True No Prep: 2025 King Of Columbus Race Recap

National Trail Raceway has hosted different forms of the King Of Columbus race for many years. The no prep edition has become popular with racers and fans, but the 2025 edition of this event was on a whole different level thanks to a bare concrete surface and chilly temperatures.

During the offseason, the surface at National Trail Raceway was repaired and was ground down. That meant the King Of Columbus would be a true no prep event. Calling this track surface tricky is an understatement, add in that racers could only perform a water burnout, and that raised the difficulty factor even more.

The Small Tire class was the main event and offered up a $10,400 purse to those who entered. There were some heavy hitters from the backside no prep world who made the trip to the event and that made for some great racing. At the end of the day, Don Saporito wheeled his nitrous-fed Nova all the way to the winner’s circle in small tire.

“It’s awesome to win an event like this with so many great competitors on the property. The track surface was super sketchy and it took a team effort to win. Our goal as to keep the chassis happy and not overpower the track. We just took it round-by-round and only used the first kit of nitrous to really keep the car where we wanted it. We were able to take out some tough racers and we’re already looking forward to this event next year,” Saporito said after his win.

The gear-bangers in the Stick Shift class put on one heck of a show during the event. The slick surface kept them busy, and Michael McCoy came out on top to win the class. Dave Jones was a busy man at King Of Columbus. He had his fourth-generation Camaro entered into multiple classes and made the final round in each one. The Late Model class is where Jones scored his win at King Of Columbus, certainly a hard-earned victory.

Robert Fairchild blasted his way through a tough field of cars to win True Street. Josh Finfrock was another racer who had entered several classes. His Mustang is still Ford-powered and a nasty unit that does well at these no prep races. Finfrock brought home the victory in the Lil Gangstas’ class.