Bryan Anders and His Unique Chevette Preparing for His Eighth Drag-and-Drive Event

If the bright orange color of Bryan Anders’s 1977 Chevrolet Chevette doesn’t grab your attention, the wheelstands should! A veteran bracket racer, Anders has competed in a slew of drag-and-drive events.

From Hot Rod Drag Week to Midwest Drags and Rocky Mountain Race Week, Anders has competed in them all, and is getting prepared for his second appearance at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.

The short wheelbase Chevette known as “Short Bus” made its first drag-and-drive appearance on the 2019 Midwest Drags, a four-day event over three different race tracks.

Bryan then participated in Hot Rod Drag Week, and was greeted with some big differences. “On day three at Atco Dragway, the starter kicked back and took 8 teeth off the flex plate,” said Bryan. “I had to let it run in the staging lanes for over an hour trying to just make a pass.” He returned to the pits to pull the transmission to make the necessary fixes before hitting the road.

“Looking back, that was the best day of the week,” Bryan admitted. “I had a lot of fun and it changed me forever. That day is when I realized it should be fun and not work, so at the check points it’s time to hang out, not just snap a picture and leave.”

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Bryan picked up his first drag-and-drive win in the Ultimate Iron class at the 2021 Midwest Drags, and backed that up with another Ultimate Iron class at Hot Rod Drag Week a few months later.

When Bryan completed in the first Sick Week event last season, he opted to run the newly-formed Dial Your Own (DYO) class.

Running a best of 8.98 and a slowest of 9.04 gave Bryan a .06 of-a-second spread in time slips, giving him the second spot in the Pro DYO class.

For 2023, Bryan hopes to improve his performance to run 8-second passes at every track. After taking his 77-year-old friend Mike Goode along for the ride at the 2022 Sick Week, Mike will be driving his own car and trailer this year, and Bryan is looking forward to making more memories at Sick Week.

“I’m looking forward to seeing all the friends I’ve made,” said Bryan. “Last year was great, and I’m looking forward to it again.”

Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of KWS Images and Motion Raceworks.