Can the Rowdy Radial Class Survive Without Rules, or Is It Finally Time For Some Standards on the Tiny 235 Tire?
In the competitive world of heads-up racing, when racers stop showing up, classes and even series can cease to exist. It’s happened to examples with a solid ruleset, as well as those without rules.
The drag-and-drive world is also not immune to this, and although the recent expansion in events is only on its third year, one class that’s shared amongst multiple events could be in jeopardy.
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The Rowdy Radial class has been run at several events, but got its start at Rocky Mountain Race Week. Based around the simple nature of a 235 sized tire (26-inches tall and 8.5-inches in width), and an eighth-mile format, the class attracted a good mix of cars and combinations.
Up until the first Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2022, if you were in the mid to low 5-second range in Rowdy Radial, you normally had a shot at a top three finish.
February 2023 is when the tide started to turn. Sick Week added the Rowdy Radial class, and the performance standard was forever changed. The team of Jordan Tuck and Devin Vanderhoof absolutely crushed the class records, producing a four second pass at each stop on Sick Week.
Their best single pass was a staggering 4.595 at 167 mph on day four, and an average of 4.64 for the week. Canadian Sheldon Root with his ‘62 Acadian was not far behind in second, as the turbo charged LS-swapped ride averaged 4.81 for the week, with a best pass of 4.76 on day one.
No one had ever been in the 4-second range in drag-and-drive competition before on the tiny 235 tire. Ever.
Remember that mid to low 5-second range we noted earlier? A total of eight cars averaged 5.54 seconds or better that first year of Rowdy Radial at Sick Week, and noted drag-and-drive regulars Doug Cook, Rick Steinke and Alex Corella likely would’ve joined the low 5-second average group if they didn’t have problems before the final day.
Seventeen cars jumped into the Rowdy Radial field at Sick Week. Fast forward to Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes, and that field size shrunk to four, with Andy Cook, a two-time Rocky Mountain Race Week winner in the class, getting the win with a 5.25 second average.
Rocky Mountain Race Week had their first 4-second Rowdy Radial pass a short time after Sick Summer, with Matt Moore turning in a 4.95 timeslip in route to a 5.08 average, nearly two tenths of-a-second better than the 2022 event’s winning average.
At Sick Week this year, the Rowdy Radial field was about half the size of the 2023 contingent. Once again, a 4-second battle played out at the top for the win, with Matt Moore’s LS-powered Mustang averaging 4.68 seconds for the title, and he came close to Jordan and Devin’s records with a 4.607 single pass on day four.
Sheldon would once again come in second, this time with the Acadian packing a turbocharged big block, and nearly matching his 2023 average with a 4.75 result. The next three cars averaged between 5.03 and 5.15, and a third car could’ve possibly joined the 4-second club for the week. But the unique Porsche of Danny Humphries would be sidelined by day two, only turning in a day one pass of 4.89.
Both Rocky Mountain Race Week and Sick weeks rules for the Rowdy Radial class are simple: tire requirements, eighth-mile distance, and that’s it! No suspension requirements, no weight minimum, run what ya brung and hope you brought enough. If Tom Bailey wanted to try his hand at the class with the ‘Sick Seconds 2.0’ 1969 Camaro, there’s nothing in the current ruleset preventing it!
So, with all of that data swimming in my head, my questions are:
Will the Rowdy Radial class continue to survive with top times in the 4-second range, or will more cars decide to drop out / switch knowing they don’t have a chance to make the top three in the class? Even without a purse / payout, some people will jump to another class where they think they have a better chance of a top three. We’ve seen it happen.
So, then is it time to define the class with a set of rules? There are definitely examples of classes where a stricter ruleset has saved the class / increased participation, so an argument could be made that the answer is yes. But then to define a ruleset, where do you start for adding rules?
For example, Devin’s Mustang had stock-style suspension and weighed 3200 pounds at the time Jordan wheeled the car to the class record. So do you start with engine restrictions instead? This year’s top three at Sick Week all had different engine set-ups, so that could be rough waters to navigate.
These are definitely not the easiest questions to answer. But if it means saving a class that reminds us of the days where rules were summed up in a few sentences, shouldn’t we have these conversations before it’s too late?
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Motion Raceworks.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com