The much-anticipated sixth season of “Street Outlaws No Prep Kings” launched last weekend at Hebron, Ohio’s famed National Trail Raceway to a virtual sellout crowd. The event was of course headlined by the debut of an array of incredible new machines, new looks, and new driver, engine combination, and tuning partnerships, which even three-time and reigning series champion Ryan Martin admitted is set to make his defense more difficult than it has ever been. But the real story of the weekend was the newly-instituted team championship format, which came to fruition via a draft held trackside on Thursday evening.

In a similar vein to the NFL’s Combine, that puts prospective draftees on the same field in a series of drills and measures in front of team scouts, all of the No Prep Kings series teams were given two hours to make grudge racing passes on Thursday in front of the pre-chosen team leaders, who were later tasked with selecting a team of four drivers (five drivers in all) that they will go into battle with during the season’s 14 races.

In a departure from how events will be contested at the remaining events (given the lack of accumulated points at the opener), the 40 drivers comprising those eight teams squared off in round one Friday to whittle the field down to 20. As Martin predicted, the competition was all but a wide-open affair, and that fact, combined with the intricacies of racing as and accumulating points as a team, is sure to create a compelling season of live racing and television. While you wait for the series to begin its premiere later this year on the Discovery Channel, though, enjoy DRAGZINE’s exclusive look at the men and women and their machines that will barnstorm the country this summer putting on what many would argue is the greatest show going in the sport right now.