Niklas Linrin Becomes Third Swede to Capture Overall Title, Nick Rinehart and Les Smith Round Out Top Three As 5th Annual Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive Wraps Up In Gainesville, Florida
In a season when most places are too cold to enjoy drag racing, Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive has provided a place for competitors and enthusiasts to participate in the first drag and drive event of the year since 2022.
For the fifth edition of Sick Week, the weather would dip into near or below freezing temperatures for the majority of the week. And although the cold temperatures would require adjustments to track times and waredrobes, the resulting air qualify would bring out some amazing performances, some new records, and the first Sick Bounty claimed.
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The Unlimited class had a ton of competitors that had hopes to either reset the existing 6.174 average record, become the second competitor in the 5-second zone, or a class win. But when some of the favorites, including Tom Bailey, Josh Davis, Bryant Goldstone, Stefan Gustafsson and Jeff Lutz were sidelined, it opened the door for a new champion to emerge.
That would be Niklas Linrin, and he’d wheel a 1967 Pontiac Firebird (with a Camaro front clip) to a 6.49 average to not only claim the Unlimited title, but also the Overall event win and Sick The Mag orange helmet. Linrin also scored a Gear Vendors Overdrive guitar for himself and his co-pilot, and his victory marks the third Swede to win the Unlimited class at Sick Week in five years, following in the footsteps of Gustafsson and Michael Westburg.
Recent Edelbrock Sick Smokies champion Nick Cryer used a 7.28 average to claim second, and past class winner Timothy Blythe rebounded from a crash last year to produce a personal-best 7.31 average and earn the third spot.
The Unlimited Iron class, requiring a 3,000 pound minimum weight and more class rules to mirror some of the original Unlimited cars from the early days of drag and drive, had several 6-second players in the mix.
Defending class champ Graham Hayes would have problems that kept him from completing the week, leaving the leader spot to be shuffled amongst three 6-second rides throughout the event.
Alex Taylor started off the week with a personal best 6.55 at 222 mph, but by Day Two, David Armentrout logging his second-straight 6.71 pass would take the lead. On the final day, an o-ring seal slowed Armentrout to a 7.49, opening up the top spot for Taylor, and Les Smith.
Smith delivered a 6.65 at 213 mph time slip on the final day, locking his average at 6.860. Taylor loaded up one last blast, and her 6.60 at 218 mph pass came close, but the resulting 6.868 average came up just eight thousandths shy of the top spot, with Smith collecting the win. Armentrout’s 6.93 average would be good enough for third.
The Heavy Metal class is a Sick The Mag event exclusive one, and despite the heft based around a 3,550 pound minimum weight, the performances are still impressive. From the word go, only one competitor ran in the 6-second range, Alan Whitaker and his 1972 Monte Carlo known as ‘Greenie.’
Whitaker opened with a 6.962 at 207 mph, a new personal best for him. He added three more 6-seond passes, and a 7.07 pass, all of them over 204 mph. The resulting average was a 7.001, just shy of joining the 6-second average club, but plenty to give Whitaker his second Sick The Mag helmet, a Sick Week one, to match his Sick Summer 2024 helmet.
The Modified class brought out some tough competitors, including Chuck Stefanski, Leticia Hughes, and past Sick Week winner Matt Moore. But in the end it would be a battle between Christ Benoure and Val Morris.
Benoure’s Mustang would deliver consistency with a pair of 7.18 time slips the first two days, and a 7.17 at Orlando Speed World Dragway. But Morris delivered a 7.02 at 202 mph on Day Two to roll into the final day with a 7.155 to 7.180 average lead, which she solidified with a 7.13 pass to secure her first drag and drive class victory, and the coveted Sick The Mag orange helmet. Benoure claimed second, and Reno Lao notched the third spot with an 8.36 average.
The Pro Street class saw the competition step up to record levels, as a trio of competitors battled for the win and the chance to grab a 6-second average, a first for the class in drag and drive.
Sheldon Root made the trip from Canada prepared to possibly make noise in either the Pro Street class or Rowdy Radial, and on Day One, he rolled up on the bigger radials and clocked a 6.51 at 220 mph blast. He would continue to lead the class on Day Two with a 6.68 at 191 mph pass, but his chances at a class win came to an end at South Georgia Motorsports Park when the rods exited the chat.
This slid the lead to defending Sick Week Heavy Metal champ Nick Rinehart, who ran a trio of 6.8-second elapsed times to the final day where he busted out a 6.76 at 209 mph for a 6.815 average and the class win.
Right behind Rinehart was Glenn Hunter Jr., who put his proven 1956 Chevy Bel Air through the week for its first 6-second average, a 6.968, for second. Because Sick Week had a Sick Bounty of $5,000 for the first 6-second average in the Pro Street class, Hunter and Rinehart would split it.
Lamar Swindoll Jr., debuting a new car at Sick Week, posted the best nitrous-assisted average of the event with a 7.38 in his 1967 Chevrolet Nova, and finished third.
