Having grown up immersed in the world of Outlaw 10.5 racing with his father, Ronnie Green Jr. learned about the mechanical ins and outs of drag racing from an early age. For the last 10 years, he’s been learning everything he can about how to make his father’s ProCharged 2000 Firebird quicker and faster to compete in various classes. Now focused on PDRA Pro Street, the father-son duo is starting to hit their stride with a number of highlights over the course of the 2024 season.
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #191, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November / December of 2024.]
Ron Green and his brothers raced for years before Ronnie was born. The younger Green tagged along with his dad in their home race shop and on trips to the chassis shop or the racetrack. Ron progressed through various classes – always small-tire classes – running his current Firebird with a nitrous combination before switching it over to a twin-turbo setup. He’d get tuning help for quite some time, but he eventually decided to go out on his own when it came to tuning the car known as the “Gamechanger.”
“He’s never really been real good with computers, so that’s where I started,” Ronnie says. “I got interested in it, just helping him out. He would need help downloading data and stuff like that. I started doing that and next thing you know, I got more interested in reading the data and understanding how things worked and took off from there. It was around 2014, when I was 17, that I started tuning on my own. That’s where I started, and it’s definitely been a learning curve. Still learning today. Just learning as I go to the racetrack, making laps, trying different stuff. It’s been fun, though.”
Green Jr. proved to be a quick study. In 2016, just a couple years into tuning for his dad, he guided the twin-turbo, big-block-powered Firebird to a pass that would be impressive even in today’s competitive Pro Street environment.
“It was still intercooled and running on gas,” Green Jr. says. “It was one of the older combinations because we really couldn’t get anything better than that. We had to work with what we had. We ended up going 3.90s on the 10.5 slicks back then. We were one of the only cars to do it, especially with a big-block, twin-turbo deal on gas with an intercooler. Everybody was moving over to methanol and the new stuff, Hemis and stuff like that. That was a pretty good accomplishment for us.”
Later, Green Jr. got to try his hand at tuning a new, trick setup when Justin Smith purchased David Reese’s old “Diablo” Pro 275 Camaro and tapped Ron to drive it and Ronnie to tune it.
“It was a crazy deal and I got to work with that and be able to tune that,” Green Jr. says. “We did pretty good. I think we set the record twice in that year [2020]. We were the first to go 3.80s with it in Pro 275. Then I think we won Shakedown with it that year too. I’ll always remember that. That was a pretty good year.”
Smith later sold the Camaro and the Greens decided to get their Firebird ready for Pro Street competition, this time with a ProCharged combination. Since then, they’ve steadily made progress in the increasingly competitive Pro Street division.
“The first couple of years we had it figured out, but didn’t really have it figured out. We were still learning it,” Green Jr. says. “Then this year, everything started really to come together. We were able to go 3.80s with it, which not many people have done that on the 10.5s.”
Green started the 2024 season by qualifying No. 1 at the inaugural Pro 10.5 Challenge held during the World Series of Pro Mod at Bradenton Motorsports Park. He posted a 3.944 to lead the 24-car qualifying order. A couple months later, he dropped a 3.894 to qualify No. 1 at the PDRA season-opening East Coast Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park. Over the summer, Green won the Summit Racing Equipment PDRA ProStars all-star race during Virginia Motorsports Park’s PBR Night of Fire. He suffered catastrophic engine damage in the first round, but thrashed with help and parts from fellow competitor Joel Wensley Jr. to make it back for the final, where he got the win over a red-lighting Tim Essick.
His dad isn’t the only person Green Jr. has tuned for over the years. He’s worked with various drivers and their cars, creating a well-rounded skillset in the process.
“I’ve learned so much from just being able to put hands on the different combinations and cars. It’s helped me so much and I appreciate it,” says Green Jr., thanking the car owners and drivers he’s worked with. “There’s a lot of money tied up in these cars and for them to trust me to be able to mess with them and learn as I go like that, it means so much to me and I appreciate that.”
Green Jr. also appreciates the support he receives from his family, especially his dad. The two have spent lots of quality time together over their decade-plus of racing as driver and tuner. It’s perhaps the most rewarding aspect of Green Jr.’s racing career.
“It’s the best. I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he says. “We work really good together. I know a lot of people butt heads with their dads. Man, we get along and we have the same mindset. He lets me do whatever I want and we make decisions together on some stuff. It’s awesome. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, just spending the time with him. We have a lot of fun and it’s a cool deal.”
This story was originally published on February 10, 2025. 
The post DI 30 Under 30: Ronnie Green Jr. first appeared on Drag Illustrated.