Drop the Hammer’s New Event for 2026 – Drop The Hammer Judgement Day – Puts Competitors To the Test of Drag and Drive Without a Trailer!
After a couple years of hosting his original drag and drive event in Michigan, Drop the Hammer, competitor and enthusiast Carl Stancell added a second event in North Carolina in 2025. For 2026, he’s expanded to three events, with the newest one completed on Saturday, July 25th.
Drop The Hammer Judgement Day uses a one day, one track format, but with a twist. “We will be racing and covering 110 miles of Michigan back roads, all without a trailer,” said Carl. “That means you have to cram everything you need for the trip into or onto your hot rod for the day.”
Event coverage is just one of the many parts of both Sick The Magazine online, but also in Sick The Magazine, the PRINT magazine! With over 200 pages in each issue, we cover the drag and drive world better, from features and photos, to coverage of multiple events. Subscribe to the official magazine of drag-and-drive: CLICK HERE to subscribe to Sick The Magazine!
The day started at ATS Fleet Service in Mount Pleasant with tech and registration. From there, competitors would drive 35 miles to Mid Michigan Motorplex for a four hour racing session starting at 10 am. Each competitor was required to make a minimum of two runs, then turn in one of their time slips for the drive route back to ATS and back, with checkpoints.
Once back at the track, competitors would turn in their second time slip to calculate an average and the chance to capture one of seventeen categories.
A familiar name would top the sheets, as Jimmer Kline’s 4.99 average claimed the Overall Fastest title.
A trio of ‘Fastest’ awards would out to the popular Chevrolet, Ford and Mopar brands, and Nate Slocum would claim the Fastest Chevy title with a 5.41 average.
Tim Flanders put his Coyote-swapped Fox Mustang atop the Fastest Ford group thanks to a 5.53 average.
The Fastest Mopar went to Jeff Vanderboon, who compiled a 6.30 average.
The Quickest Sealed Hood title was captured by Tim Volkers, who put together a 5.65 average without the engine seeing the light of day.
The Fastest Stick Shift hammer award went to Jake Nickerson, who shifted his way to a 7.31 average.
The Fastest NA (Naturally Aspirated) title went home with Ken Johnson thanks to a 6.41 average.
Logan Nelson claimed the Fastest Truck award with a 6.58 average.
The Closest Spread would go to Luke West, who produced a pair of identical 6.565 time slips for a perfect spread.
The Slowest award went to Chad Daughenbaugh with an 11.54 average.
A trio of indexes were contested, with an award up for the closest average to that index without going under it. The Closest Average to 7.50 average was awarded to Mike Odie with a 7.518 average.
Justin Deweerd scored the Closest Average to 6.50 with a nearly perfect 6.502 result.
The quickest average target, Closest Average to 5.50, was scooped up by Eric Nelson with a 5.95 average.
The Quickest Reaction Time would be Chucky Skinner with an .087 result.
Anthony McDowell made the Longest Drive to participate at 334 miles.
Chris Legg made the Most Runs of any competitor, traveling Mid Michigan Motorplex’s surface fourteen times in a four hour window!
The Smallest Drive Tire award was won by Mackenzie Marlatt, running a 205/40/18 tire, just 24 and-a-half inches tall.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Hard Target Images.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com