIS injectors and an MSD ignition sparks the combustion. The transmission of choice is a three-speed Lenco that has been combined with a Neal Chance torque converter. Keeping things light are a set of Lamb front struts, Menscer Motorsports rear shocks, and a Dynamic Drivelines carbon fiber driveshaft. Keeping things loud is a set of Woolf Aircraft zoomie headers. And perhaps most importantly, Strang relies on Simpson safety equipment, which has already proved itself once.

With the updates made, Strang will sort out the Camaro at his home track, Xtreme Raceway Park. “XRP is my home track. Clyde Scott is a real good friend. He owns XRP and has helped me a lot in ironing this out.”

Looking toward the 2023 season, Strang plans to test two different ProChargers. “We have two ProChargers, an F4-140-1 and F3-136,” Strang explained. “We are testing this weekend to see which one we like better. We have to be 200 pounds heavier for the 140. Sometimes we don’t have the track out there to run the big ProCharger, but some tracks come around really good and we will probably throw the 140 on it.”

Strang enters the new season with his wife as his sole crewmember, which is something he is very proud of. “The only crew we have on a regular basis is my wife and myself—we have the smallest team. We do everything, it’s just me and her. A big part of that is understanding. She’s a racer herself, racing a small-tire Camaro in no-prep and other classes, and has a vast knowledge of what needs to happen, and that makes things easy.”

The “Street Outlaws No Prep Kings” season kicks off in June at National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio.