When competing at the top levels of drag racing, there is a never-ending pursuit to gain any advantage possible over the rest of the field. Saving weight is a big part of this equation. If it takes building a completely new car to achieve this, that is what some racers will do. Case in point, No Prep Kings (NPK) Individual Champ Kye Kelley just debuted his new third-gen Camaro race car that he’s bringing to NPK competition.

In his latest YouTube video, Kye mentions that he’s secretly been building a new race car over the last year. According to Kye, the main reason for building a new ride is to have a car light enough to meet the minimum weight requirements for a screw-blown Hemi combination per the NPK rules. Although, given his long history and connection to driving a third-gen Camaro it’s not surprising this new race car looks almost identical to Kye’s famous Shocker Camaro.

Starting with an existing chassis it was sent to Wizard Race Cars in Holden, Louisiana, to have those guys work their magic to complete the car. While there the chassis had some necessary changes made before mounting the third-gen body. The team at Wizard Race Cars incorporated many of their signature features into the build as well as installing all of the tinwork and carbon fiber components.

From there the rolling chassis was taken to Jason’s Body Shop in Natchez, Mississippi. The show-quality black paint job speaks for itself. “It’s truly the best paint job I’ve ever had in my life,” Kye says. “I’m not looking forward to racing it because I know I’m going to get some scratches on it and it’s going to hurt my heart.”

To finish the build and get it ready for testing, Kye dropped the car off at Jeff Pierce Race Car Tuning in Claremore, Oklahoma. Jeff handled the final details, including making a custom seat, wiring the car, and installing the fire suppression system. Powering the new ride is the same screw-blown billet 4.9 Noonan Hemi combination that he uses in his Buick Grand National.

Having announced his new third-gen to the world, Kye is making a trip up to Tulsa Raceway Park to make some test passes and get acquainted with his new favorite race car. As long as testing goes well look for Kye Kelley Racing to roll this gorgeous Camaro into the staging lanes at upcoming NPK events.