For over seven decades, the Detroit AutoRama in Michigan has showcased tens of thousands of amazing rides, including hot rods, muscle cars, truck and motorcycles. It is a true plethora of automotive gatherings, with one of the big attractions of the AutoRama being The Ridler Award,

The drag and drive community has enjoyed a presence at the event in recent years, with Sick The Magazine bringing an ‘8-pack’ of cool and quick rides to our display at the AutoRama.

Since 2022, Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive has signaled the start to the drag and drive season. We crown champions in seventeen classes, some of them captured by past winners, and even some new records can be set from the combination of great air and prepped race tracks.

It also establishes the starting point for how the season’s performance will play out, and with the stories and rumors leading up to the 2026 edition of Sick Week, some had theorized what the Top 100 single runs and averages could look like at the end of the week. But the results may shock you, as we crunch the numbers.

In a day when cars continue to get quicker, the demands on tracks to raise their game on surface prep and management of an event also move up a few notches.

With the knowledge base of working a variety of events, on different tracks and different conditions, Sick Prep brings a complete team to make a successful event from the track surface to the tower.

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.

Following an eventful Day One of Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive at host track Gainesville Raceway, more than 300 competitors, and hundreds of Sick Ward enthusiasts, rolled northward to South Georgia Motorsports Park for Day Two action.

We were once again greeted with cool temps, and for the first time in three days, the temperatures started to warm up a bit into the afternoon, but nowhere near as hot as the race track.

After participating in drag and drive events for over a decade, 3-time Sick The Mag event winner Mike Finnegan decides to go next level on his drag and drive trailer game, getting together with B&P Manufacturing for a truly unique build.

Now, just over a year later, Finnegan is paying it forward by putting that trailer up as a prize at this year’s Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive!

Getting more than its share of double takes, the ‘4 x 4 Crown Vic’ of Jon Moore has gotten the last laugh on several people, clocking single digit times as several drag and drive events since he acquired it.

Since his drag-and-drive debut at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2023, where Moore clocked a 10.14 average, Moore has continued to step up his performance. Now, he looks to up his game again for the 2026 edition of Sick Week.

The first drag and drive event, Hot Rod Drag Week, was held in 2005. Although nearly 50 competitors embarked on this historic journey, only 32 survived, with Carl Scott’s 8.58 average capturing the overall title.

The top three finishers of the first Hot Rod Drag Week, Carl Scott, Phil Cooper and Larry Larson, completed the event with 8-second averages.

Since then, over three hundred more competitors have completed a major drag and drive event with an 8-second average, and we’re celebrating them in our third segment of recognizing drag and drive performances.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Billy ‘The Kid’ Hoskinson has been drag racing since before he possessed a driver license. He also mixed things up on the street as well, documenting not only his results, but others as well, on the popular ‘Street Racing Channel’ YouTube channel.

In the last few years, street racing has fallen off in certain areas, but Billy has evolved with the times, racing his well-known S-10, as well as a first-gen Camaro and third-gen Nova, in several no-prep events. He’s even tried his hand at drag and drive events, and will return to the scene of his first drag and drive, Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, with a new ride for 2026.

After a decade plus of racing multiple venues, including the popular Street Outlaws and No Prep Kings series, Jeff Lutz took an opportunity to get back to another chapter of street cars in his life in 2024, participating in his first drag and drive event in seven years at Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.

In the two years since that return to first drag and drive, the iconic ’69 Camaro known as ‘Mad Max’ has lived up to its name, returning some solid runs, but also leaving Jeff frustrated at times.

As before, he finds himself busy with plenty of work and projects, but ready to start the season at Sick Week, with some goals to accomplish, in what could be his final ride.

At Sick The Magazine, we’re all about reporting the latest happenings, giving you detailed event coverage, and celebrating the people and their accomplishments in drag and drive.

But with drag and drive history crossing the two-decade mark since it officially started in 2005, we’re also about recognizing the performances that have gotten us to this point. Last week, we celebrated the twenty-two drivers that have achieved a 6-second average. Now we’re jumping into the 7-second range for averages.

Just over six months after Brett LaSala captured his first drag and drive victory at the 2024 edition of Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, news broke that his 2012 Mustang known as ‘Snot Rocket 2.0’ had been sold.

The Modified class winning average of 6.34 ranks amongst the top ten averages of all time, and it came as an overall victory for LaSala as well.

