Following a successful first year in 2024, the Drop The Hammer event would gain a second showing in the drag and drive world for the 2025 season.

The first event of 2025 would start at Mid Michigan Motorplex, with competitors completing day one at a track that celebrates 70 years of drag racing this year, before hopping on the streets of Michigan to drive from Stanton to Lapeer, Michigan for day two of racing action.

For the final day, participants would return to Stanton, Michigan, completing just over 270 street miles, and the chance to lay claim to a top three finish in the four classes.

Right as the drag and drive calendar starts to get busy in late May, we’re rolling out the red carpet at Beech Bend Raceway Park for day one of Sick On The Green!

Thursday testing brought the thrills and chills, and we’re not just talking about the roller coaster on property!

After a solid showing at Sick At The Rock, our new Sick Street Car Challenge class is back in Kentucky, with over 30 categories and a purse of more than $30K up for grabs. We’re also adding the popular ‘Lil Gangsta’s class and Street Eliminator 10.10 class, bringing the total to 9 classes offered at this event!

There’s something to be said about striving to do your best, and coming up just a little shy of the top spot. It can make you dig deeper, work harder, and strive for the top spot a little bit more.

Most competitors would likely be happy with a pair of top three finishes at Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, but Jeremy Ortiz plans to roll in prepared better than ever this year.

Since his first Sick Summer, Ortiz has captured multiple wins at various events and tracks. His most recent victories came in Extreme Radials at Muncie Dragway, then Ortiz followed it up at Street Car Braggin Rights (SCBR), where he scored the SCBR Shootout Wild class accolades.

Now, with his Nissan 240 sporting a single turbo LS swap seemingly on rails, Ortiz turns his focus to this week’s Sick On The Green event at Beech Bend Raceway Park. Then two weeks later, he will return to Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks in hopes of securing a Street Race 275 class victory.

Steve Rzewnicki joined a group of enthusiasts from Streetcar Shenanigans Performance for his first drag and drive event, the Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks.

He not only completed his first event, but did so in a car that carries a family history.

“We had so much fun,” said Rzewnicki. “We had a whole team of cars from Streetcar Shenanigans Performance, and I can't wait to do it again.”

Although it wasn’t his first drag and drive, the Sick Death Week event in October of 2023 ratcheted the legacy of Rajveer Ahuja to the next level. Making thousands of road miles to be a part of most events he participates in, Ahuja will return to the states for a double dose of drag and drive action when he hits Sick On The Green, followed two weeks later with Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks.

“Being able to enjoy the car, and the best part (of a drag and drive event) is meeting like-minded crazy people and getting to hang out with them,” Rajveer Ahuja admitted. “It is like a big family reunion. I mostly enjoy catching up and hanging out with new and old friends, besides the mandatory tacos and burnouts. That’s what drag and drive is really all about.”

Once a year, the National Hot Rod Association visits Joliet, Illinois and Route 66 Raceway for their Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance.

Part of this event is the PEAK Street Car Shootout, showcasing some of the quickest rides in the drag and drive community, and for the third year in 2025, eight contestants rolled into Illinois to determine the champion.

Leading the eight rides would be the defending champion Schroder-Ens team, with David Schroeder at the wheel of the nitrous-fed C7 Corvette. 2023 event winner Bryant Goldstone returned at the wheel of his ’73 AMC Javelin, looking for a second title in three years.

The remaining six spots included Tom Bailey with the ‘Sick Seconds 2.0’ 1969 Camaro, Craig Groebner and his twin-turbo ’71 Chevrolet Nova, Alex Taylor’s ’55 Chevrolet, the ’82 Camaro of Nick Taylor, Tom McGilton and his 2013 Camaro, and the lone naturally-aspirated ride, the ’85 Ford Mustang of Ed Ensor.

We’re less than three weeks away from Sick On The Green, May 29th through the 31st, 2025 at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Kentucky.

With the popular Lil Gangsta’s class with two separate days to win thousands of dollars, the Sick Street Car Challenge with over $30K up for grabs, plus seven more classes on the docket, who will take home their share of over $60K in payouts?

