Another ‘Pro Mod’ Entering the Unlimited class; Will Lon Tibbs New Ride Survive?
The 2022 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive brought a unique mix of cars and trucks to Florida to officially start the drag-and-drive season.
One that grabbed the eye of even 1320 Video cameras was Lon Tibbs, who entered the Unlimited class with a 1934 Ford roadster replica with a big block Chevrolet. In what appeared to be an ex-bracket car, the roadster clicked off 8.73 at 151 mph on day one, but didn’t survive to day three at Gainesville Raceway.
Fast forward one year, and Tibbs has gotten even more serious by entering Unlimited once again, but this time with an ex-‘Pro Mod’ entry. “It was a PDRA (Professional Drag Racers Association) Pro 632 class car,” said Tibbs, referring to the PDRA class that runs on a 632 cubic inch limit, uses one to two stages of nitrous as the power adder, and record times are in the low 4-seconds at 170+ mph in the eighth-mile.
Sick Week 2023 Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive will feature hundreds of America’s fastest street cars, racing and cruising through Florida and southern Georgia.
Sick Ward tickets / Individual day spectator tickets are available here.
The car started life as a 1953 Corvette body, but Tibbs felt like they looked a bit more like a “late 50s – early 60s Mercedes 300 SL.” Purchased in November of 2022, fellow Sick Week runner Mark Mannor picked up the car and stored it for Tibbs until he could get to Sticker Dude in Illinois to be wrapped to replicate a Mercedes.
After picking up the car in mid January 2023, Tibbs then got a recommendation to bring Schott Racecraft in Ohio onboard, and the car “went from full race car, to a roller, to a street car in fifteen days,” said Tibbs.
When Tibbs was unable to get the parts needed to complete his main engine in time for Sick Week, Ron Derekson from Northwest Auto Machine got him a complete engine in two weeks.
The car is now in Indiana where Austin Sheppard is do the finishing work, including wiring and plumbing.
“I started my first drag-and-drive in 2015 with Hot Rod Drag Week, and haven't missed one since,” said Tibbs. “The drag-and-drive community is family, and this car proves that. Everyone involved has sacrificed something for someone else!”
- Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of KWS Images and Sticker Dude.