The Fight to the Finish – Aydan Bailey Wheelies His Way to Overall Win on an Unpredictable Final Day of the Driven Racing Oil Sick Michigan Miles!
It was so good, we had to bring it back for a second helping – Sick Michigan Miles presented by Driven Racing Oil returned to the land of ten thousand lakes for an epic seven days in Michigan.
To keep things fresh, the Sick The Mag added a new track, new routes, and new checkpoints from the first edition of the event. The competitor list expanded to 223 entries on Day One, and after five days, a couple hundred rides returned to Mid Michigan Motorplex to say “we completed Sick Michigan Miles,” finalize their averages, and crown winners.
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After completing last year’s Michigan Miles, Chuck and Carrie Marlatt returned with their eyes on the prize for 2026. Leading the pack since Day Two, the ’85 Camaro rolled to the starting line in the first session hoping to secure the overall win, and the Quickest Big Block category win.
But instead, the car spun the tires and pulled to the wall just before the finish line. Once Marlatt was back to the pit area, the bad news was revealed of a broken axle. And although staging the car meant he completed the event, the carnage and a final 20-second time slip signaled the top spot would be up for grabs.
Aydan Bailey would be the first to stage after Marlatt’s run, and the ’57 Chevrolet wagon rattled the tires to a 5.57 at 139 mph. Jon Moore would be next in line, and the 4 x 4-style Crown Victoria laid down the quickest run of the first session, a 5.19 at just 117 mph.
With the top three spots up for grabs, Aydan Bailey, Jon Moore and Eric Bjerketvedt continued to come back around for pass after pass. And although his 5.44 run during the second session was enough to secure the overall win, Bailey wasn’t satisfied.
His third pass resulted in a big wheelie and a coasting 6-second pass, leading Bailey to nearly throw in the towel. But instead, the tune-up got tweaked, and Bailey returned for his fourth pass of the day, where the ‘Deuce Box’ ’57 Chevrolet delivered a 4.96 final run, giving him a 5.06 average, the ‘Quickest Chevrolet’ category title, and the overall win for the second year.
One of the first categories to be secured would be done by Tom Kuepper, as he guided his 1994 Ford F-150 pick-up to the ‘Quickest Ford/Lincoln/Mercury’ category win with a 5.40 average, nearly a quarter-second quicker than in 2025. It was also good enough for fourth place overall.
After clocking a slightly too-quick 5.347 pass, Kevin Partin made the most of his second run on the final day, locking down a 5.43 average and his second-straight Top 5 finish at Sick Michigan Miles. But this time, Partin also grabbed the ‘Quickest Small Block’ title in his turbocharged ’67 Nova.
The sixth spot overall went to multi-time Sick The Mag participant Joey Marshall, who delivered his best pass on the final day, a 5.55 at 129 mph, for a final average of 5.70 in his 2011 Ford Mustang.
Seventh would be scooped up by Darren Mayer in the Smokies Garage 2019 Dodge Demon, less than one hundredth of-a-second behind Marshall with a 5.71 average, while eighth found Andrew Hiestand with a 5.82 average in his 1979 Ford Fairmont.
The ninth spot overall would also be the ‘Quickest Mopar’ would be scored by Terry Keifer and his clean ’67 Barracuda thanks to a 5.84 average, and the Top Ten was rounded out by the flame-throwing 1923 Model T roadster of Zachary Blausey.
Blausey, who lit up the night sky during our Sick Town Hall block party after racing at Ubly Dragway, clocked his quickest run in Sick The Mag competition with a 5.79 at 119 mph on Day Six for a final average of 5.91. That was good enough for the ‘Quickest Hot Rod’ category win, as well as the first ‘Quickest Nostalgia’ category win.
To sort out the second and third spot, as well as the ‘Quickest Radial’ category winner, Moore made five runs on the final day, and Bjerketvedt made six. After all the numbers were sorted out, the Motion Raceworks Sick Summer class winner got the second overall spot, and the ‘Quickest Radial’ category award, as Bjerketvedt had a 5.36 average to the 5.38 average of Moore.
The ‘Quickest Stick Shift’ category was controlled from start-to-finish by William Philippan and his 2000 Chevrolet Corvette, which clocked a best of 5.89 at 123 mph on Day One, and an average of 6.04.
Douglas Whited had the ‘Quickest Pontiac’ of Sick Michigan Miles, using a 6.19 average for the top spot, and also a Top 20 average.
Just a few spots behind Whited would be Jay Grabiak, doing his first drag and drive in Michigan with his 1955 Chevrolet gasser. His 6.27 average would be good enough for the ‘Quickest Gasser’ title.
Michigan resident Josh Opfermann would add a second victory to his 2026 accolades, as the Speedfest DYO (Dial Your Own) winner collected the ‘Quickest Nitrous’ category with a 6.37 average.
A couple category battles went down to the last runs on the track. One of them was the ‘Quickest Naturally Aspirated’ title, with Don Gatlin leading Paul English by four thousandths of-a-second entering the final day.
Gatlin delivered a 6.31 pass right out of the gate, and although English had run a 6.25 earlier in the event, the Dodge Super Bee delivered a best of 6.38 on the final day, putting the final averages at 6.33 for Gatlin, and 6.35 for English, giving Gatlin the victory.
The ’69 Chevelle of Joseph Guinta gets a lot of attention with the Pro Street stance, as well as a supercharged big block Chevrolet. A 6.61 average would also get attention, as Guinta captured the top spot in the ‘Quickest Big Block’ category.
The Junior Street category had four competitors this year, and entering the final day, the top three were separated by just over one hundredth of-a-second. Harrison Hurst came into the final day with the lead, and after a few runs, scored his first win in his newly acquired Ford Mustang over Cooper Lawson with a twenty-two thousandths of-a-second spread.
The diesel-based category would double in size from 2025, but defending ‘Quickest Diesel’ winner Dustin West would once again hold true for the top spot, a 6.69 average doing the trick.
The ‘Quickest 4 Cylinder’ would be Adam Helmer, who survived the cooler temperatures and rain in his 2022 Goblin for an 8.22 average.
We’ve seen Steve McNair’s turbocharged Cadillac ATS-V on several events, and in Michigan, he was king of the heap in the ‘Quickest 6 Cylinder’ with a 7.39 average.
The Motorcycle categories would be a father and son affair, with Jim Clarke’s 7.01 average standing tall for the ‘Quickest Motorcycle 1000+ cc category.’ Son Sean Clarke locked up the ‘Quickest Motorcycle V-Twin’ category with a 7.05 average.
The ‘Quickest Oldsmobile’ and ‘Quickest Buick’ came down to one driver surviving the week, and it would be Christopher Weingartz’s 7.081 average collecting the hardware in the Quickest Oldsmobile category, while the ’87 Grand Nation of Harry Ullich was the best Buick with an 8.22 average.
Antonio Batista was the best of the Beetles, picking up the ‘Quickest Battle’ win with a 10.34 average, while William Reardon III went home with the ‘Quickest AMC’ in his 1969 AMC Rambler.
Finally, the second Sick The Magazine blue helmet for the ‘Spirit of Michigan Miles’ winner. The winner would be first-time drag and drive participant Jenny Kruse, who started the event without a single run down the drag strip, but ended with a ton of memories from a week with father Rick.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Chuck Marlatt.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com