Sweet Home Alabama – After 7 Days, 900-Plus Miles and Some Epic Memories, Edelbrock Sick Smokies Returned to Rocket City Dragway to Crown Champions!
After six days, traveling over 900 street miles, and racing at five different drag strips, the Edelbrock Sick Smokies drag and drive event returned to Rocket City for one final day of racing, and to crown champions in a multitude of categories, as well as award five Sick The Mag helmets.
After Mother Nature delayed the start of the final day with overnight showers, followed up with a late morning spritz, we finally witnessed cars hit the Rocket City Dragway surface a little after 1:30 p.m. for an afternoon of racing, capped off by the awards ceremony and a Mexican dinner.
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Nick Cryer, the lone competitor to clock a 4-second run each day, rolled into Huntsville looking to finish the event with his twin turbo ’33 Ford on a high note. Leaving the same tune up as he used for a 4.0608 at Brainerd Motorsports Park the previous day, Cryer reset his personal best for a second-straight day with an opening shot of 4.605 at 157 mph.
With the first pass good enough to secure the overall win, Cryer decided a second pass and cranked up power would be the goal. 660 feet later, Cryer stopped the clocks at a best-of-the-week 4.54 at 158 mph pass, giving him a 4.63 average, his first drag and drive win, and the coveted Sick The Mag orange helmet. He also scooped up the Quickest Hot Rod win as well.
A tight battle ensued for the second spot overall, with just eleven thousandths of-a-second separating two competitors. After all the tabulation, Lamar Swindoll Jr. would earn the second spot with his best finish of the year, as well as the Quickest Nitrous category win, with a 5.098 average, nearly six tenths of-a-second better than his average on Sick 66 in 2024.
In third would be Jarrod Aspegren, who ended a string of personal-bests during the entire event with a 4.97 at 148 mph on the final day, tallying a 5.099 average. This also earned Jarrod the Quickest Small Block category trophy, and he completed the week with his son Conner, who completed his week third in the Junior Street category.
The overall fourth spot, went to the turbocharged 1965 Chevrolet Corvette of Chase Harvey, and although he opened the week with a 6.18 pass on Day One, Harvey delivered low 5-second passes the rest of the event. His best was on Day Last, a 5.03 at 146 mph, to end up with a 5.32 average for the event.
The fifth spot went to the ‘Hemi in a Chevy’ 1955 Chevrolet of Mike Finnegan. ‘Blasphemi’ and Finnegan put together a solid week, including a new personal best pass of 5.41 at 130 mph on Day One, for a 5.512-second average.
That earned Finnegan the A/Gasser class win, as well as a coveted Sick The Mag orange helmet, marking his first major drag and drive class victory since his A/Gas win at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2019.
Just five thousandths of-a-second separated the fifth and sixth overall averages, and Dan Dinan captured the sixth spot with a 5.517 average in his 1979 Chevrolet Malibu. The turbocharged small block ride had a solid week of 5.5-second time slips, while Dinan laid down a best of 5.45 at 130 mph on Day One at Rocket City Dragway.
If Robby Wysuph’s ’64 Chevy Nova Gasser doesn’t get your attention with its blown big block tone, its performances and wheelies should! Wysuph gave Finnegan a battle for the A/Gasser title, and a 5.549 average would earn him the second spot in A/Gasser, as well as the seventh spot overall.
The eighth spot in the top ten went to the clean ’66 Chevrolet Chevelle of James McCutcheon. Behind the wheel of his high school ride, McCutcheon and the jet-black classic put together a 5.578 average, securing a top ten spot.
The ninth slot went to drag and drive veteran Richard Guido, who completed the event with 82 year-old father Mike in the co-pilot seat. Making the trip from Canada in his road-proven ’65 GTO, the ‘Canadian Chuck Norris’ also grabbed the Quickest Stick Shift category title with a 5.67 average, and a best run of 5.48 at 134 mph at Knoxville on Day Four.
