Lil’ Gangstas has taken the grassroots drag racing scene by storm since Tom “Jimmy Dale” Gunner and Michael Poland rolled it out in 2023, pulling in 77 cars for its debut and consistently packing fields of 60-80 entries at tracks nationwide.
What started as a small-tire index class has become a staple at major events, blending street-legal vibes with serious competition. The rules are straightforward: 5.30 index in the eighth, 28×10.5-inch slicks or 275 radial tires, no wheelie bars, no throttle stops or delay boxes, doors required, and a .400 pro tree. Scoreboards stay off, with just a win light deciding the round – index racing dressed as heads-up action. Break out under 5.30, and you’re out.
It’s built for racers who want real door-car battles without the arms race that kills so many classes.
As Wes Buck, Founder & Editorial Director of Drag Illustrated and promoter of the Drag Illustrated Winter Series presented by J&A Service and its popular World Series of Pro Mod, sees it, the class nails what grassroots racing needs.
“To me it’s kinda lightning in a bottle. It ticks a lot of boxes for racers and for fans,” Buck says. “For racers – these are legit fast cars. Running 5.30 in the eighth-mile is hauling the mail. As a community, we’ve become desensitized to this. We’ve spent so much time talking about these crazy record-setting runs – like Jimmy Taylor’s recent quest to reset the doorslammer world record – it’s headline news. And justifiably so—it’s special. It’s a big deal. But let us not forget that a car that covers the eighth-mile in the low five-second range? That’s fast. I know guys that have raced their entire lives, go racing every weekend, spend every dime they have on their program – and they’ve never been close to as fast as 5.30.”
Gunner, who parlayed his Street Outlaws exposure into a thriving YouTube channel and racing career, echoes that sentiment while highlighting the class’s accessibility.
“Lil Gangstas is like the perfect split between a small-tire car and a True Street car,” Gunner says. “A small-tire car can slow it down enough to get there, a True Street car can usually speed it up to get there, and it makes for some really competitive racing. And you see the weirdest mix of cars too. It’s not just Fox body Mustang after Fox body Mustang.”
Poland, Gunner’s co-creator and the hands-on promoter who’s built relationships with track owners and racers alike, points to the class’s draw for both competitors and crowds.
“Some people don’t have the budgets to run with others,” Poland says. “Lil Gangstas is that class that everybody feels competitive. You’ve got cars that have been sitting in shops for years coming out. You’ve got people that are building cars to come run it. You’ve got people that are slowing their stuff down to go the number because they can’t go 4.30, but they can go 5.30.”
The heads-up style with a pro tree keeps it pure for fans and racers.
“Fans want to see the cars leave together,” Buck says. “Most everyone I know in drag racing, whether they’ll admit it or not, wants to race heads up. We’ve almost all fallen in love with drag racing in its purest form – two cars take off at the same time, first to the finish line wins – let the best driver, the best car win.”
But heads-up racing typically spirals into big-money chases, as Buck observes: “Typically, heads-up racing is expensive, so it’s cost-preventative for a lot of racers. So you get in where you fit in – another magical thing about the sport of drag racing, that that opportunity exists.”
The no-time format is a game-changer, simplifying things for casuals while insiders get the index nuance.
“The fact this class Lil’ Gangstas is run with the scoreboards off – just a win light – is genius,” Buck explains. “For the casual fans…they’re not having to try and figure out why a car went quicker and lost. They’re just seeing a winner and a loser out there.”
It also tempers egos: “Nobody really wants to be the bottom qualifier, or not qualify, or be the guy who’s got one of the ‘slower cars’,” Buck adds. “When there’s no clocks – if you lose, you just lost. You take the ‘L’, but you’re not having to hear from everyone that you got clipped by half-a-second or whatever.” Plus, no time slips mean no exact ETs or reaction times, so drivers are forced to replace data with a seat-of-the-pants feel.
This setup avoids the pitfalls that plague other classes, like Radial vs. The World dropping a full second in ET over 15 years – from 4.40s to sub-3.50s – shrinking fields as costs explode.
“That’s basically a full-second drop in elapsed time in 15 years,” Buck notes, contrasting it with NHRA Pro Stock’s record-runs remaining in the 6.40s under strict rules in the same time frame. “Having an index gives this class a lot of runway for growth; it could dramatically impact Lil’ Gangstas’ lifespan,” he says. “It’s not fighting the classic battle that is managing high-level heads-up drag racing eliminators – that the spending gets out of control in a hurry, car count plummets.”
In fact, Lil’ Gangstas essentially represents a rebrand of index racing – a fresh take on a tried-and-true format that’s suddenly fashionable again, especially in this small-tire wrapper.
Diversity in combos keeps it fresh: Coyote Mustangs versus nitrous small-blocks, turbos, and blowers, all capped at 5.30.