Anyone that thought the new ‘Snot Rocket 3.0’ might take a while to get ironed out, LaSala eliminated those doubts at Sick Week in 2025, clocking an improved 6.24 average for the week, and a 6.07 at 236 mph run on the final day, the second quickest run ever in the drag and drive community.

That would be just the start of a storied year for LaSala in 2025, and he’s gearing up for 2026 with plans for Sick Week again.

As the drag and drive community continues to expand and evolve, we can’t help but look at the results and wonder just how far we’ve come since the first Hot Rod Drag Week in 2005. It took ten years before there were two drag and drive events, and in 2025, over fifty events were scheduled!

At Sick The Magazine, we’re all about celebrating the people and their accomplishments in drag and drive, and we felt it was time to go to the next step in recognizing performances over the two-plus decades of drag and drive history. We'll recognize one of the 5 / 6 / 7 / 8-second sections each week leading up to Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, and we're starting with the quickest group: 6-second averages!

A lot of us likely dreamed of doing things with cars when we were kids. Whether it was with a family member, or participating with friends, some of us get a chance to carve a little time of each year to experience the fun, and extended family, that the car community can bring.

For Tom Gunner (a.k.a. Jimmy Dale), his 2025 season was a reflection of a lot of hard work to drive race cars as much as possible. His infectious smile was only matched by the enthusiasm he and good friend Michael Poland share in bringing the popular Lil Gangstas class to many an event.

His 2025 also included his first chance behind the wheel of a car during a drag and drive, when Mike Finnegan tossed him the keys to the popular Datsun 240 known as the ‘Rotsun’ for the Edelbrock Sick Smokies event. The impression it left confirmed to Jimmy Dale that he wanted to attend another Sick event in 2026, and he will do so at Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.

Mike Finnegan has been around racing in multiple forms in his personal and professional life. In the drag and drive community, Finnegan has experienced a few different roles, from a pit reporter to competitor.

After experiencing various forms of success, mostly behind the wheel of his 1955 Chevrolet gasser known as ‘Blasphemi’, Finnegan is gearing up for the 2026 edition of Sick Week with a new vehicle build, a twin turbo 1961 Cadillac, and is determined to make it to the event.

Although the popular Street Race / Limited Street classes were not originally designed to be index-limited classes, the competition pushing performances to the edge of the 8.50-second roll cage limits has made them into some of the toughest classes to compete in.

It’s not unheard of to see car counts north of 30-50 competitors, and twice in Hot Rod Drag Week event history, a competitor has clocked all 8.50-second runs during the week. And although Eric Burroughs and his Monte Carlo are not strangers to the Sick Summer event, 2026 will mark the first time he’ll dive into the thick of the Street Race class competition at a Sick The Mag event.

There’s a new name in motorsport event services, set to bring professionalism and passion to tracks and series around the globe: Sick Prep.

Led by experienced track specialist Thomas Bemis, Sick Prep will be offering a range of services covering the event management spectrum including track surface preparation, track equipment sales, track safety, race directing, event staffing, ticketing and more. 

From humble beginnings, Sick has evolved into a motorsports phenomenon. Whether it’s the industry-leading print magazine, the ever-expanding range of events, or now motorsport event services, Sick has innovated and brought new energy to the automotive world and beyond.

The 2026 edition of the PRI Show will see some massive announcements from the Sick Team, and we’re outlining

The Performance and Racing Industry (PRI) Show celebrates the racing and performance industries by bringing enthusiasts together in Indianapolis for three days to check out the latest and greatest parts and services.

Bringing together enthusiasts is something Sick The Magazine has done with our print magazine and events since 2021, and for 2025, we will host Sick Kart Kaos for the fourth year. Using Fastimes Indoor Karting on December 11th, Sick The Mag will host one of the fastest gatherings during the PRI Show, and one of the eight teams is the Edelbrock group.

It started as an idea in 2022, and over the first three years of the Sick Kart Kaos event, the competition has continued to evolve and intensify. 2025 promises to be more of the same, as December 11th will bring eight teams together to duke it out with 32 drivers.

Held on the first night of the Performance and Racing Industry (PRI) Show, Sick Kart Kaos brings together teams of Sick The Mag's sponsors and partners. The 2025 edition will bring more drivers than ever before, and several teams look to play that to their advantage.

XS Power Batteries first joined the Sick The Magazine sponsor row in 2024 at Sick Week, and at last year’s Kart Kaos, the XS Power Batteries team grabbed a second-place finish, with familiar face Remy Viator as a part of it.