Legendary Sick Seconds 1.0 Camaro Will Return to Hot Rod Drag Week for Tenth Anniversary of First Win
Drag-and-drive events are all about the memories, or as we say at Sick the Mag – the f’ing adventure!
The 1969 Chevrolet Camaro known as Sick Seconds 1.0 has created a lot of memories for Tom Bailey, the pinnacle of which was his first drag-and-drive victory at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2013.
“We’re bringing it back forthe tenth anniversary of my first Hot Rod Drag Week win,” said Tom. “Not only that, Sick Seconds 1.0 was the first car to run a 6-second pass every day, and to have a six-second average for the week.”
The Camaro, which was built and named by Denny Terzich, had some lofty goals in the drag-and-drive world, but never quite found its groove at first.
Tom bought the rolling chassis, installed a twin-turbocharged mill, and brought the car to Hot Rod Drag Week in 2012, but was out after day three with a series of broken rocker arms.
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Tom returned to Hot Rod Drag Week in 2013, and on the strength of a six-second pass at each and every track, including a best of 6.70 at 213mph on day two, averaged a 6.83 to made drag-and-drive history.
He tried to make it two-in-a-row one year later in 2014, but was out with breakage after day two.
“In 2015, we debuted Sick Seconds 2.0, and won Hot Rod Drag Week again,” said Tom. A 6.78 average lowered his existing best and the writing was on the wall for Sick Seconds 1.0, it seemed.
For the next couple years, Sick Second 2.0 did the heavy lifting on drag-and-drive events, but Sick Seconds 1.0 was waiting in the wings to be called in off the bench.
That call came in 2018, and the good soldier delivered Tom his third Hot Rod Drag Week win as 1.0 averaged 6.85 for the Unlimited class win.
After a 2021 appearance at Midwest Drags, where Tom finished second by five thousandths to Jason Sack in the Unlimited class, Sick Seconds 1.0 only saw the race track again a small number of times. It was mostly relegated to street car cruising, car shows and several years of MotorTrend’s Roadkill Nights, where Tom won the Big Tire class in 2017. The car was also driven by Cleetus McFarland, where it recorded a 6.534 to give him his first six-second pass.
Why did Tom hand Cleetus the keys? Well, it could be argued that Sick Seconds 1.0 launched the whole Cleetus idea. Eight years ago, Garrett Mitchell was working for 1320 Video and shot a goofy video in front of Tom’s Camaro, taking on the character of American redneck Cleetus McFarland. The video went viral and Garrett ran with the character. Over the years, the Cleetus idea evolved from acting to more of a pseudonym and it became the huge channel we know today.
Fast forward to 2023, and Tom thinks bringing Sick Seconds 1.0 back is just the shot in the arm he needs. But they have some work to do before the car is ready once again.
“On Sick Seconds 1.0, we thought we would only need to update the fuel lines,” said Tom. “But then we needed to get a cylinder head off it, fixed and put back together. We planned to do a few updates, but those updates ended up being more than we thought.”
Can they get it all done in time for Hot Rod Drag Week?
Here’s the most recent update:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com