Heads Up Hustle Brings Drag and Drive Event Format with a Twist to Michigan for Third Year – Trettel, Kurczak, Maley and Burt Among Winners
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.
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Starting at The Ubly Dragway for Day One of competition, the competitors would start their day with racing, before hitting the street and a pair of checkpoints for the remainder of the day.
Day Two started at Mid Michigan Motorplex for racing action on Saturday, July 26th, before the tour would visit Melling Performance and Mountain Machine for checkpoints to conclude the day’s activities.
Sunday returned Heads Up Hustle to The Ubly Dragway, but with a checkpoint stop at GM Performance and Racing Center first, before eliminations on the final day.
The Unlimited class made a move from a quarter-mile distance to eighth-mile for the first time in 2025, and it would be a Ford versus Chevrolet final with Jeffrey Kurczak opposite Warren Hunt. Although Hunt had produced the quicker runs during the first two days of the event in his ’70 Chevelle, it would be Kurczak’s Mustang notching the win for the class accolades on the final day.
The Small Tire class requires a steel body vehicle (except for Corvette models), and a maximum 28-inch-tall x 10.5-inch-width slick or 275 radial. The turbocharged ’67 Pontiac Firebird of Jim Trettel came in the defending champion from 2024, and he averaged a 5.01 for the event in route to backing up his win from one year ago.
The Stick Shift class follows the popular H-pattern manual transmission, with a foot-operated clutch pedal. Gregory Black had the best times on the first two days, but Sunday eliminations saw Peter Cisler emerge with the victory.
For those wanting to race heads-up without power adders, the Naturally Aspirated Big Block and Small Block classes were once again available. bring out competitors that want to participate in a drag-and-drive without power adders. Luke Van Allen traded his 2024 event second place spot for the win in Small Block this year, while on the Big Block side, ‘Pauly C’ Paul Castiglione rolled his classic Mopar to the title over Mike Silver.
The Daily Driver class adds in several elements to the rules, including a full factory interior, and functional heat and air conditioning if factory equipped. Andrew Hiestand had the quickest run during the first two days, and survived eliminations to score the class win over Mohammad Daoud in the final round.
The largest heads-up class at Heads Up Hustle would be the Hard Tire class, where all competitors were required to run a drive tire with a 200 treadwear or higher rating. Jeff Martin held the performance advantage in his ’80 Ford Fairmont wagon entering eliminations, and Martin got the final win light over George Lock in the final round.
Heads Up Hustle added the Hot Rods and Gassers class to the mix in 2025, and the noted ‘Garbage That Barfed’ Coupe of Matt Donovan got the win with a best pass of 6.07 on day one.
Shane Maley, the 2024 winner in the Full Size Truck class, repeated his winning ways in 2025 much the same it happened one year ago. Lee Brooks had the quicker time slips from the first two days, but Maley edged him out in the final round for the class victory.
As before, Heads Up Hustle features a trio of index classes: 10-Second Index, 11.50-Second Index and 13-Second Index.
The 10-Second Index class was another case of ‘second verse, same as the first’ as Joshua Burt scored the class win over DJ Dale Mathews.
Kevin Reiter was the top of the class in the 11.50-Second Index category, getting the better of Lochlain Cain in the final round.
The largest class of the event would also be the largest index-based class, the 13-Second Index class. Defending champ Sharon Bogardus returned for an attempt to make it two wins in-a-row, but the ’77 AMC Pacer would break out and fall to John Pranger and his ’68 Chevy Nova in the final round.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Heads Up Hustle, Hard Target Images, and Melling Performance.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com