In addition to the six classes inspired by the former National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) and National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) series, we’re adding the popular Lil Gangsta’s 5.30 No-Time class, the Sick Street Car Challenge, and a Stick Shift class Presented by Tremec Transmissions, to the line up in Kentucky!

Sick The Magazine is proud to announce that Sick Week has captured the USA Today 10Best “Best Motorsports Race in the United States” title for the 2nd straight year!

“This honor is not mine, or ours at Sick The Mag,” said Tom Bailey, founder of Sick The Magazine. “It’s the entire community that has supported us since day one of Sick The Magazine.

From our first issue to the latest one, the subscribers, the competitors and all the fans made this possible. Whether you come to an event or watch online, wear our merch, tell us how much you enjoy participating in an event. This is why we are so passionate at Sick The Mag – It’s For The Adventure!”

When we saw Tyler Garlock at the first edition of the TBM Brakes Sick Summer event in 2023, his 1998 Ford Mustang grabbed our attention for the constant 8-second runs witnessed during the week in the Stick Shift class.

Fast forward a couple years, and Tyler has completed a new ride for local racing, as well as a return to drag and drive in 2026, and just like the Mustang, this clean Fairmont packs a few surprises.

After getting the drag and drive season started with Sick Week, it takes over a month before the next event is held.

Carolina Drag Cruise has been a staple in April, the month things start to ramp back up, and the North Carolina-based event would visit Shadyside Dragway and Union County Dragway over a four-day period.

Although they battled weather and a shortened schedule, the racing and street drives once again showcased some awesome rides, and we’ve got the details!

As a project he built from the ground up starting in 2012, Mike Finnegan might not have foreshadowed his 1955 Chevrolet could be a race car, let alone a drag and drive ride.

The car that employs an old-school HEMI powerplant, thus the name ‘Blasphemi’ from the engine swap, got its first use to do a 2,600-mile road trip from California to North Carolina for the start of Hot Rod Power Tour.

But just a few years later, Finnegan made the choice to jump from pit reporter and drag and drive enthusiast to competitor, and for his 2025 Sick Week adventure, he brings us along for a 5-part breakdown on YouTube.

There is a growing number of enthusiasts that prefer a manual transmission for their ride, and the racing community, as well as several events on the drag and drive calendar, have embraced this with a specific class.

Sick On The Green will join that list, as the 3-day event in Bowling Green, Kentucky will feature a Stick Shift class sponsored by Tremec Transmissions.

Tremec will also be onsite with their display trailer and several transmissions, as well as team members to discuss their products. “We are looking forward to being a part of Sick On The Green,” said Mike Kidd of Tremec. “Beech Bend Raceway Park is a great track, and I’m sure the competition will be exciting!”

Following the success of Sick At The Rock presented by Motion Raceworks, April 10-12th at Rockingham Dragway, Sick The Magazine will host our second smaller event, Sick On The Green, May 29th – 31st, 2025 at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Kentucky.

In addition to classes inspired by the former National Muscle Car Association / National Mustang Racers Association series, we will bring our new Sick Street Car Challenge class, as well as the popular Lil Gangsta’s 5.30 No-Time class, to Bowling Green, Kentucky!

This second Sick The Magazine smaller event of 2025 already boasts north of $60,000 in payouts, and following the results of our recently held event in North Carolina, we have high hopes for the Sick On The Green event. “We appreciate everyone that came out to Rockingham to be a part of Sick At The Rock,” said Tom Bailey. “We looked at results, listened to competitors, and made a few changes for our next event, Sick On The Green.”

With north of $50,000 on the line in payouts for the first Sick At The Rock Presented by Motion Raceworks, Rockingham Dragway saw some solid competition show up to battle in North Carolina. Despite the cool temperatures and losing a day on track to weather conditions, winners were determined on track before the clock struck midnight on Saturday April 12th.

Leading the headlines was the new Sick Street Challenge class, where Tom Bailey put up more than $30,000 for 32 categories. Originally designed to be a 2-day drag and drive, competitors would be required to turn in a minimum of one time slip from Friday and one from Saturday.

