Car and racing friends can just take things to the next level. They might encourage you to spend money on a part or upgrade, but they will be right there to help you install it when the time comes.

For Eric Bennecker, a love of Pontiac vehicles, combined with three close friends, resulted in the building of this unique Pontiac station wagon Gasser. It will join over 70 more Gasser entries at next month’s Edelbrock Sick Smokies!

Bryant Goldstone brings a wealth of not only drag and drive experience, but as the owner of an automotive shop, the knowledge that sometimes cars, repairs and timelines don’t always work out 100-percent.

When Goldstone debuted his new 1953 Chevrolet Corvette at the Performance and Racing Industry (PRI) show last December, it brought a lot of discussion about competing for the top of the pack in drag and drive.

The drag and drive community has grown significantly since the first Hot Rod Drag Week in 2005, and every year, dozens of first-time participants join the community.

Unfortunately, we have some members depart the drag and drive community earlier than expected, and we’ve recently learned that multi-time winner Randall Reed has passed.

Reed first jumped into the drag and drive with an appearance at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2017, competing in the popular Street Race Small Block Power Adder class. Over seven years, Reed competed in nearly a dozen drag and drive events, scoring multiple wins.

Drag and drive events are a great way to enjoy your vehicle and see new race tracks, cruise routes and create new memories. When you add in doing a drag and drive with friends or family, that experience goes up a few notches.

For Erik Luttner, this 1971 Chevrolet Camaro has provided the medium for him to enjoy several drag and drive events, including some with his daughter Paige. Last year on Sick 66, they took Paige’s 1987 Chevrolet Corvette; this year on Sick Smokies, Erik’s Camaro will get the nod.

With nearly eight months and two-thirds of the 2025 drag and drive schedule in the rear view mirror, some competitors are getting some testing in for the final stretch of the year, while others are making changes and looking towards 2026.

A couple of drag and drive competitors recently visited Muncie Dragway and left with class wins, while a pair of station wagons found new personal bests tuning up for a Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive appearance in 2026.

When Brett LaSala revealed his new Mustang build from Moore Race Chassis, Snot Rocket 3.0, about a year ago, one of the talking points was the ability to take the new car further than Snot Rocket 2.0, which was sold just a month earlier.

In expanding on that outlook, LaSala discussed the ability to run the car in drag and drive events, as well as 28-inch tire classes at FL2K and World Cup events.

This year, LaSala also added the Limited Drag Radial heads-up class to his roster, and on his third event appearance in the class, LaSala scored a win!

The sheer magnitude of drag and drive continues to impress, and for 2025, Canada had five different events scheduled for the season. The fifth, and final one, would be Dragway Rush, an event with a unique two day, two track format.

Competitors would start on Friday, August 22nd at St. Thomas Dragway in St Thomas, Ontario, where racing would take place from 10 am until 2 pm. Competitors would pack up and hit the road to Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario, where the Friday evening session of racing would take place from 6 to 10 pm.   

Saturday, August 23rd brought competitors back for a second helping of racing at Grand Bend Motorplex, with on-track action from 10 am to 2 pm. Competitors then merely needed to set their sights on St. Thomas Dragway, earning the ‘completion’ checkmark as soon as they rolled through the gate.

You always remember your first time, and although Rick Steinke has done a lot of drag and drive events, he made sure to not miss the first time to do Route 66 at Sick The Mag’s Sick 66 event in 2024.

For 2025, the Steinke family will once again take Rick’s storied 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle 4-door known as ‘Honk If Parts Fall Off’ on a drag and drive, but this time it will be son Troy behind the wheel for Junior Street at the upcoming Sick Smokies Presented by Edelbrock Performance.

Two fan-favorite tracks have been added to the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule for 2026 — South Georgia Motorsports Park and Maryland International Raceway.

For the fourth year of the Cruise and Lose event, the event made a few changes from the previous events. The biggest move was the event being held in spring time to late summer, on the fourth weekend of August.

The event would put in play two of the three tracks used in 2024, with Kearney Raceway Park in Kearney, Nebraska as home base for Day One and Day Three activities, with a trip to I29 Dragway in Pacific Junction, Iowa for Day Two racing.

