The 2025 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week is off and running with big moves and surprising moments galore on day one at Maryland International Raceway.

Jeff Lutz led testing results for Hot Rod Drag Week 2025 with a flying 5.91 at just 222 mph on Sunday at Maryland International Raceway.

Following their successful MEGAWEEK Presented by Sick The Magazine with over 500 competitors, Rocky Mountain Race Week hosted their second different event of 2025 - Rocky Mountain Race Weekend, September 5th through the 7th.

With a slightly different format than event's week-long format, the Rocky Mountain Race Weekend event centered around Pueblo Motorsports Park.

Two days of racing would compile the averages, and two separate cruises would be held from the track. Sunday would bring the traditional Rocky Mountain Race Week Shootout, with additional titles on the line for competitors.

Following a solid first year of the Drop The Hammer event, Michigan native and drag and drive competitor Carl Stancell III expanded the brand to two events in 2025, the first one staying in his home state of Michigan in the month of May.

The second Drop The Hammer event of 2025 invaded North Carolina this past weekend, for three days of racing between Farmington Dragway and Galot Motorsports Park, combined with a 300-mile road trip between the two.

The sheer magnitude of drag and drive continues to impress, and for 2025, Canada had five different events scheduled for the season. The fifth, and final one, would be Dragway Rush, an event with a unique two day, two track format.

Competitors would start on Friday, August 22nd at St. Thomas Dragway in St Thomas, Ontario, where racing would take place from 10 am until 2 pm. Competitors would pack up and hit the road to Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario, where the Friday evening session of racing would take place from 6 to 10 pm.   

Saturday, August 23rd brought competitors back for a second helping of racing at Grand Bend Motorplex, with on-track action from 10 am to 2 pm. Competitors then merely needed to set their sights on St. Thomas Dragway, earning the ‘completion’ checkmark as soon as they rolled through the gate.

For the fourth year of the Cruise and Lose event, the event made a few changes from the previous events. The biggest move was the event being held in spring time to late summer, on the fourth weekend of August.

The event would put in play two of the three tracks used in 2024, with Kearney Raceway Park in Kearney, Nebraska as home base for Day One and Day Three activities, with a trip to I29 Dragway in Pacific Junction, Iowa for Day Two racing.

More than a dozen new drag and drive events have been announced or hosted in 2025, and this past weekend had two of them.

The I57 Drag and Drive, centered on a three-day format and based at Coles County Dragway USA in Charleston, Illinois, would do just over 330 miles on the street between Coles Cunty Dragway and I57 Dragstrip.

Originally scheduled to be two days of racing, Coles County jumped into the mix for Saturday, August 23rd, upping the fun to three days of racing.

Sick The Magazine started in mid-2021 with the first print magazine dedicated to the drag and drive community, and although most featured an event would follow at some point, Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2022 caught some by surprise.

Since then, we’ve added Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks as an annual event starting in 2023, and a one-off event each year as well.

2025 marked the opportunity for Sick The Magazine to showcase our home state of Michigan, and Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil was held over the last seven days.

After reaching the northern most point of the week at St. Ignace, then traveling over 280 miles south along the coastline on our Thursday, August 14th, we reached our fourth new track of the week at Ubly Dragway for racing action on Friday, August 15th.

Ubly Dragway first opened in 1963, and a solid crowd of enthusiasts came out to watch the rides that had survived nearly 900 miles to this point on Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil.

Two days of racing, and over 550 miles on the street completed by Wednesday night, August 13th, Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil moved into the first of two days without racing.

Thursday, August 14th would have the competitors, as well as Sick Ward participants, set to prove the streetability of their rides with over 280 miles to travel, mostly on State Road-23. We would get started at the final checkpoint of Wednesday, August 13th, Mackinac Grille & Patio Bar.

After Mother Nature spoiled our plans for racing at Mid-Michigan Motorplex on Tuesday, August 12th, Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil made its way north through Michigan to Kaleva and Northern Michigan Dragway.

Although we were greeted by some fog to start the morning, some great racing action took place. We witnessed some shuffling in the top ten, including a new leader, some personal bests, as well as some competitors making their case for not only a category title, but also the Pure Michigan Award.

