‘ JIMMY DALE’ OUTGUNS THE FIELD IN LIL’ GANGSTAS
More than 50 drivers from across the country flocked to Bradenton to compete in Lil’ Gangstas, a grassroots class that doesn’ t show times on the scoreboards but doesn’ t allow contestants to run quicker than 5.30 seconds in the eighth-mile. After several rounds of competition, it was Tom Gunner, class co-promoter himself – also known as“ Jimmy Dale” – who pulled out the win in John Herring’ s nitrous-fed“ 50 Shades of Brown” Mustang over a red-lighting William Colson in the final round. Gunner collected a class-record $ 30,000 payday.
The victory was a rewarding conclusion to a two-week stretch of racing that also saw Gunner reach the final round in Limited 235 at Donald Long’ s Lights Out 16. Despite that late-round finish, Gunner rolled into WSOPM not knowing what he’ d have for the record turnout.
“ We really didn’ t have a ton of confidence in the car going into the weekend because we had just raced Lights Out and went to the finals there and runnered up, but the car was inconsistent,” Gunner said.“ We changed some grounding stuff on our nitrous and Nitrous Express helped us out with some solenoids. Man, when we got here, this thing was just printing slips. Just so, so consistent, and fortunately for us, I got a badass tuner.‘ Cheeseburger’ over here is the guy who tunes my car.‘ Cheeseburger’ told me every time,‘ Don’ t be scared to run it all the way out,’ and you need that kind of confidence when you’ re running a class like this.”
On top of being victorious as a competitor, Gunner saw WSOPM as a win for the brand he created with co-promoter and crew member Michael Poland. Lil’ Gangstas has grown substantially in the outlaw grassroots racing world, but WSOPM thrust it into a new spotlight. The class’ s growth continued after WSOPM, as Speed Promotions announced the addition of Lil’ Gangstas to its series known as“ The Outlaws,” formerly Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings. The class will join the series at several stops around the country.
“ Me and Michael Poland started this class two years ago to find something in between True Street and Small Tire,” Gunner said.“ We just tried it in our own small event called Small Tire Gangsters, and we really didn’ t know how big it was going to be. It was strong from day one and it’ s just gotten stronger and stronger.”
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112 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 194