Following three seasons of existence that’s seen continual upward growth and participation in some of small-tire and doorslammer racing’s most prestigious events, the MX235 class has successfully transitioned from an idea to a part of the fabric of the radial tire genre of drag racing. That idea was to provide 235 radial and 8.5-inch slick tire racers with a central place to race, a consistent rules package, and an organized, points-earning series of events that’s given the smallest-of-the-small tire racers legitimacy. However, the story behind that idea is as compelling as the growth — and the stunning on-track performances — of the class itself.

Perhaps the finest example yet of the youth movement under way in our sport, MX235 has been the brainchild and the pet project of third-generation drag racing guru Jordan Grunwald, who, at just 14 years of age and while a freshman in high school, drew up the idea for a much-needed series for the fragmented community of 8.5-inch tire racers in the midwest and mid-south regions.

Grunwald, who is the grandson of Arkansas-based Pro Mod racer Eddie Rogers and son of Rogers’ daughter and crew chief, Amanda Hoover, has grown up around drag racing, learning the ins and outs of the technical side of the sport. With that hands-on knowledge and wisdom well beyond his years, Grunwald has overseen every facet of the MX235 category, from drawing up the rules package, to approaching sponsors and negotiating with racetracks and promoters to showcase his brand of small-tire drag racing.

“I’m a Pro Mod guy, and I’ve been working on Pro Mods since I was probably 12 or so — it’s just progressed from there. Radial racing was taking off and there wasn’t really a class for these racers, so I decided to make one. I got into a tech position with the Mickey Thompson Shootout Series in the midwest and there was talk of an 8.5 deal, and I just went with it and started the class myself.”

Despite his young age — two years shy of even being able to acquire a driver’s license — the 8.5 racers gravitated to what Grunwald was doing and have shown him respect every step of the way.

“I’ve always been around racing and everyone respects me, so it goes hand in hand. I’ve never had anyone do me wrong, or protest anything. I’m very strict as far as the rules go — I make sure that everything is correct and the racers appreciate that,” he says.

Grunwald says in the development of the class, he leaned on countless individuals for advice and analyzed other existing rulesets to put together the rules for the category, in an effort to create a fair, balanced, and hopefully, semi-affordable venue for 8.5 and 235 racers to compete. “I made this class where anybody running in the Midwest at the time could race with us. There were four or five different series going on, and we made every effort to allow them all to fit our class.”

With all of the planning and negotiating — sandwiched in between his school work — behind him, the MX235 class made its grand debut as part of Tulsa Raceway Park’s spring Radial Revenge Tour race in 2014, followed by ten additional races that season. Nine events were held in 2015, and the 2016 schedule featured 11 races — six points events and five non-points. Owing to the growing prominence of the class, Grunwald also formed a partnership this season with the NMCA that saw the MX235 class featured at its events in Kentucky, Indianapolis, and Chicago.

The points series, which operates under a best five-of-six races structure, was won in 2016 by longtime small-tire racer Brad Medlock.

MX235, under Grunwald’s guidance, has become the only standalone radial tire class that operates as a legitimate series in the country, as he transited to a points-paying program in 2016 with six points events and a handful of affiliated races that utilize the class rules, as he’d done in the two years prior. He estimates as many as 70 different drivers have competed in the class in its three years of existence, and in 2016, he says the series averaged upwards of four to five new racers at each event. The largest single event to date was the Outlaw Street Car Reunion in Memphis a year ago, with 33 entries.

Like other class organizers, Grunwald’s tireless and often thankless time and effort put into creating and keeping the series going is entirely for the racers, affording him virtually zero income and occasionally a personal financial loss, but certainly invaluable business experience that ranks him well ahead of his fellow engineering classmates at the University of Arkansas.

“I don’t make any money at this. I sell t-shirts and I’m lucky to break even for the weekend after my expenses and everything. I don’t do it for any reason other than to give the racers a place to compete. Sometimes I might get up four or five hundred dollars from a race just from selling shirts, but I’m happy to break even. Last year I probably lost $3,500, but again, I just do it for the racers.”

And a tireless job it can be, sharing that the phone calls, the e-mails and text messages can be, at times, non-stop, keeping him busy on a nearly full-time basis behind the scenes keeping up with the class, the racers, the rules, and event planning. Grunwald says the main goal, however, is to “keep everyone happy — you can’t always do that, but it’s what you shoot for.”

Matt Bell of Redline Motorsports, a racer himself who also owns the Mustang driven in MX235 by Brian Edwards, has been the class’ most prominent supporter, becoming involved from the very outset with financial backing of Grunwalds’ initiative.

“I really like this class because it brings more of a limited-tire approach — it’s basically X275 on a smaller tire, and I think that helps to level the playing field some,” Bell says. “The new Mickey Thompson Pro Radials have opened that back up to some extent, but the tires helps to limit things, and that’s really what got me interested and involved in it.

