A Busy Drag-and-Drive Weekend on Tap - a Pair of Events, Drop the Hammer and Olympic n Drive, Join a Drag-and-Drive Exhibition at the NHRA New England Nationals - Action Starts Today!
The surge in popularity of the drag-and-drive community, and the swelling of available drag-and-drive type events, highlight a 2024 season where we’re not even a quarter of the way through the available events.
And for the final weekend in May / first weekend of June, a pair of events will get under way today, joined by the second drag-and-drive exhibition at a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) for the 2024 season.
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Carl Stancell, a competitor in the drag-and-drive world with his wheelstanding Chevrolet Blazer, put together the first Drop the Hammer drag-and-drive in 2023, and the response has been solid thus far.
Starting today at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, on track action goes hot at 11 a.m. and will continue until 3 p.m.
Competitors will make the drive to Saturday’s destination, Mid Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, for racing activities on day two starting at 10 a.m., then return back to US 131 Motorsports Park for the final day of competition, starting at 10 a.m.
The classes, which will run on an eighth-mile standard, include Unlimited, 28/275 (requiring a 28-inch tall x 10.5-inch wide maximum slick of 275/60/15 radial tire), 5.45 index, 6.40 index, Dial Your Own, and a Quick 8 Shoot-Out for the 8 quickest cars on the final day.
Response thus far has been good, with Tom and Aydan Bailey, Steve Morris, and Clark Rosenstengel among those already on site to participate.
The second drag-and-drive event on the docket for this weekend is the inaugural Olympic n Drive, held in the picturesque state of Washington.
Put together by Lane Cavar and Jeremy Sears, the event will include two days of racing at Bremerton Raceway in Port Orchard, Washington today, May 31st and Sunday, June 2nd, with a full day of driving around the Olympic peninsula on Saturday, June 1st.
The class offerings at Olympic n Drive, which will also be conducted on an eighth-mile standard, include Unlimited, Limited Street (listed as a 28-inch tall x 10.5-inch wide maximum slick of 275/60/15 radial tire and “stock style appearing fast hot rods” class), Hot Street (similar to Limited Street, but with a 6.50 elapsed time breakout rule), and Real Street (with a 7.50 elapsed time breakout rule).
The event has sold out of its maximum 70 spots, including multi-time drag-and-drive winner Corey Thompson as just one of the participants.
The third event of the weekend featured drag-and-drive action is the NHRA New England Nationals, the second NHRA event of the season to feature a special drag-and-drive exhibition class.
Held at New England Dragway, a place where noted drag-and-drive and NHRA announcer Brian Lohnes first cut his teeth on the microphone, it seems fitting that the event welcomes eight drag-and-drive competitors to showcase their rides.
The noted group of participants, put together by Hot Rod Drag Week veteran Jeff Sias, includes Glenn Hunter, Tony Niemczyk, Jeff Oppenheim, Frank Romano, Jason Rousseau, Rick Steinke, and Mark Sussino.
Similar to the Peak Performance Street Car Shootout held at Route 66 earlier this month, Friday and Saturday will afford the competitors a chance to hit the track and tune up their combinations, with round one of eliminations scheduled for Saturday. Sunday will see the final two rounds of competition to determine a champion.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Hard Target Images, Danny Allen, Corey Thompson, Jeff Conley.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com