Seeing Double Tyler Baber wins two Wallys and $ 30K at Street Car Bragging Rights in Rockingham By Madelyn Zaron
For most racers, winning a single NHRA Wally is a career-defining moment, but an unforgettable weekend at Rockingham Dragway ended with two Wallys, $ 30,000 in prize money, and the ultimate bragging rights for 33-year-old Tyler Baber from Niles, Michigan. Baber arrived at his first-ever Street Car Bragging Rights event with limited expectations. He and his fox body Mustang, familiarly known as“ The Notch,” had barely tested before making the trip south to North Carolina.“ We actually had the car tore apart with no transmission two days before hitting the road for the race,” Baber says.“ I just drove the car into the trailer. That was all the testing we did.”
Despite the last-minute scramble, Baber delivered one of the most impressive performances of the entire event. In the Extreme 28s class, he qualified second with a 6.696 E. T. at 212.36 mph and qualified fourth in the Street Car Bragging Rights( SCBR) Elite 8 Shootout with a 6.607 E. T. at 215.93 mph. Both classes were filled with heavy hitters, but Baber’ s consistent passes down a tricky racetrack helped seal the deal not once, but twice.
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He backed up those qualifying efforts by winning both classes and posting a 6.658 at 212.77 in the Extreme 28s final. In the SCBR Shootout final, he secured the win when his opponent broke and couldn’ t make the call.
“ Going into this event, I didn’ t plan on winning,” Baber admits.“ I just wanted to race against the best because I knew the best of the best were going to be there.”
It was also Baber’ s first time racing at the historic Rockingham Dragway. He primarily competes at US 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indiana, and Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky each year for LS Fest. When asked if he’ ll return to next
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year’ s SCBR event, he was quick to answer.
“ I don’ t know if I’ ll miss that event again. Nate [ Prater ] does such a good job putting on that event and it is a special one, so that’ s going to be on the schedule moving forward. We usually don’ t travel that far because of our businesses, but I wanted to race with the big names, and I knew that if I went to this race, that’ s where they would be,” Baber explains.
Away from the racetrack, Baber owns and operates 269 Motorsports, a performance parts retail business that has grown alongside his racing program. According to Baber,“ The Notch” serves as more than just his race car.
“ Our car is pretty much a catalog on wheels for
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY KAITLYN WARD AND DALTON SHEARER |