Because of late night Thursday showers, Friday’s racing was nixed. But the Sick Street Challenge class competitors would do the street drive and check point photos to cover half the requirements. Saturday featured four chances to make runs, with a competitor required to submit a pair of time slips for their average. Who walked away with their share of the $32K?

Sick The Magazine started our print magazine in 2021 as a way to cover and highlight the drag and drive lifestyle, cars and people.

Recently, our flagship event, Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, has been nominated by USA Today 10Best as a ‘Best Motorsports Race in the United States’ finalist.

“When we started the magazine in 2021, I knew an event would be the next step,” said Tom Bailey, founder of Sick The Magazine. “What I didn’t expect was how quickly Sick Week came to fruition, and the support of the community.”

“From the competitors that continue to amaze us with their performances, to the staff and volunteers that run the event, Sick Ward participants and the thousands of fans that come out to watch the action and cheer on their favorites, it means so much to so many.”

We’ve had an amazing response to our second ‘one-off’ event of 2025, Edelbrock Sick Smokies, being held October 12th through October 19th, 2025. It should be an amazing week of great racing and scenic drives, including the largest Gasser drag and drive showings ever!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 19th is your final chance to submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ form. Submitted ‘Expression of Interest’ forms get the jump on general registration to snag one of the coveted competitor spots by one hour (9 am versus 10 am).

Entries for the Summit Racing Equipment Sick Ward Presented by PEAK Performance are also available – we detail all the information in this story!

The 72nd annual Detroit Autorama in Michigan showcased hundreds of rides, including the ‘Great 8’ finalists for the coveted Ridler award. And although a lot of focus was on those beautiful rides, as well as the Ridler award winning ‘55 Chevrolet Nomad of Tom and Christy Bresnahan, there were a lot more awards given out, including the popular Drag and Drive category.

Drag and drive rides have to prove themselves on the track and the street, but the Detroit Autorama gave them a chance to do it under the lights at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan for a chance to claim an award. The familiar ’63 DIVCO Milk Truck of Nick Cryer, which was part of the Sick The Magazine display, scored the third-place finish in the category.

The recently completed Oldsmobile Cutlass of Steven Haefner would take a display spot in the Summit Racing Equipment booth, and by the end of the three-day show, Haefner collected a pair of awards, taking home first place in the Drag and Drive category, as well as Street Best Engine.

Several drag and drive events each year following the week-long format that Hot Rod Drag Week initiated in 2005. But we’ve seen a few events start to use the 2-3 day format, and Sick The Magazine’s will take that to the next level with our new Sick Street Car Challenge class at the Sick At The Rock event, April 10th - 12th, 2025 at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina.

“We have been trying to incorporate this into an event for a few years now,” Tom Bailey said of the new class. “Everyone we have mentioned it to has been all about it. Well, here it is - the Sick Street Car Challenge class!”

Registration to this two-day drag and drive format is now open to 200 lucky competitors, for a chance to collect their share of $32,000 in payouts. You don’t necessarily need to be the quickest overall either, as we have 32 different categories to award $1,000 in, and we’ve come up with some good ones to give every competitor a shot at some money.

The Sick Street Car Challenge, based on a two-day drag and drive format (Friday April 11th and Saturday April 12th), will compete on an eighth-mile distance. Street legal machines will battle for $32,000 in prize money across over two-dozen categories, with the ability to stack more than one category for huge payouts!

The 72nd Annual Detroit AutoRama in Michigan has showcased everything from race cars to street bikes, and for the 2025 edition of this massive indoor show, Sick The Magazine is displaying twelve of some cool and quick rides proven in drag and drive events.

But one of the main attractions at the Detroit AutoRama is the dozens of rides hoping for a ‘Great 8’ selection, and ultimately, the Ridler Award.

Since it was first presented at the Detroit AutoRama in 1964, the Ridler Award is one of the highest awards to be captured in the custom and hot rod car community. It is awarded annually from a group of vehicles selected as the ‘Great 8’ and these vehicles must fall under under strict “never been shown before” guidelines.

With Sick The Magazine getting our area set-up on Thursday, we had a chance to walk the show and check out some of the amazing rides. Below are some of the ones that caught our eye as possible ‘Great 8’ selection and could be the next Ridler Award winner.