Boosted GT carved a name for himself in the local street racing scene for his intense passion and love of the sport, long before he appeared in “Street Outlaws.” He gained a much bigger audience and following since the show aired and expanded, as he competed and even became the the host and race master of No Prep Kings and Mega Cash Days events. It’s been nearly a decade since the original show made its television debut on Discovery Channel, and many were curious to know how he’s fairing these days.
Looking back on how it all started
In 2005, the Oklahoma guys went to Texas, with Big Chief driving his 1972 Pontiac LeMans with a big sign that said, ‘Texas has no fast street cars.’ OKC thought it was hilarious, but the guys from Texas naturally took exception to it and beat them, then sent them back home. Later that year, they returned to challenge them again. They raced until there was one winner, and that was how Cash Days was born. Winners only got around $2500-$3000 at that time, but it was already a big deal to them.
Chris “Boosted GT” Hamilton was from Fort Worth, Texas, and moved to Oklahoma sometime after that. He drove a small tire, yellow Ford Mustang and made it onto the famous OKC List. Later on, during a Q&A on the show’s official Facebook page, a fan asked him about the move, and he simply said that it was because he wanted to race the fastest.
Kyle Loftis, owner and operator of 1320 Video, captured those early racing events on film, and uploaded them onto his YouTube channel. Word spread, and it caught the attention of Discovery Channel just when they were looking for automotive content. A producer approached the guys to sound them out, as he wanted to cast them in a reality-TV show. Boosted said that they were initially wary of him, thinking that he was an undercover cop wanting to catch them street racing on camera, and arrest them. The next thing he knew, they were filming, and then the show premiered in June 2013.
Boosted said that none of them thought that it was going to get big, that it would continue no longer than a season or two, or that they would be racing on the tracks in front of thousands of people. He said that it was all too surreal that something like this happened to a ‘dumb street racer’ like him.
As the series became a success, it attracted the attention of people from the governing body of drag racing, the National Hot Rod Association, as they were most concerned about the illegal nature of the sport, and the dangers that went with it; after all, the group was established to keep racing off public roads for the safety or all. Perhaps as a concession, they put a disclaimer at the beginning of the show that said, ‘Street racing is dangerous…the races in this episode were conducted within a controlled environment with strict safety protocols in place.’ Despite the controversy, many were glad that the show brought back hot rodding, racing, and car culture into the spotlight.
Boosted GT in the spin-off series, “Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings”
In its first season which premiered in February 2018, Chuck Seitsinger was the race master, and by its second season, Discovery had tapped Boosted GT to join Chuck in that role. At first, it mostly featured drivers from the Oklahoma, Memphis, and New Orleans Street Outlaw series’. As the show grew, more drivers from across the country participated in the racing events held in various locations. Boosted mentioned in a 2021 interview with Drag Illustrated, that the No Prep Kings show had become bigger than any other forms of drag racing. Its viewership, the payouts, and the attendance were clear indications of their success, and that no one could dispute that.
A no-prep race basically meant that the race was held on a track resembling a street that was not prepared ahead of time. Typically, the track would undergo a process in which all the debris, rocks, and even dusts were removed from its surface, and then it would be sprayed with a sticky traction compound to optimize the performance of the cars. If the track wasn’t prepped, it became more challenging for the drivers, as they had to use their skills to adapt or compensate for the condition of the lane they were on during a race. As such, it became more exciting for the spectators as well.
Threw a race for Kayla
In season two, they were out in Idaho on a hot day for a No Prep Kings race. This was a team event and they were trying to get Texas to win the championship. Boosted GT ranked at No.29 with 15 points, and with his car being ‘a pile of junk,’ he thought it best to take one for the team by calling Kayla out for the first event, because he believed that she, whose ranking was at No.3 with 50 points, along with Mike Murillo, was their best shot. He said that if there was anything he could do for the team, he would do it in a heartbeat and he did – he let Kayla win. For Kayla’s part, she wasn’t confident about her car but Boosted gave her a chance to advance to round two.
Fistfight with Chuck
The first No Prep Kings event for season three of the show held at the Maryland International Raceway in 2019, ended being talked about on online forums, as Boosted and Chuck got into a scuffle right at the starting line of the track, with thousands of people watching from the grandstand. It all started with a race between Jerry “Birdman” Finney from Texas and Larry Larson from Missouri. Not having a car but not wanting to give up the race, Larry used his golf car (different from a golf cart). Birdman got red-lit so he should have been out, and Larry supposedly won based on the win light of the ‘Christmas Tree’ or starting lights, but it was said to be a timing system error. It was actually Birdman who won and so advanced to the next round.
The decision didn’t sit well with Chuck, who was known for being a hothead, and argued with Boosted over it. Things escalated between them as Chuck threw water in Boosted’s face, and the latter lost his cool and had the former in a headlock. Boosted thought of hitting him with the microphone, but he still had the presence of mind to give it to someone else because he didn’t want to have to pay for it in case it was damaged. He also didn’t want to punch him in the face, not with all the kids there who were watching. However, he was still angry and couldn’t let the disrespect just pass without doing something in response. Fortunately, the guys around them stopped the fight.
Boosted said he was lucky he didn’t get fired on the spot, because his boss was just a few feet away from them where it all happened. As his Atomizer shirt got ripped up, he auctioned it off right there with the final bid at $300 or $400, and donated the money to the track’s charity of choice. The two had since shook hands on it, but the kind of friendship that they once shared had changed because of this incident.
