Father and Son Bond Over a First Drag-and-Drive Experience at Sick Summer
It’s not uncommon for a child to follow in a parent’s footsteps and enjoy one of their passions. A ballgame, fishing, or hundreds of other hobbies.
For Doug Nejdl, he decided to share his first drag-and-drive experience with his son Wyatt at Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes.
To get the Nejdls to Sick Summer, they needed a car. Doug handled that part by selecting a 1988 Ford Mustang that took him the better part of two years. “It was built on a lot of bad decisions and whiskey,” said Doug. “If it wasn't for family and friends telling me don't give up, I would have thrown in the towel three months ago.”
The Fox Mustang packs a LS-swap in the form of a 6-liter sporting all forged internals, an intercooler topped with a Holley lid, and extra atmosphere courtesy of a Precision turbocharger.
The whole package looks so stellar, Doug tossed the hood aside for everything to sit out in the open to be admired by all. A Powerglide transmission and Ford 9-inch rear end round out the driveline.
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With less than two weeks before Sick Summer began, Doug got off the waitlist and final preparations were made. “The goal for me and my son was to just finish the week,” said Doug. “We had some rough times, but we made it through.”
The problems started with the transmission, as the high temperatures made themselves known enough to warrant a creative solution. “We had our ice cooler and made a line to our transmission cooler so it could use the cold water,” said Doug.
The problems didn’t stop there, as a trailer bearing failure, a brake pad falling out at Great Lakes Dragaway, breaking a Heim joint on the anti-roll bar, and tossing a trio of alternator belts reared their heads to the Nejdls during Sick Summer.
Through it all, Doug and Wyatt persevered to finish the week. “This was all about doing an adventure with my son, and seeing what this car can really get up to,” said Doug. “We also met a lot of new people.”
Doug averaged a 10.43 for the week, and although the Mustang has a lot more power on tap, Doug was restricted to 10.00 and slower as he didn’t have a NHRA license to run the desired single-digit times. “I now plan to get my license so I can step up to run a faster class and group next time,” he said. “Wyatt and I plan on going to as many more as we can.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Doug Nejdl.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com