The Super Street class had defending champ Bob Hess Jr. exit after Day One, leaving the door open for a new champion. Bradley Arnold would be the one to step up to the podium, avenging his 2025 finish by quickening his pace each day, ending the week with a 7.04 at 190 mph for a stellar 7.15 average.
Richard ‘RC’ Flint rebounded from a testing crash just a couple days before the event to claim second with his best average ever, a 7.20. Third place would go to Jordan Boudreaux, and the 9.44 average belies the history Boudreaux stamped his name to. Boudreaux has participated in every Sick Week since 2022, and finished in the top three in class every year. He’s the only competitor to do so, and clocked his new personal best pass with a 7.10 at 199 mph on Day Two this year.
The Stick Shift class was massive, as we had a record 38 entries (for the record, Richard Guido was on site, but competed in the Street Race 275 class). There were a lot of heavy hitters, and one of them went out early, as Chad Fegley succumbed to transmission breakage on Day One.
That left a trio of northern-based rides to battle it out for the title: defending champ Darin Hendricks, two-time Sick Summer winner Bob Gruber, and Canadian Chris Hein. Hendricks was the lone car legal to run quicker than 8.50 elapsed times based on his roll cage, and he took full advantage.
The 1993 Mustang Cobra was switched from last year’s supercharged combo to a new twin-turbo set up, and Hendricks used the new-found power to clock an 8.13 at 176 mph best in route to an 8.23 average and his second-straight Sick Week orange helmet.
Streetcar Shenanigans Performance would complete the 1-2 finish, as they also tuned up Gruber’s supercharged ‘94 Mustang for the week. Gruber would post his best average ever at 8.56 for second place, and Hein completed the week with an 8.82 average in third in what could be the ’33 Ford’s final event with Hein at the wheel.
The Naturally Aspirated class got a boost to two classes in 2026, with Naturally Aspirated Small Block joining the line-up. The main class would be in full control of Randy Fuller from Day One, as the Texan put the former ‘Fast Eddie’ Ensor 1988 Mustang through the week with all 7-second passes.
Fuller’s 7.72 average is amongst the quickest averages ever recorded for the platform, behind only Ensor’s 7.09 average from Sick Week 2025, and the 7.53 average Ensor recorded at Sick Summer in 2023. It gave Fuller his second helmet, the first coming at Sick Summer 2023.
A couple classic Chevrolets nailed down the second and third place spots, with Keith Seaman’s wheelstanding ’70 Chevy Chevelle tallying a 9.44 average, and Rick Maguire right behind with a 9.50 average from his ’68 Chevy Nova.
Most figured the Naturally Aspirated Small Block class favorite would be Jason Tabscott, and along with wife Amanda they owned the class. The 1970 Camaro produced a new personal best run of 8.39 at 162 mph on Day Two at South Georgia Motorsports Park, and a new best average of 8.54 for the week. Tim Lorenz put together a 9.79 average in his Chevy Malibu for second, and Robert Green’s clean Olds Cutlass would snag third place with a 10.23 average.
Rowdy Radial had a stacked field of entries for Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2026, and the longstanding 4.64 average and 4.595 single run records of Jordan Tuck from 2023 looked like they could be in jeopardy.
The usual class suspects were in attendance, as the Motion Raceworks ‘El Toro’ Mustang, with Blayne Stark behind the wheel, joined a solid cast of Tanner Stover, Andrew Wittman, Kenneth Selner, Alex Skrzypek, and Cole Sammartino.
Kevin Smith switched the ‘Soccer Mom’ 1979 Camaro to the small 26-inch-tall x 8.5-inch-wide tires, and the move from quarter-mile to half-track worked well as he produced a pair of 4.6-second timeslips to stay right behind Stark after two days of racing. Stark led the class by just four thousandths of-a-second with an identical 4.65 average to that point.
But by the end of Day Four, both Stark and Smith were sidelined, leaving Stover and his ’68 Chevelle in the lead. Stover etched his name in one side of the record book with an insane 4.576 at 162 mph blast on Day Two, then finished the job with a 4.73 average for the win and the coveted Sick the Mag helmet.
Wittman guided his ’89 Mustang to the second spot, duplicating his 2025 finish, but with an improved 5.04 average. Sammartino rounded out the top three with a 5.26 average putting his ’73 Nova in third.
Trevor Branden said in the off-season he was coming to take the Sick Week Freaks class win back to Canada, and he delivered in a big way. The former Sick Summer winner of the same class dominated Sick Week, using a trio of 7-second runs, the best being a 7.68 at 181 mph, to lock up a 7.84 average. This is the first 7-second average for the class, as well as for Erin and Trevor Branden.
Rick Fletes delivered his personal best average of 8.85 in the diesel-swapped ’70 Chevelle for not only second place, but Quickest Diesel as well. Allison Kovalik grabbed her first top three finish, using a Hurricrate-swapped Dodge Dakota pick-up for a 10.00 average and a third-place trophy.
