Competing in his PDRA Pro Street rookie season last year, past PDRA Pro Jr. Dragster world champion Ethan Steding secured the Pro Street world championship. Just a few months later, he’s now a Pro 10.5 Challenge champion after defeating Chris Tuten in the $25,000 final round. Steding’s path to the win wasn’t conventional and wasn’t without controversy, but it will go down as another milestone in the young second-generation drag racer’s career.
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #194, the WSOPM Issue, in May/June of 2025.
Steding in his Ty Tutterow-tuned, roots-blown P2 Contracting “College Fund” ’24 Camaro was a contender out of the gate, posting a 4.04 at 190.78 to sit third after the first qualifying session. He improved to a 4.007 in the second session, but he had slipped to eighth by the time qualifying wrapped up. It wasn’t the quickest Outlaw 10.5 field of all time, but it was certainly one of the largest, with 25 cars and drivers from 15 U.S. states and one Canadian province.
“Honestly, to just qualify into that field was an unbelievable feeling,” Steding says. “With Drag Illustrated inviting most of the baddest 10.5 guys out there and me being one of the youngest dudes in the category, it was just an awesome feeling to even be involved in that. Qualifying meant so much because all these guys are badasses and I’m just someone who’s come into it and I have good guys around me that allow me to do good.”
Steding drew No. 7 qualifier Jerry Morgano in the first-round chip draw. Morgano couldn’t make the call for first round, while Steding recorded a 3.96 at 194.10 unopposed. He lined up against fellow young gun Blake Denton in the next round, where Steding ran a 3.967 at 193.99. Denton, who rode the wheelie bars across the eighth-mile finish line in the first round, experienced mechanical issues and coasted to an 8.835 at 40.42.
“First off, Blake’s first-round run, that was an outstanding pass,” Steding says. “I know everyone was shook and it took over the internet. I’ll tell you what, my car picked up the front wheels on me [at the PDRA season opener], and I give it to Blake for riding that thing out past the eighth mile. It’s awesome. He also came up racing Jr. Dragsters, he has great equipment, and he’s a great racer, and to be able to get past him was great, especially since he took over the internet.”
It looked like Steding’s weekend was over in the semifinals when his 3.954 at 194.24 lost to Bill Lutz and his 3.914 at 197.77, but when Lutz didn’t pass a post-run tech inspection, Steding was reinstated since he did weigh in despite losing the round.
“Even whenever we lose a race, we always take the scales. We always go through the scales no matter what,” Steding insists. “You never know, and it just so happened to be something happened. When someone gets DQed, the other racer goes back into the race. It’s never happened to me before. I just accepted the fact that I was back into the race. I hated to see it for Bill. I hate to see it to happen to anyone, but it’s how it went and we were able to finish off the race and win it.”
Steding and his team thrashed to get back to the P2 Racing pit area to service the car for the final round against Tuten. Steding left the line second, but he chased down Tuten with a winning 3.934 at 193.90 to Tuten’s 4.104 at 192.06.
“We had to rush to get the car back to the pits and we only had 20 minutes to get fired up,” Steding says. “Thanks to Chris Tuten for waiting that couple of minutes for us. There was a lot going through my head, but everyone in the pits calmed me down. That’s my main thing is keeping calm, cool, and collected.”
Steding praised the P2 Racing and Wyo Motorsports teams for giving him the confidence to compete on big stages like PDRA Pro Street and the Pro 10.5 Challenge.
“Without my crew, I would not be here,” says Steding, who also thanked parents Kurt and Wendi and partners like P2 Contracting, Ty-Drive, Wyo Motorsports, Noonan Race Engineering, Red Line Oil, Mike Janis Superchargers, and Larry Jeffers Race Cars. “I came out of Jr Dragsters two years ago and Pro Street was the class we were going into, and I surrounded myself with the baddest of the baddest dudes – Ty Tutterow, Todd Tutterow, and my dad, Kurt Steding, as well. They all taught me very well on how to handle the car, what’s good for the car and what’s not, and I think whenever you surround yourself with good people, you will do great things.”
Steding, who plans to someday join his father in Pro Boost and Pro Mod, is now focused on defending his PDRA Pro Street world championship.
“Winning the championship and then going down to one of the biggest drag races and running with the baddest 10.5 guys out there, that really just fired me up and prepared me for the PDRA season,” Steding says. “It gave me a bunch of momentum moving forward and thinking, ‘OK, we’ve got this.’ We’ve got a good car and we can compete again. Winning that race, it just set me to focus my mind on, ‘OK, it’s gonna be a good year.’”
The post WSOPM Lookback: Ethan Steding Backs Up PDRA Pro Street Title With Pro 10.5 Win first appeared on Drag Illustrated.