“It’s also cool that it’s a small-tire deal, no wheelie bars. It’s basically 28×10.5-inch tires, doors, then do you,” Buck says. “There’s just a lot of ways to skin the cat, and they’re all welcomed in. The small tire makes it fun to watch and unpredictable. You got guys pulling big wheelies, smoking the tires, having to drive the cars.”
These cars are fast enough to thrill – moving around, dragging bumpers, spinning out – but not so wild that promoters shy away.
The payouts add serious incentive. Most Lil’ Gangstas events feature racer buy-ins thrown in the hat, topped by promoter money, routinely producing $10,000-plus paydays for winners. There are few spots in drag racing where drivers can chase bags like that with these kinds of cars – especially considering the relatively modest investment in most programs.
“We want to keep the buy-ins low and really stay in our demographic,” Poland says. “They’re large payouts and they’re just getting bigger and bigger because we get more support. If you have 50 cars in a class with a $200 buy-in, then you put $5K or $10K on top, that’s life-changing money to a lot of these guys. Hell, half the time the cars they’re driving aren’t worth the amount of money that they’re winning. We want to stay true to the rules, stay true to what built the class, and continue to move forward.”
Gunner and Poland’s promotion has been key, leveraging social media, YouTube, and Gunner’s TV fame to build buzz.
“You’ve got these two kids Tom ‘Jimmy Dale’ Gunner and Michael Poland promoting the living hell out of it,” Buck says. “Gunner got some juice out of appearing on one of the Street Outlaws spin-offs, parlayed that and his wit, humor and the fact that he’s a real deal drag racer to launch a YouTube channel that has really taken off. Poland is engaged on social media, too, and he’s worked his ass off actually putting on races, so he’s got a lot of credibility in the community.”
“Most people who are coming up with a class don’t happen to have a successful YouTube channel,” Gunner says. “It’s the perfect storm for us that we have 100,000 people that are watching a video, so it’s easy to persuade racers and to make this cool. For something to be successful, you’ve got to figure out how to make it cool. That’s really what we’ve done. We’ve just figured out how to make running 5.30 cool.”
Their efforts rally young, active racers, turning events into must-attend deals. As a joint statement from the duo puts it: “This is just a tease of what’s to come with Lil’ Gangstas over the next year. We’re excited to see what the future holds and proud to continue bringing grassroots energy back to drag racing.”
The inaugural Brian Tooley Racing Mini Points Series this year showcased the class’s potential, with Tommy Hoskinson clinching the $5,000 title and a 2026 sponsorship after strong runs, including three finals in seven days. Hoskinson, a bracket racing vet with a growing YouTube presence, appreciates the shift: “The Lil’ Gangstas class has been a nice change of pace recently. Not every weekend do I wanna be running the car on the ragged edge at some of the most sketchy tracks in the country.”
He adds, “I’m happy to be involved in the class, especially having a decent-sized [YouTube] channel. People that might not understand the class can watch us break down our races and see just how interesting it is.”
“Getting partnered up with BTR has been incredible,” Poland says. “We say support the ones that support you, and that is a prime example. BTR actually set up a mini points series inside of the Speed Promotions deal, and a blue-collar guy got a full sponsorship and won a ton of money from that. Every single thing we do, they’re right there to jump on board and help in any way they can.”
“Seeing this group of racers have their moment in the sun is awesome,” Buck says. “These are people racing out of small enclosed trailers, open trailers, racing with their buddies, and getting to be part of the show – in some cases be the show. I hear it a lot, ‘I’m building a car to run Lil’ Gangstas’ or ‘I think I’m going to start hitting some of these Lil’ Gangstas races.’”
Lil’ Gangstas has infiltrated big-time events: Drag Illustrated’s World Series of Pro Mod, Shadyside’s King of the South, Justin Swanstrom’s Swanfest at Rockingham, and multiple appearances with Speed Promotions’ 2025 rebrand of No Prep Kings. Fields hit the cap fast, with a lot of solid payouts up for grabs – most of which exceeding $10,000-to-win.
“We didn’t even make it out of Florida, headed back to Texas, and Shawn Ellington – ‘Murder Nova’ – actually called, and Speed Promotions was like, ‘Hey, we want to do something with Lil Gangstas,’” Poland says. “People I haven’t talked to in years were sending me screenshots of the live feed. I work for Nitrous Express and we were getting calls from customers ordering parts and talking about WSOPM because they were watching it across the pond. We went from thousands of eyes to millions.”
“Very rarely in drag racing history has there been something like this – that was able to draw crowds, draw racers, be a helluva good show, and not immediately face some sort of rule drama, dominant teams or cars, escalating costs,” Buck says. “That said, I don’t think it’s entirely automatic – movements, like real moments in time, something that you see as a marker, those require a leader, or in this case – leaders.”
In a sport where classes ebb and flow, Lil’ Gangstas is redefining attainable, exciting grassroots racing – one win light at a time.
This story was originally published on October 17, 2025. 
The post Why Lil’ Gangstas is the Hottest Class in Grassroots Drag Racing first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
