A Tale of Two Sick Weeks – Shawn Fink Reflects, Plans For Redemption and 6-Second Passes at 2024 Edition of Sick Week
With his first drag-and-drive experience over a decade ago, it’s fair to say Shawn Fink is an enthusiast of the unique blend of proving a street car’s abilities.
Although he became known for his unique 1963 Chevy Nova station wagon, a car that first competed on Hot Rod Drag Week in 2012, Shawn decided to step up his game, bringing a purpose-built 1955 Chevrolet to the game at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2022.
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The debut of that car couldn’t have gone much better. Shawn was able to clock his first 6-second pass, a 6.95 at 204 mph on day three at Gainesville Raceway, in route to a 7.10 average and the class win in Unlimited Iron.
One year later, and we didn’t even see the ’55 Chevy on day one. “I live in almost 5500 feet of altitude, so our air sucks,” said Shawn. “We tested in Bandimere as well as Las Vegas, and the converter I had done worked good at altitude.
But when we went to Florida, that same converter was way too loose. We only ran the car at 30 pounds of boost in 2022. Anything above that and it would slip more and not run any faster.”
“Following Sick Week last year, I had Joe at ProTorque build me a new converter, and it immediately made a difference,” Shawn admitted. “We ran 4.28 at 176 mph to the eighth-mile, lifting 3.3-seconds into the run. I figured we were good, the car had survived Sick Week 2022, so I made no other changes other than a new set of tires for 2023.”
Rolling southeast early to test the changes, Shawn was immediately greeted with issues off the trailer, when the car decided to go left. “I was confused, but decided a little rear steer would help,” said Shawn. That wasn’t the only problem he experienced, as the ’55 Chevy also shook the tires, on nearly each and every test hit he made.
After fifteen runs and still not getting a clean run, Shawn was at a loss of what to do next. “On the third to last pass, I’m under the car and thinking about why the car is doing this and what did we change to make it be so uncooperative,” said Shawn.
After exhausting the options, the discussion turned to the new rear tires, and Shawn now wondered if they were the culprit. “I pulled them off and measured the circumference, and the right side was an inch bigger on the circumference,” Shawn admitted. “It was my fault; I usually check that but didn’t.”
Down, but not out, Shawn looked for alternatives. “I knew Bryant Goldstone was testing, and I asked if he had a spare set of tires,” Shawn said. The request got a thumbs-up, so Shawn picked those up in an effort to get back on track and make some good laps.
“We took all the rear steer out of the car, put things back to the way they were for set-up, and made a couple short check up laps to the 330 foot mark to verify everything was solid,” said Shawn. But after lap seventeen, the drive back to the pits produced a noisy ride. “My friend Brian told me it was lack of sleep and frustration probably playing tricks on me, so we got it turned around and ready for the next lap.” It would be his last.
“It was on a heater, and just before the eighth-mile mark it sounded like a bomb went off under the car,” said Shawn. Turned out the 9-inch rear end had the center section turn into a lot of small pieces, locking up the rear end.
Things turned from bad to worse when towing the car on skates off the race track, as a bump caused the skates to jamb up in the quarter panels, cutting the tires and causing even more damage to the ’55 Chevy. “I looked at my son and told him we are done,” said Shawn. But after a chance to reflect, Shawn decided to not give up quite yet.
“When I made that call, I decided I wasn’t going to just throw in the towel,” said Shawn. “The drag-and-drive isn’t just about the racing; Sick Week drives were great, and I figured we could still try and complete the week.” So they decided to jump into Shawn’s clean 1966 Chevrolet Suburban, and they enjoyed the Florida and Georgia drives to finish the event off.
“I basically took the rest of 2023 off from racing and drag-and-drive. I put the ’55 Chevy in time out,” Shawn laughed. “It was my fault, and when I finally wadded up the two quarter panels, after breaking two transmissions and two pairs of slicks, I decided to just take the Suburban instead.”
Nearly one year later, Shawn, who owns and operates Prodigy Motorsports in Wyoming, has the ’55 Chevy ready to go for a third shot at Sick Week. “Everything has been fixed, and we plan to go down to Florida to test after Christmas.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Motion Raceworks and Shawn Fink.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com