Spray Is The Way – Lamar Swindoll Tops The Winner’s List From an Epic Week on Route 66 on Edelbrock Sick 66!
With four days of drag racing at a trio of tracks, and six days of cruising the streets, including plenty of Route 66 pavement, Edelbrock Sick 66 returned to the starting point, Mo-Kan Dragway, for a final day of racing and to crown champions.
After Mother Nature limited our racing action on the first two days of the event, the final day had some solid performances, and some first-time winners were honored at the end of the day.
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In the history of Sick The Magazine eighth-mile events, only one competitor had accomplished a 4-second average on the eighth-mile distance for the week, Nick Cryer, during his winning efforts on Edelbrock Sick Smokies 2025.
This year, Lamar Swindoll Jr. has redefined small tire performance on nitrous on Gear Vendors Overdrive Sick Week and Sick Summer presented by Motion Raceworks, the latter of which found Swindoll Jr. holding his first Sick The Mag orange helmet as the Pro Street class winner.
After posting 4-second passes at three of the four track stops up to the final day, Swindoll rolled out during the first session on Day Seven and clocked a 4.86 at 148 mph. But, Swindoll wasn’t ready to be done yet, so the ’66 Chevy Nova ‘Goldust’ returned to the lanes for a second pass.
Swindoll delivered a 4.79 at 148 mph second run, his quickest pass of the event, resulting in a 4.938 average, earning Swindoll not only the ‘Quickest Nitrous’ category, but the Overall Champion, and the Sick The Magazine orange helmet to go with it.
Dan Dinan has done several drag and drive events, mostly behind the wheel of ‘Betty White’, a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu, with his most recent appearance being this year’s Gear Vendors Overdrive Sick Week, where Dinan carded a second-place finish in the Sick Street Race class.
But this summer he pulled the wraps off his new ride, a 1988 Chevrolet Monte Carlo known as ‘Betty White 2.0,’ sporting a 25.2 SFI chassis tag. Getting the proven turbocharged LS driveline from the Malibu, with a bigger turbo upgrade, Dinan debuted the ride with a victory at East Coast Drag-N-Drive, added a second victory at Piston In The Pines, and continued to improve his performance at Sick 66.
Over the course of the week, Dinan had some issues to work through, including having to reweld the trailer hitch a few times. But the Monte Carlo clocked a pair of personal-best runs, including a 5.189 at 140 mph at our second track day at Bonne Terre Dragstrip. This gave Dinan a final average of 5.323, the second overall spot, and a win in the ‘Quickest Small Block’ category.
Participating in his first drag and drive event, Taylor Lambeth put together the runs to capture the third spot overall, as well as the ‘Quickest Chevrolet / GMC’ category. Lambeth, who participated on his first drag and drive on Edelbrock Sick 66, put together his best run of the event on Day Six with a 5.488 at 130 mph, for a 5.652 average, from his ’98 Camaro.
Another first-time participant on a drag and drive, James Short, overcame a thrash just to make it to Day Zero, and transmission issues that added a 500 mile trip to RPM Transmissions to fix it after Day Three racing, to complete his first event at Sick 66.
The turbocharged 1998 Chevy Camaro known as ‘Redheaded Stepchild’ continued to improve on performance throughout the week, clocking a 5.408 at 135 mph on the final day to arrive at a 5.676 average, capturing the ‘Quickest Radial’ title, and fourth overall.
Earning a Top Five spot, as well as the ‘Quickest Stick Shift’ category trophy, was Robbie Kellerhals. The ’91 Chevrolet Camaro clocked a best of 5.491 at 131 mph on Day Three at Midstate, and finished the week with a 5.688 average.
Although his week at Edelbrock Sick 66 started with his LS engine in pieces, Zachary Blausey finished the week with his 1929 Ford Model T earning himself a pair of trophies. The driver of ‘Twisted T’ collected a best run of 5.673 at 120 mph on the final day at Mo-Kan Dragway, a 5.807 average, and a Top Ten trophy to go along with the top spot in ‘Quickest Hot Rod.’
Employing the ‘LS Removal’ philosophy, Dennis Hinkle rolled his ‘old school small block Chevrolet’ powered 2012 Camaro to the seventh spot overall, courtesy of a 5.835 average.
Capturing the ‘Quickest Mopar’ category, as well as the eighth spot overall, would be Mike Clark. The Smokies Garage-prepped 2019 Challenger delivered a good number of trailer burnouts, and an average of 5.917.
In route to capturing his second B/Gasser title in as many years, Matt Donovan also put ‘Garbage That Barfed’ through a week of Route 66 travel, and the ’38 Chevrolet delivered a 6.011 average to get Donovan his second Sick The Mag orange helmet.
Rounding out the Top Ten list with some of his best performances on the eighth-mile standard was Chuck Emmons, who put his 2024 Chevrolet Silverado through its paces for a 6.096 average.
For the full Edelbrock Sick 66 results, including the winners list - CLICK HERE!
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com