Day 3 of Sick Week – Georgia On Our Minds - The Swedes Take Over, Another 6-Second Pass for Alex Taylor and The 4-Second Threshold of Rowdy Radial

With Orlando Speed World Dragway and Bradenton Motorsports Park in the ‘completed’ column, Tuesday afternoon / evening found 277 of the original 332 competitors rolling north into Georgia to start day three of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, as 53 Sick Week participants now filled the Did Not Finish list.

The lone stop of Georgia on the week, South Georgia Motorsports Park and its all-concrete quarter-mile is no stranger to seeing quick times.

It took no time at all to prove that fact, as the first pair of big tire slick cars would stage up Jason Sack and Alex Taylor.

The 427 cubic inch LS sporting the ‘large-by-huge’ turbo, Sack’s ’69 Chevrolet Nova came to the line looking to better his personal best, and 7.08 seconds later, Sack had done just that at 196 mph.

After a lot of problems in testing, as well as on day one, Alex Taylor finally collected a 6-second, 200 mph pass for the first time at a drag-and-drive event.

At the second stop at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Taylor lowered her personal best mark a little more, nailing a 6.90 at 206 mph to earn the ‘one and done’ with her ’55 Chevrolet, her first ‘one and done.’  

Wednesday found Taylor at the very track where her 2022 Sick Week came to an end. But this time, Taylor kept the magical timeslips coming, posting her third 6.9-second 200+ mph pass in as many days with a 6.99 at 206 mph.

In the Unlimited class, the swedes Michael Westberg and Stefan Gustafsson would continue to battle for the overall Sick Week title. Westberg came in holding a slight advantage of a 6.48 average over Gustafsson’s 6.49 tally. The Corvette got into the sixes first with a 6.99 at just 186 mph, but Westberg answered the call with a 6.48 at 218 mph. That put the pressure back on Gustafsson, who posted a pair of 6.55 passes to keep things close with Westberg.

Modified saw Brett LaSala struggle to invade the 6-second range as he had done at the first two stops on Sick Week. And although his 7.03 at 212 mph might not be optimal, Cleetus McFarlane’s 6.94 at 182 mph would come with a hole in the block, leaving LaSala with an even larger gap between first and second place, as Bob Hess Jr.’s 7-second ’82 Mustang would roll ahead of Mikael Borggren for the second spot.

Pro Street has tightened up a bit, with Clark Rosenstengel’s 7.49 best from day three allowing Earl Schexnayder’s 7.75 and Clint Sodowsky’s 7.49 to move a big closer in the 2023 event standings.

Eric Yost recovered from a blown burst panel to record his third-straight 7.4-second time slip, keeping him at the top of the Super Street class over a competitive Andrew Dopita and Bradley Arnold.   

The Stick Shift class saw Richard Guido produce another 8.7-second time slip to remain at the top of the class.

Finally in the Rowdy Radial class, Jordan Tuck continued the distance himself from the field, producing his best pass of the week, taking Devin Vanderhoff’s Mustang to a 4.60 at 171 mph. But Sheldon Root, the other 4-second car in the class, is staying close with a 4.79 at 152 mph.

Day four will move Sick Week to Gainesville Raceway. Come see all the great action live, or tune in for the Motion Raceworks live stream on YouTube.

Written by Derek Putnam.