Drag-and-Drive Competitors Find the Final Rounds at Street Car Takeover Indy and Pan American Nationals in Pennsylvania
Although it’s becoming more common to see some familiar rides and names at more than one drag-and-drive event per season, a large majority will choose to participate in different styles of events.
Whether because of the time off from work or relation to home base, we see dozens of drag-and-drive competitors putting together solid event results outside of the drag-and-drive event calendar.
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A couple of familiar names have recently had good racing results from last weekend, Tony Niemczyk and Jeremy Ortiz. Both competitors came into the weekend already making a final round appearance earlier in the year.
Ortiz snagged the win at a Hole Shot Media Heads Up event in May, and Niemczyk scoring the runner-up spot to Mark Sussino at the drag-and-drive exhibition during the National Hot Rod Association New England Nationals last month.
A back-to-back winner at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, Niemczyk has been working on a new build, his recently debuted Ford Mustang that we covered in a Sick the Mag story HERE.
And although the 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse had seen limited use since that February 2023 appearance, it hadn’t forgotten its way to the winner’s circle.
Niemczyk staged up last weekend in the Pan American Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania, and after a full day of work, scored the win in the Nitro Versus the World class with an 8.61 to 8.83 final round result.
“I think drag-and-drive stuff has helped in the other racing,” said Niemczyk. “I overbuilt so much in the car to survive that now it handles these heads-up races better than most imports.”
“I learned to bump the car in under power because of Sick Week’s 1 second reaction time rule. I’ve gotten far more comfortable in the car from the thousands of miles driven in it.”
Just a few states away, Ortiz was making another late round appearance at the Street Car Takeover (SCT) event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The turbocharged LS-swapped Nissan 240SX, fresh from a second-place finish at Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks last month, Ortiz jumped into the popular Street Racer Wild class at SCT and made his way to another final round appearance.
Against the quick GT-R of Mike Bandy, Ortiz grabbed a sizable holeshot at the start, but Bandy got around him at the finish line by about a car length to win via an 8.22 to 8.53 count. “Man, what a HOT one it was,” Ortiz said. We saw temps in the 90s, and track temps 135+ degrees that really had people out there struggling to get down the track.”
“We were put into the Heads-Up Wild class full of 6 and 7 second killers! I didn't have much faith in my elapsed times to get us there, but what we did have was consistency!”
“After a handful of rounds, Mike Bandy and I knocked the rest of them down and had an EPIC all Nissan Final! I did all I could do, and the car did its thing, but that GT-R back halves like a mofo!”
Ortiz has been detailing his track and drag-and-drive outings more on his YouTube channel, and his most recent upload is below:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Precision Turbo, Tony Niemczyk and Jeremy Ortiz.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com