Pro Modified champion and Radial versus The World (RvW) star Steve Jackson and radial-tire promoter extraordinaire Donald Long have ignited a social media firestorm this week after taking direct aim at the no-prep racing arena and many of its stars. Long, intensely loyal to and passionate about drag radial racing, has used his unique and controversial flavor of promotion by targeting of other forms of drag racing over the years to campaign for his upcoming events, including no-prep; and he has again put no-prep racing in his crosshairs. Long struck first on Monday evening with a Facebook post elevating the successes of his RvW (a class he founded more than a decade ago) above those of the no-prep world, and followed it up on Tuesday with a proclamation that Jackson, arguably his biggest spectator draw, would give any no-prep racer willing to attend the back tire at this fall’s No Mercy 12 race — on top of it, he’d put up $50,000 on Jackson in said contest.

If Long’s posts didn’t put enough gas on the fire, Jackson struck out on his own and produced a video that launched on Wednesday in which he highlighted his perceived difference between professional, or “real” drag racing, and no-prep.

The no-prep world fired back in retaliation, calling Jackson out to come compete on “No Prep Kings” (NPK) and pointing out the difference in the size of the crowds at NHRA and radial-tire races and those at NPK events. Racers even went so far as to invite Jackson out onto the streets in either of his supercharged racecars.

Long and Jackson, unarguably two of the best sh*t-talkers in drag racing, have utilized to great precision their galvanizing personalities to create an equal mix of allies and haters over the years, and their statements aimed at those who fall into the latter category — the likewise-fiery and intensely loyal group of no-prep racers and its fans — were sure to set both groups off like a pack of Roman candles. The fracas has even boiled over past the initial Jackson and Long versus a whole genre into a war of words over the benefits and downfalls of the two vastly opposed racing areas — those being Pro Modified and drag radial and no-prep.

Whether Jackson — who we should add, came from a grudge racing background and wouldn’t be out of place in a no-prep contest by any means — ever accepts the call-out or the no-prep racers take up he and Long’s remains to be seen, but they have collectively provided some supremely good entertainment for us all to enjoy, and we have most certainly not heard the last of this internet feud.