Nitrous Corvette Makes History At Sick Summer – The Schroeder-Ens Team Score Overall Title, and Lead Class Winners List, as Sick Summer Presented By Motion Raceworks Wraps Up a Week in the Midwest!
With 21 years in the record books since the first drag and drive event at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2005, we’ve seen a variety of cars, engines and power adders as class winners, as well as overall champions.
Although the turbocharged entries have garnered the lion’s share of the titles, there are those that still subscribe to the ‘throttle in a bottle’ philosophy. And for only the fifth time in drag and drive history, and the first time since 2021, a nitrous car emerged in the top spot - at Motion Raceworks Sick Summer.
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The Canadian-based team of David Schroeder and John Ens have not only been past champions in drag and drive history, they have been the leading nitrous car in drag and drive competition. Twice they have captured the title at Hot Rod Drag Week, but at Motion Raceworks Sick Summer, they raised the bar a good amount.
Schroeder started the week on fire, guiding the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette to an eye-opening 6.09 at 222 mph on Day One at Byron Dragway. In terms of the quickest runs in drag and drive history, it lands in the fourth spot, and is the first nitrous run to crack the top ten!
Three days later, Schroeder was on fire again, but a different type this time, as his 6.21 at 200 mph blast came at the expense of some pistons and a slightly warm cylinder head. Schroeder and John Ens thrashed into the night at Great Lakes Dragaway to fix it, made it back to Byron Dragway, and clocked a final run of 7.23.
This gave the Schroeder-Ens team a 6.547 average, their best ever, and not only a new record average for a nitrous car for Sick Summer, but for a major drag and drive event as well. It would prove enough to score the Unlimited class win, the ‘Quickest Chevrolet’ title, and a pair of Gear Vendor Overdrive guitars as the overall event champions. It also marked their first Sick The Mag event victory, and their first drag and drive win since 2021.
Matt Miller brought his ’49 Chevy Truck home in second, and the team of Josh Davis and Devin Vanderhoof completed the week in third.
Alex Taylor sets some new marks in the Unlimited Iron category, but Alex and father Dennis didn’t have the easiest road to do it. After opening their week with a 6.91 and a 6.63 on the first two days, Alex posted a 6.70 at 212 mph on Day Four. But like Schroeder, the Taylors sacrificed some parts to do so.
The ’55 Chevy torched a cylinder head and nipped a piston, keeping the father-daughter team late at Great Lakes Dragaway before they hit the road just behind the Schroeder-Ens team. Alex finished the job with a 6.75 at 218 mph run back at Byron Dragway.
This got Alex not only her first Motion RaceworksSick Summer orange helmet as the Unlimited Iron class winner, but also her first all six-second week at a Sick The Magazine event, and her best average in drag and drive at 6.752. Tom Bailey guided his 7-second Dodge Durango Hellcat into second, and Matt Callaway put a cool ’64 AMC American in the third slot.
After making a big change from slick tires to drag radials at the beginning of the season, Steve Morris came to Sick Summer looking to back up his win at Mickey Thompson Turn & Burn. And like fellow Turn & Burn winner Alex Taylor, Morris had a solid week, but with some speed bumps.
The ‘Boostmaster’ Chevrolet station wagon delivered an all six-second week, but also sacrificed some parts to the speed gods at Great Lakes Dragaway, including the camshaft needing some welding work!
But back in Byron for the final day, Morris tied it all together with his quickest run of the week, a 6.62, to set a new Heavy Metal single run record, a class average record of 6.715, and score not only a Sick The Mag orange helmet, but a coveted Gear Vendor Overdrive guitar.
Pro Street record holder Nick Rinehart rolled his ’67 Nova to the second spot, and Rick Trunkett earned his first top three after a major revamp of his ’72 Plymouth Duster with a third-place result.
One year after setting the drag and drive world on its ear with the first 6-second average in the Super Street class, the brother team of David and Nick Diehl returned to Sick Summer to score a second orange helmet.
This time, the 2001 Mustang known as ‘Phoenix’ would land in the Modified class, and with more Steve Morris power on tap for 2026, their performances improved to a best single run of 6.69 at only 194 mph, but also a 6.729 average. That also got them third place overall, and the final Gear Vendor Overdrive guitar.
Chuck Stefanski zoomed his way to second with the ProCharger and zoomie header-equipped Pontiac Lemans station wagon, and defending class champ Dan Hirsch scored his second-straight Motion RaceworksSick Summer top three result.
The Pro Street class would be another that would showcase the power of nitrous, as Lamar Swindoll sprayed his way to the top of the scorecard. The Texan put his ’66 Chevy Nova in the winner’s circle in only its second appearance, as a 7.46 average would be the ticket to grab the number one spot. Craig Douglas and Mark Krantz rounded out the top three.
Super Street would see a Mustang in the top spot for the second year in-a-row, but this time it’d be Bob Hess Jr. earning the top spot. The unique Gen III HEMI single turbo ride parlayed a quartet of 7-second slips to a 7.42 average to get his second Sick The Mag helmet, complementing his Sick Week 2025 version.
Jesse Lesko clocked some personal bests on the way to a 7.75 average for the second spot, and the father-son team of Doug and Wyatt Nejdl collected their first Sick Summer top three trophy.
The Stick Shift class would once again have a strong showing at Motion RaceworksSick Summer, and after a year away from Sick Summer to make some big changes to his 2003 Mustang Cobra, Bryan Crane came into the event ready to make some noise.
The ‘tower glass shaker’ Mustang would be the lone car to clock a 7-second run in the class, and despite 2-time class champ ‘Banging Bob’ Gruber’s improved 8.63 average, Crane shifted his way to an 8.31 average and the win. Gruber earned the second spot, and Dan Watts wrapped up an all-Mustang Top Three.