Boosted GT on “Street Outlaws: Mega Cash Days”
Since the original show became huge, it went without saying that their cash days would be on a whole different level as well. It had become more exciting, and undoubtedly became the biggest, ‘baddest’ street race. Boosted GT was tasked to be the host and race master for the event that took place in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
In Mega Cash Days, 64 drivers from all over the country participated, wanting to get their hands on the huge payout of over $600,000. It was a double elimination tournament in which the drivers were divided into the winners and losers brackets or categories. $5,000 was given to the winner of every race in the winners bracket, and $3,000 for the winners of every race in the losers bracket; the losers could still advance and win in the end. The last man standing on each bracket would race against each other, but the one from the losers bracket had to win twice before he or she could be declared the final winner, and get to take home the prize money of $100,000. Fans rooted for their favorites including previous winners of Cash Days such as Murder Nova, Kye Kelley, and Daddy Dave. Surprisingly though, the champion that night was unknown to fans of Street Outlaws, 28-year-old Brandon James from California. He was undefeated as he went through all six rounds of racing, and got to take home $135,000.
Apparently, it did well at the ratings game, and Discovery Channel wanted to do it again in 2022, still with Boosted GT as the event’s race master. This time, however, he participated as well because it would be limited to small tires (28×10-5), which he was most passionate about.
On style of racing, flagging
Boosted talked about JJ Da Boss, and gave props to his Arm Drop style of racing. He said that it might not have been how team Oklahoma or Texas raced, but acknowledged them for having built something out of it. For team Memphis, racing was more about hustling, with the ‘chase is a race’ set-up or rule, and it worked for them. As for the guys from the south, Boosted said that all they wanted to see straight up was who among them was the fastest. When flagging races using a flashlight, he made sure not to do it in a way that the drivers could guess the timing. He recalled a time when he messed up with the light in a race between Murder Nova and Sean – some accused him of cheating and favoring one over the other. However, he assured fans that it was a mistake, and chalked it up to being somewhat disoriented from all the smoke coming out from the cars during burnouts, as he was only a few feet away from them at the starting line.
On making money from “Street Outlaws”
As the cast members gained popularity and influence, many were curious as to how much money they earned from it. Boosted said that he didn’t know what the others were making from participating in the show but mentioned how he was sure that they were given a little bit to offset some of their expenses. For his part, he said that he traveled a lot to the racing events, but still had an eight-to-five job, and so it was clear that he was not making serious money out of it like other reality stars.
On the show being scripted
Boosted said that what made “Street Outlaws” special and set it apart from the NHRA was that they showed what went on behind the scenes. Some of their detractors said that the fighting or heated arguments were staged to create drama for added entertainment, however, he said that these things happened because of how competitive and passionate the drivers were in racing. He was asked if people from Discovery Channel or Pilgrim Studios, the people involved in the production, talked to them about creating ‘characters’ for the show. Boosted shared that they were all aware that this was a TV show, and the producers just told them that they could do whatever they wanted, so it was up to them how they wished to appear on TV, such as being known as the boring guy, one who trash-talked, or who punched people.
A little pic of us doing some racing. pic.twitter.com/Fxvwqj2cOL
— BoostedGT (@Boostedgt95) February 17, 2015
What’s keeping Boosted GT busy?
He’s a family man
As for his personal life, he was rumored to have broken up with Kayla Morton, also a prominent figure in the street racing scene, based on the deleted photos of them together on their Instagram accounts. However, there were a few photos that belied those rumors, or signified that they’d reconciled. In December 2022, she posted a photo of Boosted’s famous yellow car, and said that it would be ‘resting’ in the shop for the time being. She also talked about how it had brought Boosted and her closer. Her most recent post showed they were still together, in January 2023.
The two knew of each other and had raced on the street, but it was only after they worked together in “Street Outlaws” that they had become a couple. Big Chief reached out to invite her to be part of the show. She said that finding a partner, who shared her love for the sport and understood the lifestyle and the sacrifices one had to make, was hard and so once she found one in Boosted, she held onto him. Their lives revolved around cars, racing, and their kids, and they couldn’t be happier. It was revealed in an interview with Boosted that he not only drove cars for racing, but also for picking up his kid from school. In fact, he was late for said interview because of daddy duties.
Making and posting videos on YouTube
Not one to be idle during downtime, Boosted became active at vlogging. He thought that with YouTube being a great platform for disseminating information and providing entertainment, he would give it a try. He opened his channel in November 2008, but so far only had over 35,000 subscribers, and his videos garnered around two million views. Apparently, he never really used it before, but in 2021, he said that he would be posting content that he believed people who enjoyed street racing would find interesting to watch. He shared behind-the-scene clips from “Street Outlaws,” as he said that fans usually only got to see what was being aired on TV, but that so much more had transpired during racing events. He also talked about issues or controversies that cropped up during the races to clear things up.
Still with “Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings”
Based on his Facebook page, Boosted’s schedule was filled with racing events for the 2023 “Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings” season, and that he continued to be its race master. Since the races are held on various tracks all over the country, it’s going to be a busy time for him. He and the other guys planned to organize more events, not just to reach as many of their fans as they could, but also to be on the lookout for new talents in the hope of nurturing them to see who’s going to rise to the top, and be the fastest on the street. Boosted said that there were several classes for the No Prep Kings, and obviously, the main event would be invitational, but there were open classes that others could participate in. He said that one had to stand out so that people would take notice, and this would promote a driver to being a step closer to being part of the show.
Boosted GT loved all forms of drag racing, be it a NHRA event or No Prep Kings event, basically all fast things, so fans would for sure continue to see him race, or be a race master for years to come.
