Completion in Chandler – Rousseau and Williams Earn Sick’s Coveted Orange Helmets as Death Week Wraps Up in Arizona
Just nine days ago, the tech in process began for those brave souls willing to take on the ultimate proving grounds for a street car: Death Week.
The next nine days would feature three states, four race track visits, and nearly 2,000 miles of travel.
As the tour returned to Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona, only eight cars had failed to complete the task at hand.
And with the drive portion of Death Week complete, a Sunday track day was all that stood between competitors saying they could look Death in the eyes and defeat it, earning the first-ever skull trophy from Sick the Magazine for their efforts.
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Multiple 5-second runs had been recorded on Death Week, but upon return to Arizona, the focus was on two drivers: Jason Rousseau and Chris Hein.
The pair of LS-swapped turbocharged rides sat at the helm of the pack, with Rousseau in the lead via a 5.49 to 5.60 average.
Hein struck first with a 5.84 at 136 mph in the stick-shift Factory Five coupe, but then Rousseau answered with a 5.81 at 128 mph.
Hein’s second lap would be an improved 5.61 at 135 mph, but even this run couldn’t surpass the average from Rousseau, even with his 5.81 first lap. And when the Malibu driver uncorked a 5.50 at 130 mph on his second run, the title was locked down, and Rousseau would receive the highly-desired Sick Orange helmet a short while later.
“Words and pictures can’t describe the views or the people we got to see over the past ten days and 2,000-plus miles,” Rousseau said in reflecting on the victory. “You just had to be there.”
Rousseau finished at the top with a 5.49 average, while Hein’s game 5.60 tally slotted him in the second spot. Dustyn Caudle’s unique ’78 Isuzu pick-up completed the top three with a 5.96 average, followed by Jeffrey Moll’s ‘more-door’ ’67 Nova at a 6.05 result, and the ‘Canadian Chuck Norris’ himself, Richard Guido, rounding out the top five at a 6.26 average from his ’65 Pontiac GTO.
The second half of the top ten found David Christianson’s ’70 Camaro in sixth, followed by the Grabber Blue Mustang of Joey Marshall in seventh.
Rajveer Ahuja guided his Oldsmobile Cutlass to a 6.40 average, with 26 passes on Sunday alone, for eighth, Bryce Nicholson’s diesel-urged Nova returned a 6.73 average for ninth, and James Forbes’ ’62 Nova gasser rounded out the top ten with a 6.86 average.
An honorable mention goes to Danny Grubaugh, who brought out his 1973 AMC Hornet Sportabout Gucci wagon. Grubaugh got the call to return to work on Wednesday, and did so right after making a pass at Famoso Drag Strip. He drove 1100 miles to Washington, worked a ten-hour shift, and then got back on the road to make his return to Death Week.
Following the route and hitting all the checkpoints to arrive in Chandler, Arizona by 3 am Sunday morning, Grubaugh clicked off an 11.97 pass, his goal for Death Week, to complete the event and earn a coveted skull.
That left the matter of awarding Top Tourist, which Tom Bailey described as the competitors that embraced the willingness to go outside the lines and experience all that could be done during the nine day drag-and-drive.
The winner would be David Williams, who took his Georgia-based 1984 Chevrolet Suburban to 100 stops and locations beyond the Death Week route, and doing so with his father Robert, and friends Dave and Bradley, to create some lasting memories and earn the coveted Sick Orange helmet.
For everyone that has followed along, we hope you enjoyed Death Week! We’ll have more details and coverage in an upcoming issue of Sick the Magazine.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and David Williams.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com