The Rowdy Radial class, the lone class to contest on an eighth-mile distance, would crown a first-time winner for the third time in as many years at the Motion RaceworksSick Summer event. Frank Webb, a former Pro Street class winner at Sick Summer, came into the final leading CJ Durbin by a quarter of-a-second.
But when Webb suffered problems and could only run a 5.74 final run at Byron Dragway, Durbin used a personal best 4.877 at 146 mph to compile a 4.97 average, getting the better of Webb’s 4.99 average by just sixteen thousandths of-a-second. Brandon Boer rounded out the top three.
The Sick Street Race and Street Race 275 classes have always brought some solid and intense competition, but for the 2026 edition of Sick Summer, it went next level with two first time winners that have competed in the classes since the first Motion RaceworksSick Summer event in 2023.
After three straight times in the second spot in the Street Race 275 class, Jeremy Ortiz is a bridesmaid no more. The colorful 1995 Nissan 240SX started the week in second, but never ran slower than 8.518 for the week to compile his best-ever average in the 8.5-second limited class, an 8.511.
Ortiz earned the Sick The Mag helmet over Kameron McConchie in second, and former class winner Chris Merry in the third spot.
Eric Bjerketvedt put together the best average in an 8.5-second limited category ever at Sick Summer, starting the week with a perfect 8.500 pass. He never deviated more than twenty-one thousandths from that number for the rest of the event, and his final average was an 8.5085!
Class veterans Brian Acton and TJ Linebaugh both carded 8.52 averages just four thousandths of-a-second apart, with Acton getting the nod for the second spot.
For the first time in Motion Raceworks Sick Summer history, the Naturally Aspirated competitors would get a pair of classes to compete in - the Naturally Aspirated class and the new Naturally Aspirated-Small Block class.
Joshua Norris and his wheelstanding ’67 Chevy Nova have been a mainstay in the N/A ranks, and he duked it out with Mckenzy Foley in a back-and-forth small tire 9-second battle for the title. After five days, Norris’ 9.66 average would be the best, earning him not only the Naturally Aspirated class win, but his first drag and drive victory in eleven years of trying.
Foley claimed second with his ’73 Duster, and Jay Grabiak rounded out the top three.
The Naturally Aspirated-Small Block class belonged to Tony Martino from the word “go.” He had the quickest car in the class from Day One, and the 10.25 average from his ’92 Chevrolet Camaro would collect the class win and an orange Sick The Mag helmet. Tim Grabiak came in second, and Chuck Sorensen returned to Motion Raceworks Sick Summer competition with a third-place result.
Sick Week Freaks puts the best with a diesel, or less than eight cylinders, in a class together, and we got to see a great mix in the top three. Ryan Palmer’s timeless 1987 Buick Grand National took the V-6 turbo platform to the top of the list with a 10.22 average.
The four cylinder 2016 Camaro of Jacob Starr slid into second with a 10.50 average, and the diesel of Joshua Lamparek round out the top three with a 10.72 average from his 1999 Dodge pick-up.
The DYO (Dial Your Own) and Pro DYO (for vehicles quicker than 9.99 seconds in a quarter-mile) are always close, and unpredictable. A competitor’s consistency that holds on for three days but evaporates on the last day, can mean the crowning of an unexpected champ.
On the quicker side of DYO, Rick Russell’s unique 1979 Dodge ‘Lil Red Express’ pick-up put together a bunch of 8-second time slips just thirteen thousandths of-a-second apart, getting Russell the top spot. Former Sick event winner Azeem Sheikh came in second, and Grace Fenstad earned her first top three trophy.
The DYO class had several competitors within reach of the top spot, but when the dust settled, it would be Drew Brown scoring the Sick The Mag helmet with a twenty thousandths of-a-second spread in his 1991 Ford Mustang. Mike Olsen came in second, and Ian Hogshead rounded out the top three.
The Bullseye Challenge gives competitors a chance at a win each and every day, by getting the two digits after the decimal point on their elapsed time as close to a random two-digit number as possible.
Day One’s Bullseye was 27, and first time Sick Summer competitor Meghan Barnett used a 12.31 pass to score the win. A 65 Bullseye was chosen for Day Two, and Jeremy Kroger’s 12.650 nailed the number perfectly for the top prize.
After a rained-out Day Three, Kirsten Nordie would be the best of the Day Four competitors, as her 12.987 pass matched the 98 Bullseye. The final day’s 07 Bullseye number provided a rare celebration, as Jordan York’s 12.097 would be the closest. He used the trophy presentation to propose to his girlfriend, who accepted to thunderous applause!
For the first time in Motion RaceworksSick Summer history, a Junior Street class, and Motorcycle classes were added to the mix.
Cooper Lawson rolled into Illinois hoping to back up his 2025 Sick Michigan Miles victory with a Sick Summer one. But in a tight finish decided by just two thousandths of-a-second, it would be Drew Schalm and his 1994 Camaro scoring the win.
Benjamin Maxey would be the quickest eighth-mile average of the two-wheelers, putting his 2005 Suzuki atop the Motorcycle under 1000 cc class with a 6.94 average. This is his second win at a Sick The Mag event, having scored in the same category at Sick Michigan Miles in 2025.
Kirk McGuire also scored a second win at a Sick The Mag event, following his Sick Michigan Miles victory with the Motorcycle V-Twin title at Sick Summer thanks to an 8.48 average.
The third winner in motorcycles would be Ryan Cook, picking up the title in the Motorcycle 1000 cc-plus class with a 7.17 average.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com