A nine-year-old Hot Rod Drag Week record is under threat following another solid day of competition at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA.

Day two of Hot Rod Drag Week took over Numidia Dragway in Pennsylvania, with mixed fortunes on the track as the event unfolded.

The 2025 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week is off and running with big moves and surprising moments galore on day one at Maryland International Raceway.

With over 70 Gassers currently signed registered for Edelbrock Sick Smokies coming up October 12th through the 19th, 2025, a good chunk of them have cool back stories, even if it will be the competitor’s first drag and drive event.

This ’63 Studebaker Lark carries a good bit of racing history, and owner Jeff Sixt does have a good bit of drag and drive experience. Sick Smokies will mark the first event Sixt and the car he calls ‘Stu Debaker’ will embark on the adventure of an event that involves street drives and drag racing, and he is excited about it.

Jeff Lutz led testing results for Hot Rod Drag Week 2025 with a flying 5.91 at just 222 mph on Sunday at Maryland International Raceway.

The Ford Thunderbird debuted as a 1955 model, just two years after Chevrolet 2-seater Corvette first hit. Combining some cool features, including style, comfort and speed, including a factory supercharged engine option in 1957, the T-bird was a hit with over 16,000 sold the first year.

Hard to imagine that one of those models, this green 1955 example owned by Dan Wiechowski, was sitting under a tree. Pushed aside by at least three owners for other priorities, Wiechowski saw it on social media, rescued it, and will embark on his first drag and drive with it at Edelbrock Sick Smokies next month!

Following their successful MEGAWEEK Presented by Sick The Magazine with over 500 competitors, Rocky Mountain Race Week hosted their second different event of 2025 - Rocky Mountain Race Weekend, September 5th through the 7th.

With a slightly different format than event's week-long format, the Rocky Mountain Race Weekend event centered around Pueblo Motorsports Park.

Two days of racing would compile the averages, and two separate cruises would be held from the track. Sunday would bring the traditional Rocky Mountain Race Week Shootout, with additional titles on the line for competitors.

Edelbrock Sick Smokies will bring Gassers, hot rods, and nostalgia vibes to the mountains, but one car on the starting line will carry more history than most: Casey Geeslin’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.

Fan-favorite Gasser racer Mike Finnegan will be shooting for victory alongside 70 more street-legal Gassers at Edelbrock Sick Smokies, dragging and driving across Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia from October 12 to 19, 2025.

Following a solid first year of the Drop The Hammer event, Michigan native and drag and drive competitor Carl Stancell III expanded the brand to two events in 2025, the first one staying in his home state of Michigan in the month of May.

The second Drop The Hammer event of 2025 invaded North Carolina this past weekend, for three days of racing between Farmington Dragway and Galot Motorsports Park, combined with a 300-mile road trip between the two.

First, we released the the big news about Sick Wildcards on April 2nd; now it's time for the next huge announcement for Sick Week 2026 Presented By Gear Vendors Overdrive: Sick Bounties.

We’re going to put up some big money to incentivize racers to break records at Sick Week across a number of classes we think are going to tear it up next year!

Here’s the catch — the records have to be broken at our Sick Week event. If the record falls at another drag-and-drive event before Sick Week, the bounty evaporates (runs during testing or a 'traditional' race event are fine).

On almost every drag and drive event we cover, there’s at least one vehicle with interesting stats, a cool back story, or some cool modifications that draws you in.

It stands as a good reminder that being interested in the car hobby is a blast, and that’s before we get to the racing and cruising together part!

The Ford Lightning pick-up truck that is the subject of this article, owned by Jason Long, has served numerous purposes over a two-plus decade ownership, and will serve as the key to his first drag and drive event appearance at the Edelbrock Sick Smokies next month.

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.