Rounding out the Top Ten is A/Gasser competitor Jeremy Bonnett. The winner of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive earlier this year in the Gas class, Bonnett and the ’33 Willys put together a 5.705 average at Sick Smokies.
With over 40 Gassers on site, our winners for the B/Gasser and Outlaw/Gasser class helmets fell just outside the Top Ten.
The B/Gasser helmet went to a familiar face, Matt Donovan and the ’38 Chevrolet known as ‘Garbage That Barfed.’ In firm control of the B/Gasser class since the first day of competition, Donovan entertained the masses with 330-foot burnouts every day, and low 6-second elapsed times at each track.
Donovan return to Rocket City Dragway to secure his title, and put the cherry on top of the sundae, with a best-of-the-week 5.96 at 113 mph, and an average of 6.12 for the event.
The Outlaw/Gasser was also a class that found one competitor in full control from beginning to end. Randy Quay brought his ‘Bad and Bougie’ 1957 Chevy to Edelbrock Sick Smokies, packing a turbocharged LS powerplant, and rode a string of 6-second runs to arrive at a 6.25 average, and the final Gasser Sick The Mag orange helmet.
A gasser would also capture the coveted Spirit award for Edelbrock Sick Smokies, the ‘Spirit of the Smokies’ honor. There were several candidates, but the first-ever Sick The Mag green helmet went to Jay and Tonya Grabiak and their storied ’55 Chevrolet.
Multi-time Sick class winner, and former ‘Sickest of the Sick’ winner, Rajveer Ahuja put together his quickest eighth-mile average ever at Edelbrock Sick Smokies, with a 6.006 average from his nitrous-fed 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass.
Jarrett Anderson backed up his 2024 performance at Sick 66 to score his second Quickest Diesel in as many years, although he had to go through a few turbochargers to complete the week. The Dodge D150 pick-up put together a 7.21 average for the week.
Camron Thorpe also grabbed a second-straight category win from Sick The Mag, winning the Quickest Rotary award with a 10.43 average, a solid improvement from his 12.04 at Sick 66 in 2024.
The Quickest Electric category title went to Ramsey McCreary, who backed up the Sick 66 title in 2024 with an 8.52 average in a 2021 Lincoln Aviator.
Finishing just outside the Top Ten averages, Royce Payton guided a turbocharged ’67 Camaro to the Quickest Big Block category win with a 5.71 average.
Alex Skrzypek made the trip from Florida pay off when he captured the Quickest Radial title, thanks to a 6.09 average from his turbocharged 2002 Chevrolet S-10 pick-up.
Don Gatlin would prove to be the quickest of all naturally-aspirated rides on Sick Smokies, posting a 6.61 average from his ’66 Nova for the Quickest Naturally Aspirated accolades.
Troy Steinke continued a solid debut season in Junior Street, wheeling father Rick Steinke’s ’67 Chevelle known as ‘Honk if Parts Fall Off’ to an average of 9.14 for the Sick Smokies win.
The Quickest 4-Cylinder title went to Brian Lueck and his 2022 Mustang, thanks to an 8.96 average.
Steve McNair’s turbocharged 2016 Cadillac ATS-V topped the 6-cylinder field, averaging a 7.47 for the Quickest 6-Cylinder category title.
A clean 1976 AMC Hornet Sportabout wagon may not have appeared to be 7-second capable, but John Leatherman put the turbocharged ride through its paces for a 7.85 average to earn to Quickest AMC award.
David Paschall used a clean 1987 Buick Regal, packing the 231 cubic inch turbocharged V-6, to secure the Quickest Buick category with a 7.636 average.
Joey Marshall put down his best average in his grabber blue 2011 Ford Mustang, with a 5.923 average being the best for the Fords to earn the Quickest Ford category.
Holly Rops completed her second Sick The Mag drag and drive event of 2025, with her 2016 Chevrolet ‘Artemis’ ringing up a 6.539 average to win the Quickest Chevrolet category.
The unique 1968 Beaumont, a car only built in Canada, provided the winning average for Chris Oler to grab the Quickest Pontiac title with a 6.73 average.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Jennifer White.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com