From Wheelstanding Milk Truck to Wild 7-Second Passes, Nick Cryer Nearly Claims Unlimited Class Victory in ’33 Ford Debut at Sick Summer!
The Cryer family’s unique 1963 Divco Milk Truck has become a cool staple at several events, including Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, and Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks.
Nick Cryer has wheeled the Divco plenty of times, including Sick Summer in 2024. But one year later, Nick traded the Divco for a different ride for his Sick Summer appearance, and nearly grabbed a Sick The Mag orange helmet in the car’s debut.
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We first broke news on this 1933 Ford build a few years ago (reported as a ’34 model, but Nick discovered since that time it is a ’33). JT Race Cars handled the initial construction, and after a little bit of motivation from a friendly wager with fellow Sick Summer competitor Mike Turner, Nick and John Tehaar got the ’33 Ford finished up this year in time to test before Sick Summer.
With for nearly any engine choice for the fiberglass replica ’33, Nick dialed up Borowski Race Engines for a 427 cubic inch LS powerplant. Using the LS-Next block, Borowski filled it with a Callies crankshaft and connecting rods, with Diamond pistons at the top of the rods.
All Pro cylinder heads and a Holley intake, with a 417 Motorsports intercooler in the middle, top the engine block, and a Holley Dominator was chosen to control the functions and EFI, which is tickled by Nick McGrath at Straight Line Performance.
In place of the headlights is an easy-to-see pair of turbochargers, mirror-image VS 80-millimeter versions. They get air filters fitted with unique headlights for cruising work.
Backing the dyno-proven mill, which cranked out 1257 rear-wheel-horsepower on a safe tune, is a Coan Engineering Turbo 400 transmission. Coan’s Ultimate Turbo III version meant a host of upgrades, including 1st and 2nd gear leave, clean neutral, and internal converter dump valve, and one of Coan’s torque converters was employed in the build as well.
Strange Engineering provided a 9-inch rear end to handle all the power, with a 3.50 gear set for easy driving.
Nick built the 25.2 SFI certified car to achieve a goal: clock a 6-second pass at over 200 mph. Although he didn’t do it at Sick Summer, it was by design.
“I’ll turn it up in time,” said Nick. “I’m still sorting out shift points, and slowly getting more aggressive on the starting line.” After taking the car testing at Byron Dragway twice, he got a pair of runs in during Hot Rod Power Tour at Route 66 Raceway. “The 60 foot on the last pass was a whopping 1.22, so it should be able to get much quicker,” he said.
Less than a week later, Nick rolled the ’33 Ford into the tech lines at Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, with car builder John Tehaar alongside for the week as the co-pilot. For his first time in the car at a drag and drive event, and his first time in the pressure-packed Unlimited class, Nick showed no stress cracks.
Nick opened Day One of Sick Summer with what was a personal best at the time 7.34 at 189 mph, and the class lead. He improved upon that run on Day Two with a 7.33 at 192 mph blast.
Day Three at Cordova found Nick the first in the ‘A Group’ to hit the track, alongside Alex Taylor’s ’55 Chevy. What could’ve been a solid showing for both instead turned into problems for both rides, with Nick’s Ford billowing smoke just past the eighth-mile mark, and Alex stopping with problems just after the finish line.
Initially, the smoke gave the impression Nick might be out of competition early. However, just the transmission lines coming apart was the cause of the clouds in Nick’s lane.
Thankfully, the good folks at Redhorse Performance, who joined us with a trailer full of fresh hoses and fittings for the third-straight year at Sick Summer, got Nick fixed up on site with new line and fittings to get back on the road after the day was deemed a rainout. Taylor was able to make repairs and hit the road to continue on.
Day Four at Tri-State Raceway would be Nick’s best day yet, as another personal best 7.29 at 187 mph would be the time slip he handed in. This left him a drive back to Byron Dragway, and one pass down track, to complete the first week in the ’33 Ford, possibly even a class win.
“Leading into the week, we were struggling keeping fuel pressure throughout the run,” said Nick. “So, we had all of the power out of it after the eighth-mile mile. However, in the process of learning that, the engine went lean a few times.”
Although Nick had made four good passes up to Day Four’s drive back to Byron, the lean condition in testing came knocking once again on Sick Summer. “On our way to the hotel after the Rock Falls party, I heard a non-consistent rattle in the car,” said Nick. “I pulled over right away to check it out, we all looked over the car and decided it wasn’t serious and continued on.
“I made it about another 10 miles, and the rattle became louder and more consistent, so I stopped again.” It was then that Nick figured out the rod bearing on cylinder number three was a goner, a result of detonation from the lean condition.
“We recently took the engine back to Borowski, and took it apart with them,” Nick said in discovering the problem. “For some reason, (the detonation) started picking on cylinder three the most. The biggest mistake I made was not utilizing the clear view filter on the car when I first heard the noise and stopped. That extra 10 miles probably was the difference of finishing the event because I had rod bearings with me and could have changed them.”
Despite getting so close to the possibility of finishing Sick Summer on the car’s debut, Nick looks back at the event with a smile. “I was extremely happy with the car and our week,” he said. “Disappointment never set in because the milk truck was still running, and I was excited for them, because they had a new guy in the truck with them that got to experience his first completed drag and drive.
“Emotions are definitely a roller coaster right now, being that close to taking a class win, but I am also very happy we caught it as quickly as we did to avoid any major damage (in the ’33 Ford),” said Nick. “We learned a lot about the car, and have a handful of items to improve on but it will definitely be back.”
Those improvements include a bigger fuel pump, adding a bigger fan from Delta-PAG, and running an air line to the clear view with a trigger so Nick can check it at every gas stop.
Depending on fix time, we may see the ’33 Ford back in action at this year’s Hot Rod Drag Week, but one thing is for sure: Nick Cryer is coming back with the 6-second, 200 mph goals as the target.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Nick Cryer and Libby Arnold Brockman.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com