Trucker’s Tale of Victory – Robert Hill Uses Third Sick Summer Appearance and New Truck to Score Dial-Your-Own Class Win!
The great thing about a drag and drive event is the variety of rides an event can attract. Although the common rides from the GM, Ford and Mopar brands are normally present, we see a wider variety of rides at Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, including a Ford F-350 dually pick up in 2023 of Robert Hill.
Two years later, Hill returned to Sick Summer a married man, with a different pick up, and left the 2025 event with a coveted Sick The Mag orange helmet!
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Hill was introduced to racing at Inyokern Dragstrip in Southern California at a young age, and not just on the enthusiast level. “I was tearing time slips when I was five, working the water box at twelve, and started racing two days after I turned sixteen back in 1997,” Hill said.
Hill made the transition from worker to winner happen immediately, winning the high school championship in 1998 and 1999. But things were about to change, and not because he was done with high school.
“After that, I moved to Wisconsin and took a 22-year break from racing with an occasional race here and there,” said Hill. “That was a big mistake.”
After those two decades had passed, and Hill was driving the F-350 dually, he made the trip to Byron Dragway to attend a diesel race in October of 2021. He won the gamblers bracket, and was in love with racing all over again.
“I’ve been racing in street, sportsman and pro ever since,” Hill said. “At this point I'd have to get beat to death to stop racing again.”
Less than two years later, Hill expanded his racing resume to include a drag and drive event, attending the first Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes. “I had a blast,” said Hill. “After that event, I got engaged to my now wife.”
With a wedding plan and a life for two set, Hill knew some changes would need to happen. “We set a budget, and I needed about an extra $500 a month to make it happen,” he said. “I figured out if I traded in the dually for a half-ton, that between the payment each month, and the fuel savings, I would save the $500 and not have to stop racing.”
The trade was made for a 2020 Ford F-150 half-ton pick-up, packing the Coyote 5.0L engine. Modifications in the form of a flex fuel tune from MPT in Florida, a Flowmaster cat back with an under dump, a homemade ram air intake made from 4-inch exhaust tubing and a dust hood, and a pair of 27-inch-tall x 11.5-inch-wide Mickey Thompson ET Street R tires were added to the equation.
Hill didn’t do the driver role in 2024 for Sick Summer, instead choosing to passenger with Casey Steinke in his 1974 Ford F-100 pick-up. But Hill missed the driver seat, and made the switch for 2025.
Riding in the co-pilot for 2025 with Hill was nephew Tyler. “This was a late 18th birthday present to him,” said Hill. “He works hard, awesome to be around, is always willing to get dirty, can take a joke and loves the sport. Next year he should be racing his own truck at Sick Summer.”
Hill made it through the week trouble free at Sick Summer, but stayed busy with friends Casey Steinke and Lucas Ott. “It's not so much of a challenge for me because of the car I run,” said Hill. “That being said, I travel with guys with cars and something is bound to break. So being that I have a mostly factory truck and air conditioning, I run to the parts store while everyone else is tearing stuff apart.”
Unlike his first year when he ended the week 23 hundredths of-a-second between his four time slips, Hill would find himself with a solid shot to win the popular and competitive Dial Your Own (DYO) class.
After the first two days of competition, Hill was tied for the class lead with Tim Grabiak, as both drivers had just one thousandth of-a-second separating their performances at Byron Dragway and Great Lakes Dragaway.
After Cordova was rained out, Hill saw his time difference increase to nineteen thousandths of-a-second, dropping him to second in the standings, but just eight thousandths of-a-second off the leader, Suzanne Rooker.
On the final day of competition, Hill delivered his third 14.14 pass in four days, keeping his spread at to nineteen thousandths of-a-second. That locked in at least a second-place finish for Hill, with Rooker the only one who could keep him from the title. And when the Cadillac of Rooker couldn’t deliver the needed run, Hill would earn the coveted Sick The Mag orange helmet.
“This was my best year yet, and not just because of the win,” Hill said. “I get to hang out with guys I see every year here. Me, Casey Steinke and Lucas Ott travel together every year. Always great to hang out with Joe and Rachel Hajny and Kyle Magnuson.
“On top of it, there were a bunch of guys that I race with at Byron Dragway that joined in this year. They were Travis Beer, Tim Railsback, Ulysses Martinez, Gil Odjick, Reed Hartman, Greg Darm and Marty Pixler. These people are all great to be around, and getting to spend a week with them was a real pleasure.”
Because of the long hours Hill does as a truck driver, combined with his bracket racing schedule, Sick Summer is the lone drag and drive event Hill gets to do each year. “It really helps having a supportive and understanding wife,” Hill admitted. “Can't wait to see y'all again next year.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Robert Hill.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com