Following an Eventful Sick Michigan Miles, Tom Kuepper Continues to Set New Personal Bests During a Test Session at Great Lakes Dragaway
Since the first Sick Summer event in 2023, Tom Kuepper has made an appearance with his former farm truck, a 1994 Ford F-150, on our yearly visit to Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin in June.
Tom missed out on bringing his truck to this year’s Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, but made up for it with a solid week on the recent Sick Michigan Miles event. And based on last night’s results at a Great Lakes Dragaway test and tune, Tom isn’t done finding new levels of performance from his pick-up.
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After averaging in the 10-second range during his first two Sick Summer appearances, Tom clocked an 8.94 at 152 mph run in late 2024. “It’s not fun to turn the truck back down to 10.0s,” Kuepper laughed, noting it would spur him to make a lot of changes to the truck.
We covered those changes in a recent Sick The Mag article (CLICK HERE TO READ IT), and although he got close to being ready, the truck could not compete on the 2025 edition of Sick Summer.
So, Tom, along with co-pilot and father Jack, turned their focus to finishing up the truck for our ‘one-off’ Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil event. Despite having the truck together and operational for less than a month, Tom would see solid performances and record best passes from the twin-turbo 438 cubic inch small block Ford combination.
Tom reset his own personal best eighth-miles performance four times at three different race tracks during the event, capping off with a couple big wheelstands, and a best pass of 5.43 at 125 mph at Darana Dragway in Milan on the final day. This earned Tom the overall sixth spot with a 5.64 average, as well as the win in the Quickest Ford category.
Despite a new personal best pass, Tom knew his time with the truck was about to be cut short, as he will be spending nine months in training with the Army National Guard as a Blackhawk mechanic. So, when the opportunity for a test and tune with the truck came up last night, he made the drive to Great Lakes Dragaway.
It didn’t take long to reset his new personal best for a quarter-mile time, with an 8.70 at 154 mph hitting the scoreboard. But the wheelstands we saw during Sick Michigan Miles also made a return, giving Tom an additional hurdle to lowering his elapsed times.
Just three hours after his initial 8.70 run, Tom made his best run of the evening, an 8.38 at 159 mph, with a 5.34 at 130 mph eighth-mile clocking, and a 1.28 60 foot time. Another large wheelstand resulted in a bent rear license plate, and Tom would have to settle for the 8.38 as his best pass of the evening.
“With my upcoming Army National Guard training starting in September, I don’t know what my drag and drive plans are for 2026,” said Tom. “I’d love to attend Sick Week next year, but I won’t be able to. Might be able to do Sick Summer, or maybe the ‘one-off’ Sick event, depending on where and when it will be.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Mr. Fabulous Photography and Tom Kuepper.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com