More than a dozen new drag and drive events have been announced or hosted in 2025, and this past weekend had two of them.

The I57 Drag and Drive, centered on a three-day format and based at Coles County Dragway USA in Charleston, Illinois, would do just over 330 miles on the street between Coles Cunty Dragway and I57 Dragstrip.

Originally scheduled to be two days of racing, Coles County jumped into the mix for Saturday, August 23rd, upping the fun to three days of racing.

A lot of the drag and drive community knows about Tom Bailey and his accomplishments in both the original ‘Sick Seconds’ ’69 Camaro, as well as the upgraded ’69 Camaro known as ‘Sick Seconds 2.0.’

But Tom’s son Aydan has been slowly ironing out his own ride, a 1957 Chevrolet station wagon that has competed in a handful of events since its debut at Sick Summer 2023. Just over two years after that first event, Aydan scored his first overall victory at the recent Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil.

To fully understand the success of Aydan’s recent win in Michigan, let’s take a trip back to the first Sick The Mag drag and drive event, Sick Week 2022 Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.

A little over two years ago, news hit about Sunflower Rod and Custom Association (SRCA) Dragstrip in Great Bend, Kansas closing for the season because of concerns about the recently constructed track surface. The concerns have led to the track not holding a race since April of 2023.

Just over a month ago, the popular Thunder Valley Raceway Park (TVRP) in Noble, Oklahoma would close their gates after the lease expressed tough times and monthly loses were too much to bear.

Recent news has hinted that both tracks are making strides to come back to racing soon, with construction under way at SRCA Dragstrip, and three events scheduled at TVRP.

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 Presented by Driven Racing Oil 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.

Sick The Magazine has given away nine vehicles in a little over two-and-a-half years, and we’re continuing to offer some desirable, and in some cases rare, rides for you to win!

In the past, we’ve tossed the keys to new owners on a variety of unique automobiles, with everything from a cool patina’d dually pick-up to a street and drag strip-ready Pontiac GTO.

But as we cross the mark into double digits for giveaway rides, we decided something that was not only rare, but proven on drag and drive events as well, would be the ticket for a vehicle giveaway.

Since the very beginning of the drag and drive event structure, change has been part of the plan. Each and every year, Hot Rod Drag Week has changed tracks, routes and in some cases, classes.

Since that first event in 2005, over 50 more drag and drive events have been created, and while some follow the same plan of changing tracks at a minimum each year, some have held true to the same tracks, to the appeal of the competitors and spectators alike.

Sick The Magazine started in mid-2021 with the first print magazine dedicated to the drag and drive community, and although most featured an event would follow at some point, Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2022 caught some by surprise.

Since then, we’ve added Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks as an annual event starting in 2023, and a one-off event each year as well.

2025 marked the opportunity for Sick The Magazine to showcase our home state of Michigan, and Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil was held over the last seven days.

After reaching the northern most point of the week at St. Ignace, then traveling over 280 miles south along the coastline on our Thursday, August 14th, we reached our fourth new track of the week at Ubly Dragway for racing action on Friday, August 15th.

Ubly Dragway first opened in 1963, and a solid crowd of enthusiasts came out to watch the rides that had survived nearly 900 miles to this point on Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil.

Two days of racing, and over 550 miles on the street completed by Wednesday night, August 13th, Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil moved into the first of two days without racing.

Thursday, August 14th would have the competitors, as well as Sick Ward participants, set to prove the streetability of their rides with over 280 miles to travel, mostly on State Road-23. We would get started at the final checkpoint of Wednesday, August 13th, Mackinac Grille & Patio Bar.

After Mother Nature spoiled our plans for racing at Mid-Michigan Motorplex on Tuesday, August 12th, Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil made its way north through Michigan to Kaleva and Northern Michigan Dragway.

Although we were greeted by some fog to start the morning, some great racing action took place. We witnessed some shuffling in the top ten, including a new leader, some personal bests, as well as some competitors making their case for not only a category title, but also the Pure Michigan Award.