United Manual Transmission Racers (UMTR) South’s 2023 racing season has wrapped up despite a few rain-outs, which included the final race, the Fall Finale at Kil Kare Dragway. Had the Fall Finale taken place, the fight for the championship in both Quick Stick and Street Stick very well could have gone a different way.
In Quick Stick, Deron Prewitt Sr. drove his 1968 Superbee to back-to-back Quick Stick championships. Tug Brock finished second in his ’78 Malibu with Dennis Duvall, Tony King and John Hoebbel, Jack O’Brien, Ryan Imfeld, RJ Fisse, Dustin Miller and Don Tully made up the top 10.
In Street Stick, the most impressive win went to 2023 champion Nick Duvall in his 1981 Mustang. Nick, after waiting for a kidney transplant, finally received the call. Due to his recovery process, he missed a race and then the following race was a rain-out. By the time the UMTR South got back to banging gears four weeks later, Nick was behind the wheel and found himself in the finals at the Dick Weinle Memorial Race at Edgewater.
This runner-up finish undoubtedly helped Nick seal the deal by holding off Deron Prewitt Sr., who finished second in points from another back-to-back Street Stick championship. Jeff Brooks, RJ Fisse and Will Duvall, Ron Smith, Bob Hoebbel, Mark Fox, Jim Schmidt and Julie Landrum rounded out the top 10.
As a matter of fact, Deron Prewitt Sr. won the championship in 2022, in both classes, in the same car. He almost did it again in 2023, but was stopped by Nick Duvall.
UMTR South could not do this without the support of sponsors such as Summit Racing Equipment, VP Fuels, G-Force, Browell, Liberty’s Gears, Chassis Doctor, Ken Herbert Plumbing, Moser, Ram Clutches, Auto Meter, Keen Parts, Hyper Performance Motorsports, Quarter Max, TCR, T&D Automotive, Get’M Performance, Schaffer’s Towing, Auto Works, Cake Creations, Custom Floaters, Lawrence Motorsports and BES Racing Engines.
Kil Kare Dragway in Xenia, Ohio. Edgewater Sports Park in Cleves, Ohio, Thorn Hill Dragway in Kenton, Kentucky and Kentucky Dragway in Clay City, Kentucky are the tracks that hosted the series throughout the 2023 season and the UMTR extends its thanks.
Check out UMTR online at www.umtrdragrace.com for the race schedule, rules, points updates, videos, membership info, race results and driver profile page. Additionally, the series can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/umtrsouth and YouTube by searching UMTR Drag Racing.
This story was originally published on October 27, 2023. 