After a solid first day of competition on the Sick Michigan Miles drag and drive event, and the drive from Milan to Stanton, Michigan complete, we caught rumblings of Mother Nature looking to rain on the activities on Day Two, August 12th, at Mid-Michigan Motorplex.

Despite the best efforts of the Ledford family to give us a solid surface, rain hit the track just minutes before we were about to call competitors to the staging lanes.

So, instead cars and trucks were changed back to street mode, before visiting a trio of checkpoints over 191 miles to prep for Day Three at Northern Michigan Dragway.

With Day One of the Sick Michigan Miles drag and drive event leading into a week-long exploration of Michigan and four different tracks, some woke on Monday morning, August 11th with high hopes, and maybe even calm nerves.

Then, there are those that barely got their rides buttoned up in time to roll through the Darana Dragway gate, lacking sleep, test time, and possibly a functioning credit card due to all the last-minute parts ordering.

No matter which way a competitor got to Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, Day One started with our traditional drivers meeting, before the Darana Dragway crew let the enthusiasts loose on a freshly-prepped surface to see who would gain the quick time slips and early momentum for the event.

After two years with three drag and drive events under the Sick The Magazine banner each year, 2025 marks the first time Sick The Mag expanded to a pair of ‘one-off’ events versus one each year in 2023 and 2024.

Based in Michigan, Tom Bailey and the Sick The Mag crew talked about putting together an event in our home state. They got together and came up with the details to arrive at Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, August 10-17th, 2025.

Sunday, August 10th was Day Zero, which is normally tech and check-in, as well as a test session for competitors to have a chance to iron out any last-minute details on their rides before Monday, August 11th, when the laps would start to count towards their averages.

Blending the elements of a traditional drag and drive event, with eliminations on the final day of the event, has been a staple of the Heads Up Hustle event.

For the third year of the event in 2025, Heads Up Hustle featured two race tracks, five checkpoints, and winners in twelve classes, held from Friday, July 25th through Sunday, July 27th.

The Ubly Dragway would be the host track, seeing action for Day One and Day Three of competition. Competitors traveled to Mid Michigan Motorplex for racing action on Saturday, July 26th, before returning back for eliminations on the third and final day.

The drag and drive community celebrated with Miles of Mayhem for the fifth time in Canada, as the annual event once again covered over 1700 kilometers across Canada (over 1000 miles) over six days.

Contestants battled the road, the weather, and each other, for the chance to win in ten different classes.

Competitors would visit Central Alberta Raceways, MHDRA Drag Strip, Area 53 Raceway, and Rad Torque Raceway. Unfortunately, Mother Nature put the damper on the first two days, pushing the competitors to Day Three at Area 53 Raceway before all of them would get track time.

But days three, four and five were able to get completed, to leave ten competitors smiling just a little more than they were at the beginning of the week!

A new event to the drag and drive community in 2025, the Street Car Challenge encompassed four days and a trio of race tracks in Alabama: Baileyton Dragstrip, Holiday Raceway and Jake’s Dragstrip.

Although weather made things difficult on a couple days, only two competitors failed to complete the event, and class champions were crowned at Baileyton Dragstrip on Sunday, July 20th.

The drag and drive events calendar gained over ten events for the 2025 season, and one of those is the Allstars Drag and Drive. A three-day event through Australia, Allstars Drag and Drive visited Willowbank Raceway and Warwick Dragway, and added the challenge of the drives between the two tracks.

Allstars Drag and Drive featured nine classes, from an Unlimited class, to both ‘Naturally Aspirated’ and ‘Forced’ (forced induction) version of a 235 / 255 tire class and a 28-inch tire class, as well as three index classes, a ‘Cruise Crew’ and a Top Ten listing.

After Mother Nature delayed the original date of The Circuit – A Charity With Horsepower from April to June, the weather gods decided they weren’t quite done with the event.

But with 165 vehicles in attendance, plenty of racing and street driving was still accomplished, as well as thousands of dollars of donations for a Tulsa, Oklahoma children’s charity.  

After working at it for a few years, Jason Richardson put together his first drag and drive event, the East Coast Drag-N-Drive, in New Brunswick, Canada.

A three-day event based around Miramichi Dragway Park as the starting point, with two separate drives, drivers would compete in five classes to determine winners.