We’ve Got a Winner - Sick The Magazine’s 9th Giveaway Vehicle, a ’65 Pontiac GTO, Gets A Lucky New Owner for Drag and Drive Fun!
At Sick The Magazine, we’ve given away some pretty epic rides! Eight different cars and trucks have gone to new homes, and we’ve even seen them at our events with the new owners enjoying them!
But our ninth giveaway car could be the most epic – this drag and drive ready ’65 Pontiac GTO - and it has a brand-new owner!
If you missed out on an earlier Sick The Mag event this year, our next event - Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, is almost here - August 10-17th, 2025!! A week in the great state of Michigan, featuring over 1,000 street miles and four race tracks - PLUS a visit to Woodward Dream Cruise! Don’t miss out on your chance to join us - CLICK HERE for more info on Sick Michigan Miles!!
After taking possession of the GTO, Tom Bailey of Sick The Mag said his mission was to give it away as a drag and drive proven 10-second ride. “When I saw this GTO online, it spoke to me,” said Tom. “And we are going to iron it out, so the winner will get a cool ride, ready for street driving and drag strip action.”
Packing a potent small block Chevrolet engine with a good helping of nitrous, the GTO got tested, refined, then exercised again. It delivered its best performances at our Sick On The Green event, doing some solid wheelstands in the process.
With the car all lined out and ready, the lucky winner has been chosen: Crystal Jackson!! She saw the GTO and purchased merch that got her name drawn during our visit to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for the Cleetus and Cars Indy 800.
Wanting to win it for her dad who once owned a GTO, Crystal came to Michigan with her dad to pick up the keys for the GTO, plus five thousand dollars in cash!
The Pontiac GTO marks our ninth giveaway vehicle in just over two and-a-half years; let’s take a look back at our first eight giveaways!
A supercharged Chevrolet Tahoe started our giveaways back in early 2023. The former cop car got spiced up by Sick The Mag team with an Edelbrock supercharger, 20-inch wheels with Mickey Thompson wheels, and a cool Sick the Mag wrap. Rick from Salt Lake City, Utah, purchased a Sick embroidered hoodie and hat, and got the winning ticket.
Our second ride brought drag and drive fully into the picture, when we purchased a black and white 1957 Chevrolet Gasser wagon. Acquired as a bracket car that came with a “shouldn’t see road miles” warning, Sick The Mag revamped it and decided to prove it could be streetable and reliable. It completed our 2023 Sick Summer event, and we brought it out west for winner Jason DeFelice, who is enjoying it as delivered, as “all the paint, stickers and wear give it a personality.”
The third ride to hit the giveaway list was a patina’d 1973 Chevrolet dually pick-up. With a big block engine, 700-R4 overdrive transmission, an air-ride suspension with 22-inch Alcoa wheels, it proved to be the perfect cruiser for Paul Maigler from Rhode Island, the contest winner. He’s brought it to Sick Week and Sick At The Rock in 2025, and said he might join us for another event this year as well!
You might not think a 1984 Pontiac Fiero would be such an important giveaway car, but it was for Mary from Chicago. She purchased spectator tickets online to our Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks event, and the Chicago resident would get our fourth giveaway car. For Mary, the Pontiac was a duplicate to a car she once passed on from her father as a possible first car, and she continues to enjoy it.
For the fifth giveaway, we scored a right-hand drive Holden Ute, and in traditional Aussie style, Tom Bailey verified it did awesome burnouts for our initial announcement. The Ute completed Sick Summer with the Sick crew, and ended up going to Jacob Sperling, who purchased merch from us at Sick Summer to get the winning entry. He plans to upgrade the car and bring it back to Sick Summer again.
Our sixth giveaway was the drag and drive-proven ‘Plan II’ Chevy II, that Jim Forbes built and competed in several drag-and-drives with, including our Death Week event in 2023. The 9-second supercharged Chevy would return west, as the lucky winner, Robert Jacobson, picked it up in Michigan, and drove it all the way home to California!
We kept the focus on drag and drive hot rods for our seventh giveaway, with a cool ’52 Nash Delivery announced at the start of our Sick 66 event in 2024. Subscriber Gregg Hamby, who also bought merch during the giveaway, picked up the ride at Sick Week this year, and plans to compete in the 2026 edition of Sick Week.
Tom dug into his own collection for our eighth giveaway, a rare ’69 Camaro Indy Pace Car. One of the 3,675 Camaro Indy Pace convertible models originally built, Sick Week competitor and subscriber Richard Maguire would become the lucky winner, and he plans to enjoy the ride for cruising and local car shows.
Thanks to everyone that supports us by being a subscriber to Sick The Magazine’s print magazine, purchasing merchandise, or attending our events!
Keep in mind - all existing print magazine subscribers get entries for each and every vehicle giveaway we do, FREE OF CHARGE!!
Also, every vehicle we give away - that car comes with a free Sick Ward entry to any of our events, FOR LIFE! We want to see those rides getting out and being enjoyed, and hopefully this is one way to encourage it!
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com