At just 21 years old, Scotty Kruck has already established a reputation as a driver and tuner in the world of small-tire index racing and grudge racing. Rising out of the Jr. Dragster ranks like many racers of his generation, Kruck has emerged as one of the most formidable contenders in the increasingly popular Lil Gangstas class.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #197, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November\/December 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n Kruck raced Jr. Dragsters until he was 13, at which point he started driving his father\u2019s SS Camaro while his own \u201991 Camaro was in the works. He won the first race he entered in his dad\u2019s car, continuing a family tradition that began long before Scotty came along. His maternal grandfather raced, his parents, Billy and Ginger, met at the racetrack, and Scotty was born into the lifestyle. \u201cI kind of had no other choice,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cNot that I\u2019d have wanted it any other way, but I\u2019ve been a part of racing since I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n The Arkansas-based racer has competed in anything from no-time and grudge racing to index classes and heads-up shootouts. The Kruck family\u2019s stable includes six different cars, each with its own specialty. Kruck has learned to tune them all. Between his driving prowess and tuning abilities, Kruck has turned on more than a few win lights in the last year or so.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually won Small Tire Gangstas, the big race [Tom Gunner and Michael Poland] put on in Texas last year,\u201d Kruck says. \u201cI\u2019ve raced for $40,000 or $50,000 grudge races and won three Lil Gangstas races this year. I\u2019ve been pretty successful and thankful for my racing career.\u201d<\/p>\n That success includes his most meaningful victory to date \u2013 winning the first-ever Bear Shit Only Lil Gangstas race during Big Jake\u2019s Southern No-Time Nationals at Xtreme Raceway Park. The invitational field was stacked with previous Lil Gangstas event winners, making it something of an all-star race for the burgeoning class.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was probably the most exciting win,\u201d says Kruck, who followed that win closely with a semifinal finish in the quicker of two 32-car Gangsta X fields at Donald Long\u2019s No Mercy 16 at South Georgia Motorsports Park. \u201cThere were 32 winners in that race \u2013 32 killers. So it was pretty awesome finding yourself in the winner\u2019s circle knowing you raced against guys like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Off the track, Kruck and his father recently launched a new venture together, Kruck Automotive, in Benton, Arkansas. Though they take on some performance projects like LS swaps, they largely work on daily drivers, performing work on brakes, transmissions, engines, and more.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been truly a blessing because it kind of took off,\u201d Kruck says. \u201cIt can definitely be a chore. It\u2019s just me and my dad and one employee, and he really helps when we\u2019re gone racing. We usually end up traveling down to Texas because the payouts are unmatched.\u201d<\/p>\n With multiple cars in the family\u2019s arsenal, including his \u201991 Camaro known as \u201cCain\u201d and his dad\u2019s 5.30-index car, Kruck credits his family and friends for helping make their packed schedule possible. \u201cIt\u2019s been a process trying to race and run a business, but we\u2019re making it work,\u201d he says. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for my family and my girlfriend, running this stuff would be a lot more challenging. They\u2019re there every weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s also sure to thank supporters like Nitrous Express, Prayer Plumbing, and CDS Motorsports, as well as the manufacturers behind the products he uses to race competitively: Neal Chance Racing Converters, Menscer Motorsports, Santhuff, Racepak, Naiser Racing Components, and M&M Transmission.<\/p>\n Moving forward, expect Kruck to continue running Lil Gangstas as the class expands beyond its origins at nitty-gritty Texas tracks to dragstrips across the country. It\u2019s a tough place to race and it\u2019s only getting tougher, but that\u2019s what appeals to Kruck.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s getting huge and we do pretty good at it,\u201d he says of Lil Gangstas. \u201cBut it\u2019s a real challenging class. You have to be on your game because it\u2019s getting to the point where when you go to a race and there\u2019s 60 cars, you might have five that are not close to the cap, but you\u2019ve got 55 that are straight killers and hard to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if that competition slows the roll Kruck has been on, he\u2019s not letting up any time soon. \u201cI\u2019ve been racing since I was four years old,\u201d Kruck says. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t plan on stopping, unless God\u2019s got other plans for me.\u201d<\/p>\n The post DI 30 Under 30 2025: Scotty Kruck<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At just 21 years old, Scotty Kruck has already established a reputation as a driver and tuner in the world of small-tire index racing and grudge racing. Rising out of the Jr. Dragster ranks like many racers of his generation, Kruck has emerged as one of the most formidable contenders in the increasingly popular Lil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}