“I really hope that it continues to grow,” Bell continues. “We’re always trying to find a class where the ‘average Joe’ can compete without spending tons of stupid money. The motor in our car is 10 years old — it’s the same motor we ran NMCA Drag Radial with back in 2008. It’s nothing elaborate or crazy, and we’ve been able to compete with it in MX235.”

While the concept may seem similar to the X275 category conceived by John Sears, Grunwald assures that he won’t be taking in the same direction in overseeing events all around the country.

“I could have the class go in any direction that I’d like it to go really, but I prefer to just keep it centrally-based, because I host the series. My main focus is on the series, but I allow anyone to host the class that wants to, as long as they follow the ruleset and don’t change the name.

“I wouldn’t want to be John Sears,” he continues. “I have a hard enough time keeping up with the series that I have, let alone managing all the rules he has and attending the number of events that he does,” Grunwald continues.

Grunwald has been able to maintain a impressive degree of parity amongst the combinations, following a similar line that Sears did in X275 with the allowance of small-block boosted and big-block nitrous cars. The difference, however, as he points out, is that MX235 allows twin turbochargers up to 72 mm.

To date, the quickest big-block nitrous car has been 4.678, the quickest small-block nitrous runner has clocked a 4.655, and small-block turbo checks in at 4.676, marking less than one full hundredth of a second difference in the three different combinations. Shawn Pevlor in his small-block, nitrous-fed Ford Mustang set the class national record, the aforementioned 4.655, at the season-ending Holly Springs Fall Brawl in October.

Like Grunwald, Bell also hopes to see the class remain in-check from a financial standpoint, sharing that “the tire does bode well to limiting things some, but the tracks and track prep have gotten better, and it’s kind of opened the performance up.”

Medlock, who virtually dominated the series with three wins at the six points races on his way to the points championship in his first full season in the class, found MX235 to be a less costly and in turn more attractive avenue than the X275 class he’d spend the last few seasons in, calling it a “see how much money you can throw at it” effort that he was ready to get away from.

“The cost part was certainly a factor for us, but Jordan had been talking to me about coming to run with them for a while. The class has already grown a lot, and I know it’s going to be a growing thing over time. I was one of the first racers in on X275, and I feel like this is a start of another X275, with a lot of really good, competitive cars coming in. But this class is most definitely less expensive to run. You don’t have to run near the timing, you don’t have to beat on your motor near as hard. I’ve got basically off-the-shelf everything on my motor — an 8.2 deck small motor that you can pick up all day long for $8,000 to $10,000.”

Medlock, too, feels that the performance standard of MX235 has already reached what many might call “out of hand,” but in his experience, the tire size will limit any further major gains, as seen in other categories.

“I put a 98 mm on the car and on the sixty-foot side of things, it definitely controls that. The nitrous cars can sixty-foot a little better than the turbo cars, in part because they’re lighter, but we all end up at around the same elapsed time. A 1.17 sixty is about all I can get on my combination, and I don’t know of any other boosted cars that have gone quicker. Even with the 98, which is bigger than what we’re allowed in MX235, it didn’t pick up any in the sixty-foot … it just gained in the 330-foot on out the back. The tire is only going to handle so much — it doesn’t ave much sidewall being so short, so it’s not near as forgiving to sixty-feet.”

As the numbers amongst the three combinations confirm, Medlock believes the rules package that Grunwald has established are both close and fair to all, telling us he “doesn’t believe any adjustments need to be made there” at this point. “Everybody is running right there around the same elapsed times.”

For the foreseeable future, Grunwald insists MX235 will remain a six-race series, allowing both himself and the racers breathing room in their annual travel schedule and less wear and tear on parts and equipment.

“I’m in college, and so I can’t do more than six races. And I don’t like to have so many races that it’s a burden on people — I want people to be able to go to other races and still come to mine when I hold one.”

In addition to Bell, Grunwald has established solid relationships with a number of sponsors, including Kuntz & Company Racing Engines, Chicago Industrial Equipment, RaceCraft Inc., Six-B Apparel, Induction Solutions, Chuck’s Metal Buildings, Midwest Turbo/C.R.T., Automotive Engine Specialties, Performance Steel Custom Shop, England Motorsports, Wagon Wheel Performance, Medlock Construction, Starting Line Motorsports, and A Unique Edge, all of whom have and continue to make the class possible.

Thanks in part to the rules package that allows some crossover with minor modifications, MX235 has drawn a collection of racers who have or still do compete in other radial tire eliminators with different power adders and tires, and those who have assembled cars dedicated to the class. This winter, Grunwald says at least eight cars, that he knows of, are being built specifically to compete in his series, proving that it’s still on a definitive upward trajectory.

“We have a good following and the support is there; I just really appreciate everyone that comes onboard and helps sponsor the class and races with me. I treat everyone like family, and I appreciate them all being there and I tell them that. We’re all helping each other here.”