Chasing Perfection – Clocking the Perfect Pass in Hot Rod Drag Week, Rocky Mountain Race Week, Sick Week and Sick Summer 8.50-Second Limited Classes
If you’re a fan of drag-and-drive events, you’ve likely witnessed or heard about certain classes that are limited based on elapsed times due to a variety of factors.
Although Hot Rod Drag Week didn’t start out with the intention of making their Street Race classes into an index-based competition, that’s become the norm. And the competition to run that 8.500 perfect pass is heating up.
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Before we dive into who has accomplished the perfect pass, let’s take a step back in time to the 2012 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week. The Street Race class had been contested as part of Hot Rod Drag Week since the second year of the event, 2006.
Separated into four classes, the Street Race category was based around a small tire, stock suspension ride (with an exception for some Pro Touring, handling-style muscle cars with Corvette clips, truck-arm rear suspension, or Art Morrison-type G-Machine frames that were considered at the discretion of the race director).
The classes within the “Street Race” category were Street Race Small Block Naturally Aspirated, Street Race Big Block Naturally Aspirated, Street Race Small Block Power Adder, and Street Race Big Block Power Adder.
In 2012, Hot Rod Drag Week added three new classes, Super Street Small Block Naturally Aspirated, Super Street Big Block Naturally Aspirated, and Super Street Power Adder.
The new class was defined as: “Super Street is for small-tire cars with fewer restrictions than Street Race, but retaining stock concept rear suspension. Vehicles in Super Street must have modifications that prevent them from running in Street Race.”
To further separate Super Street from Street Race, the rules for Street Race would include a bullet point under the ‘Chassis’ section stating: “May not use a roll cage design that includes the use of a Funny Car–type protective structure around the driver.”
Because of the absence of a ‘Funny Car–type protective structure’ car would be limited to the elapsed time spec of a standard roll cage, which is normally 8.50-seconds.
When Rocky Mountain Race Week appeared in 2015, their Limited Street class merely called out the 8.50 elapsed time limitation without mentioning any roll cage restrictions.
Sick Week and Sick Summer events followed the same path, and thus all five events unofficially give competitors a mission: ‘Let’s see how close you can run to an 8.500 pass each day.’
In the pursuit of that perfect 8.500 run, there have been hundreds of 8.49x-second runs, met with distain, anger, and even tears of emotion from competitors and their supporters. So close, but yet a pass too-quick for the rules can’t be turned in.
There have also been hundreds of 8.50X runs that don’t a magical zero in the thousandths of-a-second mark on the time slip. So, to accomplish a perfect run, is something of a ‘feather in the cap’ accomplishment.
It took seven years after the 2012 change to the Hot Rod Drag Week Street Race classes before the very first 8.500 pass was produced.
But in the last two and-a-half years, it’s become more frequent, happening eight times to eight different drivers, one of which had previously accomplished the feat.
With the increased level of competition and more drivers hitting the mark, here are the ten drag-and-drive competitors that have clocked a perfect 8.500 run in a Street Race – Limited Street – 275 Street Race – Sick Street Race class.
1. Rick Steinke – ‘67 Chevrolet Chevelle – Street Race Small Block Power Adder
The first competitor to accomplish the perfect 8.500 run has been a staple in the drag-and-drive community for a while. Rick Steinke clocked the run at the 2019 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week with his ’67 Chevelle known as ‘Honk if Parts Fall Off.’
The turbocharged small block did the deed on day two that week, and to make it a bit more impressive, he did after four attempts to make a solid pass. “I went 8.441, then spun, then an 8.491, and then spun again,” said Steinke. But the 8.500 didn’t come on a full throttle pass. “It left on a mission, and when the tires landed my brain went into math mode.” Steinke ended up on the brakes at the finish line, only going 149 mph on the pass, about 12 mph down from a full pass.
Although he didn’t win the class that year (finished second with an 8.539 average), Steinke will forever be known as the first to accomplish the perfect run.
2. Jim Braun – ’12 Ford Mustang – Street Race Small Block Power Adder
Just two days after the first perfect run was posted, it happened again. This time, it would be the 2012 twin-turbo Mustang of Jim Braun from Florida ringing up the magic run on day four of Hot Rod Drag Week.
Although Jim was strong in the 8.5-second range on days three, four and five that week, the first two days were completely the opposite. The first day had rain water in the Mustang’s rocker panels come out just after launching off the starting line, causing tire spin and a 9.93 pass.
An improved 9.33 was the result on day two, but Braun discovered the culprit that would lead to better performance on day three. “My aluminum muffler collapsed in on itself and clogged the exhaust,” said Braun. “It took the whole day to figure it out.”
The result of Braun’s efforts was an 8.96 average and a seventh-place finish. This was the lone appearance for Braun behind the wheel, but we’ve seen him plenty in the co-pilot role for fellow Mustang man Brett LaSala. Jim’s car is currently undergoing some chassis updates; will he return to drag-and-drive behind the wheel?
3. Aaron Shaffer – ’98 Chevrolet Camaro SS – Limited Street / Sick Street Race
About a year after the first perfect run was posted, we were in the midst of a COVID-limited race season of 2020. Hot Rod Drag Week was not contested that year, but Matt Frost at Rocky Mountain Race Week decided to add a second helping to his already successful event in its sixth season.
At that second Rocky Mountain Race Week of 2020, Aaron Shaffer became the third competitor to clock a perfect 8.500 run, doing the deed in the Limited Street class. But he not only did it on the fourth day of competition, he backed it up with another 8.500 run on the final day, winning the class by a scant .0008 of-a-second over Randall Reed, a former Hot Rod Drag Week Street Race Small Block Power Adder class winner.
