A Close Final Between Two Street Race Entries at LS Fest, A Former Dial-Your-Own Winner Makes a Final in An 8-Second FE Ford, and Adam Dorey Gets His Malibu Back on the Road for Race Week
As we roll into the last part of summer, and the last third of the drag-and-drive season, we’re also seeing several competitors seeing success at standalone events.
From Pennsylvania to South Dakota, here’s a few stories from the drag-and-drive community over this past weekend.
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We started at the annual LS Fest East at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. As per recent years, it was a packed house for four days of action, and a couple of familiar names would stage up in the Street Race class final.
Jeremy Ortiz, who finished second at Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks in the Street Race 275 Category, lined up opposite Barry Cook and his Pontiac Trans Am, who landed second at the recent Midwest Drags event.
That's how close .011 margin at the finish line is, as this view from Barry Cook's camera shows!
Both drivers posted perfect 8.500 passes during their respective events, and as expected they had a tight final round battle, with Cook getting the nod by just eleven thousandths of-a-second. “It was awesome,” said Cook. “Even cooler that he and I are of the few that have a perfect 8.500 drag-and-drive pass, and we ended up in the finals together.”
William Spangler, the first Dial-Your-Own class winner at the 2022 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, jumped out of his Fairmont and slid behind the wheel of Randy Spohn’s FE-Ford powered 8-second 1965 Falcon. “He’s friends with Tony Fritz, and Tony suggested I drive it for him,” said Spangler.
The event pulls the fastest eight cars out of the fast class for a special shootout, and Spangler found himself in the finals opposite Fritz, where Fritz took the victory.
Adam Dorey, who we’ve seen on at several events across the country this year, had been making an effort to get back behind the wheel of his LS-powered Chevrolet Malibu. Not in service for a few years, Dorey got the stick-shift ride that he wheeled on Rocky Mountain Race Week back on the road recently. He plans to take it on Race Week next week.
Rick Steinke, who has been getting his ’67 crew cab Chevelle ready for Edelbrock Sick Week, jumped into his first import when Tony Niemczyk handed over the keys to his 2-time Sick Week winning ’95 Mitsubishi for a race at Maple Grove Raceway.
Steinke qualified third in class with an 8.69, and advanced to round two, but left the nitrous off that round and would be sent packing earlier than expected.
Adam Kerr, who competed in the Gasser / Hot Rod / Beetle class at Sick Summer, made some big improvements to his ’56 Ford Victoria. Building off a 12.79 at 107 mph best at Sick Week, Kerr dropped a personal best 11.86 at 113 mph at Great Lakes Dragaway.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Barry Cook, Jeremy Ortiz, William Spangler, Adam Dorey, Adam Kerr and Rick Steinke.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com