The Gassers vs Beetles vs Hot Rods class had a smaller number of entries than usual, but the action was intense on the Gasser side. Robby Wysuph and Mike Finnegan traded the lead over the first two days with mid 8-second blasts, leading to Orlando Speed World Dragway on Day Four.
Wysuph laid down a best-of-the-week 8.54 at 156 mph blast, leaving Finnegan the chance to pull to the line to answer. But the HEMI decided to clock out, leaving Finnegan broken and out of competition. Wysuph returned to Gainesville Raceway to finish the job, and an 8.58 final run got him an 8.56 average for the week. This is a new record for the Gasser class, and Wysuph collected his first Sick The Mag helmet.
The best of the Beetles was Ben Anderson with an 11.09 average from his ’63 VW Beetle, James Holth claimed second with an 11.23 average, and William John Gratton third thanks to a 12.87 average.
The Sick Street Race and Street Race 275 classes are limited to 8.50-seconds and slower on the quarter-mile distance, and the competition continues to heat up each and every year. Despite the increased level of competition, several cars went quicker than 8.50 on the first day, earning them a 20-second time slip and eliminating their chances from a top three spot in class.
Two-time and defending champion Randy Seward came to Gainesville looking to become the first competitor to win three Sick Week events in-a-row, and he delivered. With his seasoned but trusty ’91 Mustang, Seward produced four time slips between 8.508 and 8.52, leading to an 8.513 average and his third Sick The Mag helmet.
Dan Dinan put his ’79 Malibu ‘Betty White’ across the stripe with an 8.53 average for second, and multi-time top three Sick Week finisher Matt Lamphier’s ‘Turtle’ Mazda Miata claimed third with an 8.548 average.
The Sick Street Race class would see a competitor claim his third orange helmet, but for Brian Acton, it had a different meaning. Although Acton and co-pilot Jay Blanchard started the week with an 8.63, they kept chipping away at the lead. And when leader Cody Poston bowed out in Orlando with engine breakage, Acton took the lead, and nailed the victory with an 8.55 average.
When Acton was called for his helmet, Blanchard came with him, and Acton gave his Sick Week helmet to Blanchard, citing the wins wouldn’t happen without his efforts. Eric Burroughs put his Monte Carlo in second with an 8.59 average, and Kevin Bolger recovered from a testing accident to finish third with an 8.65 average.
The DYO (Dial Your Own) and Pro DYO classes (for vehicles between 8.50 and 9.99 seconds) put the emphasis on consistency, and are based on the time slip a competitor turns in on the first day. That elapsed time becomes your base, and how far off that time, either above or below it, determines a competitor’s ‘spread.’ The lower the spread, the better the chances of winning.
The Pro DYO class saw a familiar face back on top, as 2025 champion Azeem Sheikh and his turbocharged ’73 Camaro collected another Sick The Mag helmet. His spread of just seven thousandths of-a-second (just .007) was a new record, and a big improvement on his .022 spread from 2025!
Jimmy Rinehart wheeled Drew Fleming’s ’72 Nova to an .024 spread for second in Pro DYO, and Team Lujan member and former DYO winner Wilfredo ‘Bowtie’ Blanco finished third thanks to an .053 spread.
The DYO class for 10-second and slower cars was equally tough, and no one did it better than Jonathan Montesino. With his new car build yet to be completed, Team Lujan’s Montesino jumped into his daughter’s 1997 Mustang, and when the results were tallied, his eleven thousandths of-a-second (.011) spread got the win, and set a new record for the class.
Multi-time Sick the Mag event competitor Chris Wozniak and his ’73 Plymouth Cuda came home in second with an .024 spread, and defending champion Wil Stoneburg scored his second-straight top three finish with an .029 spread.
The unique Sick Bulls Eye Challenge is a different competition for each of the five days of competition, where competitors are tasked with trying to ‘hit’ a different bulls eye number each day.
On Day 1, multi-time winner Rick Doern and his 2020 Ford Mustang matched the ‘32’ bulls eye number with a 10.325 pass, giving him the win. He doubled up on Day 2, as his 10.500 pass was a mere two hundredths off the ‘48’ bulls eye, giving him a second win, and moving his Sick Bulls Eye Challenge win total to five, the most of any competitor.
Day Three had the ’87 Monte Carlo of Joe Aquino nail the ‘24’ bulls eye with a 12.244 pass for the win, while Day Four’s ‘26’ bulls eye would be most closely matched by longtime Sick event participant Alex Brody thanks to a 14.280 pass.
That left Day Five and the final bulls eye of ‘76’ as the target, and the Race Red 2024 Mustang of Joe Leonard delivered a 10.769 pass for the accolades.
For complete results and winners list from the 2026 edition of Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, please visit the Results section of Sick The Magazine’s website by CLICKING 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