THE RISE OF LIL GANGSTAS
THE 1960S had Top Fuel and Funny Car, the 1970s had Pro Stock, and the late 1980s and early 1990s had Pro Modified. Pro Nitrous and Pro Extreme came along in the 2000s, followed closely by Radial vs. the World. It’ s still early to tell, but judging by the way 2025 is going, historians will look back on the early 2020s as the era when Lil Gangstas burst onto the drag racing scene. disputes. The duo considered different rules to limit performance, but they ultimately decided an E. T. cap would be more effective at leveling the playing field.
The rules are simple: E. T. s are capped at 5.30 seconds in the eighth mile, and 28x10.5 Non-W slicks and 275 / 60 drag radials are the max tire sizes. It’ s a door-car-only class, and wheelie bars, throttle stops, and delay boxes are not allowed. There’ s no testing on the day of the event, and racers do not get time slips.
“ Some people don’ t have the budgets to run with others,” Poland says.“ Lil Gangstas
It’ s a class popping up at some of the biggest unsanctioned events of the year, and racers are jumping in head first.
Longtime friends and business partners Tom Gunner – better known as Jimmy Dale – and Michael Poland created the Lil Gangstas ruleset in 2023 as a class to run at their
Small Tire Gangstas race at the notoriously outlaw Yello Belly Drag Strip in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It came in response to a shift happening in the no-prep world at the time. The previously grassroots small-tire races were getting infiltrated by new technology and tuners, leading to drama and
Gunner isn’ t just a promoter. He’ s racing every weekend possible, typically driving the“ Fifty Shades of Brown” Mustang in Lil Gangstas and any other class it will fit into.
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