Weld” and who Gunner counts as a mentor.
“ Lyle said,‘ When that opportunity comes and you drive a 3-second car for the first time and you show that you’ re competent and competitive, more doors will open.’ And that’ s exactly what happened.
“ When we left Lights Out, it probably wasn’ t a month later and Poland had opened the door for me to drive the next car, which I’ m currently running Small-Tire in,” Gunner continues.“ With our eyes on War in the Woods and the Haltech World Cup this fall, and that’ s the‘ Bumblebee’ car that’ s owned by Jeff and Patrick Miller.”
Gunner wastes no time giving credit to Poland for seeking out those opportunities, building relationships, and working out details to make things happen. If a car owner wants to talk business at 3 a. m. when he’ s driving back from a race or finished up working in the shop, Poland is answering the call.
“ At this point he’ s basically the Jimmy Dale agent,” Gunner says.“ Any opportunity that I get when it comes to driving a race car at this point pretty much wouldn’ t happen without Michael Poland. I would’ ve never gotten to race for Rob Kohler. I would’ ve never gotten to race the Bumblebee car if it wasn’ t for Michael Poland. He’ s my agent. He’ s my right-hand man. We call each other brothers. I can’ t really think of racing without him.”
Poland describes a“ yin and yang” element of their partnership that has yielded positive results so far.
“ We understand two’ s always better than one, per se,” Poland says,“ so we really kind of yin and yang each other where Tom has really good strong points. Those are some of my weaknesses, and some of my strong points are his weaknesses, and we just really mesh well together. Neither one of us are more greedy than the other or anything like that.” Gunner sees it the same way.“ Poland’ s got a lot of selflessness, right? When you think of Poland, he’ s always the‘ whatever’ s best for the team’ type of guy,” Gunner says.“ That goes a long way because we’ re not arguing about who’ s getting to drive the race car every weekend and he’ s always got the greater good in his best interest. But there’ s times where Poland’ s real good at burning bridges. He’ s great at it. I’ m probably a little bit calmer on that aspect than he is, but he’ s also not scared to ask the hard questions.”
Poland sticks his neck out for Gunner and has taken it upon himself to find new opportunities for him for a multitude of reasons.
“ When it goes back to it, Tom gave me my opportunity,” Poland says.“ I give him credit for where I’ m at today because if that phone call doesn’ t get made and I don’ t go to Las Vegas and we don’ t do all the Street Outlaws stuff, Jimmy Dale doesn’ t get created, and 99 % of the time it’ s‘ Jimmy Dale and Poland’ or‘ Poland and Jimmy Dale.’ The two almost go together. He’ s given me multiple opportunities, and for me, that’ s my best friend in the whole world and I want to see him win. I say it all the time, I just keep planting seeds and keep watering those seeds.
“ It’ s just planting that seed to further not only Jimmy Dale, but us as our
brand, as the Jimmy Dale / Lil Gangstas saga, if you will,” Poland continues.“ He gets to drive this car or that car. It’ s adding to the legend or aura of Jimmy Dale. And I don’ t have the capability to do some of those things. So, giving him those opportunities and letting him do those things lets me be a part of that, if that makes sense.”
Poland is referencing the wheelchair he’ s been in since a car accident in 2012. He was on his way to work when he went into a daydream-like state. He veered off the side of the road and reacted, sliding the truck around, hitting a tree, and rolling four times. He broke his L1 and L2 vertebrae and went into back surgery within six hours of the accident.
“ When I got to the hospital, I could still wiggle my toes. I still had movement of my legs, I just didn’ t have any feeling whatsoever,” Poland says.“ When I woke up from surgery, I essentially didn’ t have any movement or anything from about mid-thigh down. It stayed like that and it’ s been 14 years now. The first couple years were pretty rough. After that, it was just get up and do something about it.”
Poland doesn’ t feel sorry for himself and he doesn’ t expect anyone else to feel sorry for him either. That’ s one of the things he appreciates most about his friendship with Gunner.
“ I can’ t say how grateful I am for Tom and him always being there pushing my patience, my boundaries, and keeping me out of my comfort zone,” Poland says.“ He doesn’ t see the chair and treats me no differently.”
It may have taken a couple years, but Poland found ways to adapt to his new circumstances. On top of achieving his own goals and helping Gunner achieve his, Poland seeks to inspire others to do the same.
“ Don’ t let anything stop you,” Poland says.“ You can go racing. You can do this. I do everything else like a normal human being, the chair is just how I get from point A to point B. And if I change somebody’ s perspective or make somebody get out and go do things with their brother or their uncle or whatever the case may be, that’ s my goal here. That’ s what I’ m here for.”
What Comes Next
Gunner and Poland have already had a massive 2026 season. Coming off the 2025 / 2026 DI Winter Series at Bradenton, which hosted the first-ever Strange Engineering Lil Gangstas Championship Series presented by Melling Performance across the three-race series, the duo signed a deal with Chase Lautenbach’ s Street Car Takeover,
98 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 201