Drag Illustrated Issue 179, November / December 2022 | Page 135

RYAN

GRIGSBY

■ ONE OF RYAN GRIGSBY ’ S first jobs out of high school was working on “ Turbo ” Todd Moyer ’ s Pro Mod operation , a solid base for what has become a promising career as a multi-talented tuner in the sport . After working on Moyer ’ s team for about a year and a half , Grigsby worked a short stint in the lucrative oilfield industry , but drag racing kept pulling him back in .
“ Whenever I did the oilfield deal , I was still doing some racing between ,” says Grigsby , 28 . “ I ’ d work four weeks on and come home for four weeks and try to do some racing between . Then you end up having to go out of town again and watch all your buddies go to cool races on the internet . It just was horrible , man . I couldn ’ t stand it .”
When Grigsby went back to work in racing , he did so at Taylor Lastor ’ s Texas Racing Engines ( TRE ) just months after a fire devastated the Cleveland , Texas , engine shop . Though he had some experience with EFI tuning and power management , he didn ’ t really have any engine building experience . He learned a lot over his five-year time at TRE , enough to have the confidence to go out on his own to start a race car tuning and wiring business , Ryan Grigsby Racing .
Grigsby now has around 20 different customers across various classes , but many of his clients compete in the grudge world , and nitrous-fed powerplants are his specialty .
“ It ’ s a wide variety , mainly small blocks , but I have people with big motor stuff , like 959ci stuff ,” Grigsby says . “ Every type of car you can think of , honestly . G-bodies , small-block nitrous cars . I have a guy with a Pro Mod on 275s . Just a little bit of everything .”
In late October , Grigsby tuned Themo Diaz ’ s James Miron-driven Fox-body Mustang to the final-round win in the A-League shootout at the Small Block Stand-Off at South Carolina Motorplex . With over $ 50,000 on the line , it was one of the biggest small-block no-time races .
“ That was a really big deal because there ’ s a lot of really smart people there ,” says Grigsby , who also wired , plumbed , and mounted the engine in the car . “ Stevie ‘ Fast ’ [ Jackson ] and Jeffrey Barker were there working on the car that we raced in the finals . Phil Schuler was there tuning on cars . [ Past 30 Under 30 honoree ] Ryan McCain was there tuning cars . There ’ s a lot of really smart people working on a lot of these cars and they all have really good equipment , just like we do . Being able to win was a big deal for me , especially with the short amount of time we had on the car . It ’ s just going to continue to get faster and faster .”
November / December 2022
With a steady customer base and a packed schedule , Grigsby is well on his way to accomplishing his goals .
“ I want to just continue to grow my brand and grow in a place that someone could drop their race car off and pick it up and go to the racetrack in a timely manner ,” says Grigsby , who ’ s building a race car of his own . “ And hopefully grow it to where I can have a more stable schedule . In the grudge world , it ’ s weekend to weekend . I jump around a lot right now , so just to grow it into something with more structure would be awesome , to be able to maintain a life and support a family , you know what I mean ?” – NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
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