The Rowdy Radial Record Effect – How Matt Moore Stepped Up at Sick Week 2024 to Challenge Devin Vanderhoof and Jordan Tuck’s Record on 235 Tires
Whether a quick pass is rewarded with a win light, a pay day, or a championship, some are satisfied with just having a quick pass time slip in their hands after a run.
That can lead to competition, and ultimately chasing who can accomplish the task in the quickest and fastest manner.
For some forms of racing, it has become so expensive to go fast, competitors can find it hard to keep things rolling to the next event / continuing their established performances.
That can lead to new class ideas, usually with some kind of limiting factor that forces a new approach to be successful instead of just focusing on big power.
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Entering its eighth year on a multitude of platforms, the 235 tire continues to gain interest and new competitors. The 26-inch-tall x 8.5-inch width tire may have originally gotten a home with mostly 5-second rides on the eighth-mile standard.
But in 2023, Devin Vanderhoof and Jordan Tuck raised the bar to an all-new top rung. The big block, single turbo ’93 Ford Mustang convertible rolled into Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, and proceeded to set the Rowdy Radial class on its ear with a 4.68 at 162 mph blast on day one at Orlando ‘Sick’ World Dragway.
As impressive as that first run was, Jordan managed to whittle it down to a 4.595 at 167 mph on day four, and post a staggering 4.64 average by the end of the week.
One of the sixteen cars in Rowdy Radial dispatched by the team of Devin and Jordan was Matt Moore, who used a best pass of 5.24 at 139 mph to compile a 5.37 average on the eighth-mile format for the seventh spot in the class.
For Matt, while the result wasn’t a bad one, he was not satisfied with it. So he continued to test the limits of the tiny tire, attending Rocky Mountain Race Week 1.0 and winning the Rowdy Radial class with a 5.08 average, and a best single run of 4.95.
That fueled his drive to continuing lowering the mark even more, so Matt continued to test the “the shop car” for his Moore Race Chassis & Fabrication business, ending his 2023 season with a best pass of 4.68 at 157 mph.
Matt wanted the next level, and he did just that for the 2024 season, changing the 388 cubic inch LS engine’s top end for a new BTR intake and Mast cylinder heads, but keeping his single 98-millimeter turbocharger to boost it all.
Sick Week 2024 Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive dawned to amazing weather and sub-seal level conditions throughout most of the week. Matt took full advantage of that, pushing the Mustang to a 4.75 at 152 mph on day one.
But similar to Devin and Jordan, Matt continued to improve throughout the week, culminating in a 4.607 at 156 mph at South Georgia Motorsports Park on day four, and a 4.68 average and the Rowdy Radial class Sick orange helmet at the end of the week.
“We came with a goal of running 4.80s, and possibly going a bit faster each day,” said Matt. “Boy did we blow that out of the water. With the record being set by Devin, we also came very close to the single run record. One of our most important achievements is a 1.13 60 foot…. Which is a record for Rowdy Radial. Other than some dump valve issues during testing on Saturday, we had no other issues.”
Can anyone else challenge Matt Moore and Devin Vanderhoof for small tire dominance in 2024?
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Matt Moore.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com