It’s the 10-year anniversary of Australia’s longest-running and most prestigious drag-and-drive event, Street Machine Drag Challenge. Big high-fives to Scotty Taylor and Simon Telford and the rest of the Street Machine team as they set off this week for another five-day tour. I wish I could be there in person to help blow out the candles on the cake.  

I’ve been in mourning this week along with the rest of the drag-and-drive community after the deaths of my friends Harry Haig and Andrew Baumgartner. These two fine Australians lost their lives in a single-vehicle accident in rural Victoria just under a week ago. Another of our drag-and-drive brothers, AJ John, thankfully survived the wreck but is in hospital with extensive injuries. The first thing AJ said to me when we made contact in the days after was: “It still doesn’t feel real.” You took the words right out of my mouth, bud.  

The slowest car in drag-and-drive history was also one of the greatest. And not in any kind of ironic sense, either. You know how sometimes in competitive endeavors you get somebody who is so bad at a particular pursuit that they invariably make a name for themselves, like that kooky Australian breakdancer at the recent Olympics? Well, Jim Eby’s 1919 Franklin Series 9B Touring is a totally different story, and it’s a story that perfectly highlights the way drag-and-drive can challenge different people in different ways.

They say that travel broadens the mind. Drag-and-drive has certainly broadened mine. Through covering these events I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to all different parts of America, meet people from all different walks of life, and sample burgers from all different fast-food chains. And along the way I’ve been forced to reassess some of my previously held notions about this country and its people.

The name Andrew ‘Lynchy’ Lynch probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to most Americans. But down in his native Australia, Lynchy is a bonafide folk hero. Why? Because he does the sickest burnouts in a country where it’s virtually the national pastime.

A couple of months ago I tagged along with Tom and Aydan Bailey as they raced at the first-ever Drop The Hammer event in Michigan. It was an 1/8th-mile, three-day drag-and-drive deal. It started at US 131 Motorsports Park on Friday, moved to Mid Michigan Motorplex on Saturday, and returned to US 131 on Sunday.  

Next week is Street Week, Sweden’s annual seven-day drag-and-drive. It’s just like a regular drag-and-drive — only Swedish!

A week has passed since Motion Raceworks Sick Summer and my body has almost totally healed while my brain is making steady progress and should be back to forming whole thoughts very soon. Those checkpoint parties really took a toll! But I’m comforted by the words of the great philosopher Lucille Ball, who said: “I’d rather regret the things I have done than regret the things I haven’t done.” Sick Summer 2024 just raised the bar for drag-and-drive checkpoints, and I’m glad to have been amongst it.

When they announced the venues for Sick Summer 2024, I was most excited to see that we are heading back to Great Lakes Dragaway, Wisconsin. AKA Union Grove, it’s the coolest racetrack I’ve been to and it’s one of my “happy places”.

The Spring 2024 edition of Sick The Mag dropped in my mailbox this week in all its metallic bubble-wrapped glory, and I was bursting with pride to see that editor Luke had chosen to use one of my black and white film photos on the cover. It’s an honor I hardly felt worthy of.

Drag-and-drive’s best dive bars, as reviewed by Matt Reekie.

The naturally aspirated racers of drag-and-drive are at war - who will reign supreme?

This week I want to pay tribute to a group of people who make my job as a drag-and-drive videographer easier: my favorite interviewees. My beloved muses. My pet victims.

One time I picked the wrong time to stick a camera in Tom Bailey’s face. It was at Sick Week 2023. Bradenton. Day two. Around 3:12pm. Racing was winding down for the day and the Sick Seconds 2.0 Camaro was having all kinds of problems. Tom was in the pits getting ready to make a last-ditch lick. He was perched on a tire, putting on a pair of those little race booties that the fast guys wear, and there was trouble on his mind.

Rock Falls Block Party, remember the name. It was only announced last week but I can already sense that this event within the event will become a Sick Summer tradition that’ll run long into the future. Why? Because we’ve been workshopping this idea for years and it’s too good to fail.

We’ve just witnessed history. Last weekend, David and Aimee Gallimore became the first Americans to complete an Australian drag-and-drive event in their own vehicle. The intrepid explorers from Durham, North Carolina, accomplished the feat at the first-ever Hardass 1000 in an Australian-built Ford Falcon panel van powered by David’s beloved boosted Barra six. Lewis and Clarke, eat your hearts out!

By now you’ve probably seen the ‘Support Your Local Track’ T-shirt designed by Sick The Artist, Garrett Olsen. I love it. I bought one for every day of the week because you can never have too many black T-shirts and because the message is one that I care to spread.

Sourcing decent food during a drag-and-drive is fraught with trouble. That’s why the sketchy-looking Mexican joint with steel bars on the windows may be your best bet. I know that sounds counterintuitive, so let me explain...

Danny Grubaugh and Alex Brody are a couple of kindred spirits aged 17 years apart, and their friendship is a prime example of drag-and-drive’s propensity for bonding automotive adventurers together like J-B Weld.

Have the lunatics taken over the asylum? That would seem to be the case in Shepparton, Victoria, Australia, where Harry Haig is preparing to host his own drag-and-drive event, the Hardass 1000.