Could the Cheap Car Challenge Become the Next Big Class at Drag and Drive Events?
Although not the first time drag racing has seen a ‘cost-limited’ or ‘budget-build’ style of car / class, Cleetus McFarland brought the latest round of his popular ‘Cheap Car Challenge’ to the 2025 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.
Although we’ve seen Cleetus, James Taal and Tye Braun compete in quicker and nicer rides in drag and drive events, this idea was met with enthusiasm from not only Cleetus and crew, but also the fans and FRDM+ stream viewers.
Is it ‘Sick Seconds 3.0’? Nope; Tom Bailey’s newest ride is ‘G-Money’, the third-generation Camaro that competed in the Cleetus ‘Cheap Car Challenge’ at Sick Week. Grab the limited edition shirt today by CLICKING HERE!!
Cleetus’ history with drag and drive events dates back a good bit, competing in several different events, with everything from a now 6-second stick shift Corvette known as ‘Leroy’, to the ‘Mullet’ his big block twin turbocharged 1986 Chevrolet El Camino.
Other rides, including Tye’s turbo Coyote-swapped Ford Ranger, as well as the ‘Ruby’ C5 Corvette and ‘McFlurry’ Mustang, have done events, but this time, Cleetus and crew went a different route.
Each two-person team got a $7500 budget, and less than 48 hours later, each team was at South Georgia Motorsports Park with a new ride. Beyond the purchase price, as well as any delivery cost for the vehicle, “the way we do this is fair market value for parts, and then our labor we allow at no cost,” said Cleetus.
Tye and Zack brought a Coyote-powered Mustang, and then added a turbo to the mix. ‘Jackstand Jimmy’ had a LS-swapped Nissan 240SX with nitrous delivered from Oklahoma, and tapped tuner and friend Nate ‘Dr. Tune Em All’ to be his co-pilot. Cleetus and ‘LS George’ purchased a LS-swapped El Camino, and added a new Precision Turbo & Engine turbocharger on the tech-in day.
Watch the introduction video from Cleetus below:
During the first day of competition, Cleetus wounded his LS engine, but managed to find a replacement, and got it swapped in time to get to Bradenton Motorsports Park for Day Two of Sick Week.
Tom Bailey even jumped into the competition, purchasing a small block third-gen Camaro. Although it originally ran in the 12-second range, Tom put together a nitrous kit to get the Camaro into the 11-second zone.
By the final day, James had run solidly in the nines, and took the four car shootout title. All four cars survived the week, and Cleetus started that the cars will be back for our Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks event, held June 15th through June 20th, 2025. Each team gets an additional $2500 toward that event to spend on their ride.
See the latest updates from Cleetus, as well as Tom Bailey, below:
The question is: could this style of build / class be the next big thing for a drag and drive event, or in general for drag racing?
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and 1320 Video.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com