Records, Wheelstands and Drama on Day One of Hot Rod Drag Week
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.
Making news early was Jeff Lutz — for all the wrong reasons. The Drag Week legend was hoping to emulate his 5.91 pass from testing but the Mad Max Camaro instead broke early in the run.
“We had a motor failure again,” Lutz said. “We will go home and regroup and see what we can do. We have put 18 runs on that motor and it was in the fives every time; we don’t know what the heck is going on.”
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That left the Unlimited field wide open for Ned Dunphy to step up, but not without some mechanical issues of his own. A tire-shaking first pass damaged the ring gear and Dunphy had to install a spare rear end before returning for a 6.178/247 mph on his second run of the day.
Graham Hayes’ Ultimate Iron Chevy Nova laid down one of the best passes of the day with a 6.287/224 mph for the quickest run ever on a radial tire at Drag Week. Unfortunately Hayes joined the long list of people with hurt gear as the big-block Chevy broke a valve. The cylinder heads were sent to a local machine shop and Hayes was ready to make the drive by late afternoon.
Bryant Goldstone had his new Corvette duct-taped up and ready to go after its trip into the gravel trap yesterday but could only muster a 6.661 from the fresh build.
Three other drivers dipped into the sixes in Ultimate Iron. Will Fair dropped an impressive 6.713/210 mph in his ’56 Chevy, a personal best by a long way. Steve Spiess (who finished on the Drag Week 2024 podium) clocked a 6.842 to also be in personal best territory, with David Armentrout rounding out a very tough group with a 6.991.
Pro Street Power Adder sees Nick Rinehart atop the class following a 7.121. We met up with Nick at the first checkpoint where a push rod was getting replaced, but there didn’t seem to be any concern about making the distance.
Australian Michael Ward leads Modified with a 7.973 but we have heard rumors that he is out of competition with engine damage following the run, which would be good news for second-placed Scott Glassbrook.
Jeremiah Kilby’s Pro Street NA Chevelle hammered down a personal best 7.882 to lead Scott Miller’s 7.945 in a battle of the big blocks
Sam Colalillo is number one in Super Street Big Block Power Adder thanks to a 7.890. We found him at the first checkpoint pulling the transmission, which got a little hot due to a drawn-out staging process.
Super Street Small Block Power Adder sees David Diehl once again stomping all over the class, this time with a drag-and-drive personal best of 6.838.
All Motor Big Block saw Philip Tobin use an 8.405 for top spot but all the attention was on Glen Sheeley in All Motor Small Block following a ripping 8.361, which we believe was the quickest naturally aspirated small block run in drag and drive history.
Rick Steinke and Randy Seward both went close to dead-on in the Street Race classes, with 8.506 and 8.507 runs respectively.
In total, 410 cars registered for Drag Week. Despite the high number of entries, the staging lanes flowed well throughout the day and the track was mostly incident free — apart from an astonishing number of wheelstands. We saw half a dozen cars at least get on the bumper, including Mike Finnegan doing it three times in Blasphemi!
The drive would be just over 230 miles from Maryland International Raceway to Numidia Dragway. The route stopped at TCP Performance in Jessup, MD and the Round-The-Clock Diner in York, PA.
Check out the full results from day one here.
Enjoy more photos from the day below!