Oh, did we mention that Shaffer did the deed again a little over two years later? Yup, Shaffer clocked a perfect 8.500 run once again at the 2023 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in route to winning the Sick Street Race class.
4. Randall Reed – 1993 Ford Mustang - Street Race Small Block Power Adder
Randall Reed had competed in Hot Rod Drag Week, winning in 2018 and 2019 in the Street Race Small Block Power Adder. And although he had clocked 8.50 laps in his appearances before, it took until 2021 at the Midwest Drags before he would nail the perfect lap.
In a tight competition with fellow Mustang runner Tim Flanders, Reed produced the perfect lap on day three at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and it contributed to an 8.518 average. That held off the single turbo Coyote-swapped ’86 Mustang of Flanders by a mere .002 of-a-second for the class win.
5. Richard ‘RC’ Flint – 2000 Honda S2000 – 275 Street Race
He’s since moved on to the 7-second land of Super Street classes, but Richard ‘RC’ Flint did add his name to the perfection list with his efforts at the 2022 edition of Sick Week. Employing a single turbo LS-swapped Honda S2000, the Florida native gave fellow Florida runner William Lujan everything he could handle in the 275 Street Race class.
Flint opened the week with an 8.500 run at Bradenton Motorsports Park, and although he came up second to Lujan in the final standings by less than one thousandth of-a-second, Flint became the first driver in a Sick the Magazine event to clock that perfect run.
6. Dustin Trance – 2005 Ford Mustang - Street Race Small Block Power Adder
After a 2021 when no one hit the 8.500 number, Dustin Trance added a third name to the list of drivers to do the deed at Hot Rod Drag Week. Wheeling a turbocharged LS-swapped 2005 Mustang, Trance put together the perfect run on day three of a weather-shortened Drag Week that got him the class win over another known name in the 8.50 ranks, Brian Acton.
One year later, Trance added a couple of firsts to the record books at Hot Rod Drag Week, becoming the first to run 8.50x-second passes at every stop, and lowered the record average mark to a staggering 8.5048 on his way to repeating his 2022 class win.
7. Tim Flanders – 1986 Ford Mustang – Sick Street Race
On a day when most were finding traction and a good run tough to accomplish, Tim Flanders put together the shot most had to look at the scoreboard twice to believe. On day four of the 2023 Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes, Flanders staged up at Tri-State Raceway chasing Cameron Alley in the Sick Street Race class.
But a perfect 8.500 run would be the ticket for Flanders, pushing him to the top of the standings by a mere two thousandths of-a-second. Flanders secured the deal on the next day at Cordova Dragway, using an 8.523 average to narrowly edge Alley for the class title.
8. James Taal – 2005 Chevrolet Corvette – 275 Street Race
It didn’t take long to add an eighth name to the list in 2024, as ‘Jackstand’ James Taal did the deed on day one of Sick Week. Behind the wheel of the Cleetus McFarland auction-find Corvette known as ‘Ruby’, Taal used the perfect run at Orlando ‘Sick’ World Dragway to vault him into the second-place spot in the class behind fellow Floridian Randy Seward.
9. Brian Acton – 1970 Chevrolet Nova – Sick Street Race
Just one day after James Taal posted a perfect 8.500 pass, Brian Acton snagged one of his one on day two of Sick Week 2024. The LS-swapped Nova of Acton catapulted to the top spot after the run in the standings, and found himself in the top spot at the end of the week to earn the class win and the coveted Sick orange helmet, one of two Acton secured in 2024 along with his victory at Sick Summer.
10. Jeremy Ortiz – 1995 Nissan 240SX – 275 Street Race
Following a 2023 Sick Summer appearance where he finished in the second spot, Jeremy Ortiz returned to Sick Summer this year hoping to earn the coveted top spot. Despite a good amount of testing before the event on his turbo LS-swapped Nissan, Ortiz was only able to turn in an 8.60 pass on day one.
Feeling a little dejected, Ortiz rebounded nicely on day two with an 8.503 to get him a little closer to the class frontrunners. But on a Wednesday at Tri-State Raceway where the density altitude soared above 3000 feet in much warmer conditions than the first two days, even Ortiz was in shock when he got a time slip with the 8.500 time on it. Two days later, the awards ceremony found Ortiz in second place by a mere .0008 of-a-second, but he was happy with the results, and vows to return looking for more 8.500 slips in 2025.
11. Chris Merry – 1994 Ford Mustang – 275 Street Race
Originally planning to have his Pontiac G8 at the 2024 edition of Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, Chris Merry instead would wheel the Diehl brothers LS-swapped 1994 Mustang. A top three finisher at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2023, Merry came into Sick Summer off a thrash to fix fire damage sustained in a testing accident just a week before the event.
Merry’s confidence got a boost on day three when he posted a perfect 8.500 pass less than two hours after fellow 275 Street Race runner Jeremy Ortiz did the same. “For us both to do it on the same day was insane,” said Merry. The two battled it out until the final runs on day five, with Merry getting the class win by less than one thousandth of-a-second over Ortiz in the final averages.
12. Barry Cook – 2002 Pontiac Trans Am - Street Race Small Block Power Adder
Three years after the first 8.500 was recorded at Midwest Drags, Bobby Cook added a second name to the list. The turbocharged Trans Am recorded a pair of 8.50 runs on day two at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to keep close with Street Race Small Block Power Adder class leader Randy Seward.
On the final day at Kentucky Dragway, Barry Cook got the 8.50 run with a zero at the end to push his average to 8.544, just eleven thousandths of-a-second behind Seward for the class title.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Motion Raceworks, Rick Steinke, Randall Reed and Barry Cook.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com