The Heat Is On - Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks Starts Summer Off at Byron Dragway in Illinois June 15th, 2025 and We’ve Got All the Details You Need to Know!
Heralded as the ‘official’ start to summer by many in the drag and drive community, Sick Summer Presented By Motion Raceworks will celebrate our third year in the Midwest starting tomorrow, June 15th, 2025 at Byron Dragway in Byron, Illinois.
One of two tracks we will visit in Illinois, Byron Dragway will be hosting Sick Summer for a total of three days, with a lot on tap for activities, including Mr. Sam’s 80th birthday party and the Delta PAG pizza party on Sunday, June 15th, as well as our awards ceremony on Friday, June 20th!
First things first: a LOT of information on Sick Summer has been posted / available at the event page on our website, Sick The Magazine, by CLICKING HERE!
We’ve also been covering some of the competitors, as well as a variety of cool points about the previous Sick Summer events on our social media channels. So, if you want the latest details leading into Sick Week, make sure you like us on Facebook HERE and follow us on Instagram HERE.
Constructed in 1964, Byron Dragway was originally built to run 4 lanes of cars at one time! The storied facility has seen everything from Top Fuel dragsters and jet cars, to the popular World Power Wheelstanding Championship, and the MKE Takeover / River Redemption Series, taking place today, June 14th.
The track was our starting point for Sick Summer in 2024, and the facility got some recent upgrades to the property.
“A lighting project has been in the works for over two years,” said Veronica Steder of Byron Dragway. “We have used rental generator light consistently, but never have the pits, staging lanes, and concession/bathroom area been lit up this well!”
Byron Dragway will once again welcome Sick Summer to start our activities with Day Zero on Sunday, June 15th, the start of competition on Monday, June 16th on Day One, and the final day of competition on Friday, June 20th.
Day Zero activities on Sunday, June 15th, include registration for BOTH competitors and Sick Ward / Sick Spit Show & Shine participants, as well as tech, and a test and tune session for competitors.
Racer gates open at 7 am, tech inspections begin at 8 am, and Sick Ward / Sick Spit Show & Shine can start checking in at 9 am. Competitors MUST BE IN TECH LINE BY 1 pm, or risk disqualification. Please review / fill out your racer packet forms we’ve e-mailed you, and have your documents, as well as your safety gear, with you when you get in line for tech.
Spectator gates open at 9 am on Day Zero, and spectators are welcome to come out early, visit the pit areas and check out cars going through the tech inspection process.
If you’re one of the first 500 fans through the spectator gate, you’ll get a FREE Mr. Sam 80th Birthday t-shirt, as Sick The Mag joins the Cleetus McFarland crew to wish Mr. Sam a happy birthday later that day!
Plus, we’ll have numerous vendors that will be on site, including Motion Raceworks, Summit Racing Equipment, Driven Racing Oil, and more! Mickey Thompson will be joining us with a trailer full of tires, and VP Racing brings a semi-truck loaded with the best racing fuels in the business.
The vendors will be traveling the route all week with us, and don’t forget to visit the Sick The Magazine merch trailer, which will have exclusive Sick Summer goodies (including shirts, banners, hats and hoodies, plus the coveted straw hats we only sell on site at events).
PLUS, every dollar you spend gets you an entry into our Pontiac GTO Giveaway; CLICK HERE for more details!
The test and tune session for Day Zero, Sunday, June 15th, will begin once the tech inspection is complete, and we’re expecting it to run until about 5-6 pm.
After the test session is complete on Monday, stick around! Delta PAG will provide a pizza party for competitors, crew and Sick Ward in the pits, starting around 6 pm.
For Day One, Monday, June 16th at Byron Dragway, racer gates will open at 7 am, while spectator gates swing open at 8 am. Following a driver’s meeting, racing is scheduled to begin at 9 am and should go until 3 pm (subject to change based on delays).
Once a competitor makes the run they want, whether that comes after one pass, or more than one, that desired time slip must be taken to Tonya Turk and crew for logging. Then, a competitor is tasked to make whatever changes are needed to hit the road, and your next task is to complete the route from track to the track. You must follow the route we designate, whether by paper map direction, or using the Ride With GPS app.
Vehicles and competitors are welcome to leave the track whenever they want, but to stay in competition, you must turn one of your time slips at each track, and stay on the course. We encourage enthusiasts to join us anywhere along the route and watch as close to 350 competitors and another 200-plus Sick Ward participants motor to the next checkpoint, or the next track.
On Day Five, Friday, June 20th, the tour returns to Byron Dragway to complete the week and crown our champions. To do that, we need a full day of action! Gates will open a little later on June 20th: 9 am opening for racers and 10 am for spectators, and the final day of racing to start on track at 11 am and go until 5 pm. Award ceremonies for class winners, as well as our top three overall, will take place following racing action.
Spectators can join Sick Summer on any of the six days for $30 per person for an advance online ticket, or $35 at the gate. Kids 12 and under are free. Advance tickets are AVAILABLE HERE.
If you can’t join us, don’t forget that Days 1-5 will be live streamed by FRDM+, and all Sick The Magazine print subscribers get to watch it for FREE! Codes will be e-mailed to subscribers a few days before the event. You can subscribe to FRDM+ by CLICKING HERE!
Sick Summer Presented By Motion Raceworks – it’s the ‘official’ start to summer time! CLICK HERE to visit our event page for more information.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com