Chuck Stefanski Zooms to Sick the Mag Drag-And-Drive Shootout Victory at NMCA All-American Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park
For the second of two Sick the Magazine drag-and-drive shootouts on the 2024 schedule, eight proven rides rolled into Summit Motorsports Park for the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) All-American Nationals presented by Mickey Thompson Tires and Wheels this past weekend.
With an all-star cast including Tom and Aydan Bailey, Steve and Kyle Morris, and four drivers out of Big 3 Racing (Kevin Hansinger, Bob Hess, Chuck Stefanski and Rick Trunkett), it was a solid show.
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An eight-car invitational style class, the competitors would get two shots at the race track on Friday, plus an additional run on Saturday morning, before doing a chip draw for pairings in the first round of eliminations.
The action started before Friday’s first qualifying session, as some of the drivers, including Tom Bailey, took part in a Thursday test session. Wheeling the ‘Sick Seconds 2.0’ 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, Tom Bailey came off a pass knowing something was wrong.
The problem discovered by Aydan Bailey was a cracked part of the chassis, as a bar that contains the 4-link rear suspension has broken. That meant Tom would be out of contention for the remainder of the event.
On the first qualifying session, Steve Morris showed the hot hand by wheeling the ‘Boostmaster’ station wagon to a 4.26 at 176 mph, with Chuck Stefanski clocking a 4.63 at 160 mph alongside Steve for the top times of the session.
Following Friday morning’s session, the cars switched to street mode, and the 8-car group rolled to lunch, with Tom even driving ‘Sick Seconds 2.0’ to the lunch spot.
The Saturday early afternoon session found Steve Morris strengthening his lead over the pack, with a 4.20 at 183 mph eighth-mile blast. No one else would improve over the first session held in better atmospheric conditions Friday morning, and the field drew chips for first round pairings as the sun started to set on Saturday evening.
With seven cars in the lanes for round one, Rick Trunkett would get the lucky first round single, and he rolled the ‘Pickle’ ’72 Duster to a 5.15 at 127 mph pass.
The first pair of the round staged Bob Hess and his ’82 Mustang against Kevin Hansinger’s ’99 Camaro. Bob would lead this match up start to finish with a 4.89 at 150 mph to the 5.56 at 127 mph from Kevin’s turbocharged F-body.
The second match up pitted Aydan Bailey against Kyle Morris, and at the green light Aydan jumped out to a three hundredths of-a-second lead. Kyle was reeling him in with his turbocharged ’96 Mustang, but at the finish line the win light would go to Aydan, with his 5.24 at 133 mph holding off the quicker 5.23 at 140 mph from Kyle by just .019 of-a-second.
Steve Morris was supposed to line up with Chuck Stefanski in the final pair of the round, but Steve would have problems after his burnout and shut off the potent twin-turbo wagon, allowing Chuck to roll to a 4.94 at 136 mph to complete the round and move four drivers to the semifinals on Sunday.
Just before noon on Sunday, round two of competition would open with Rick Trunkett staging against fellow Big 3 Racing owner Bob Hess. An all Mopar-powered starting line would find Rick smoking the tires on his ’72 Duster in hopes of finding traction, giving Bob an easy 4.93 at 150 mph victory lap.
The second pair pitted Aydan Bailey against Chuck Stefanski in the second all-station wagon battle of eliminations, and although Aydan laid down his best run of the weekend with a 5.21 at 134 mph, Chuck got the victory by a couple car lengths with a 4.85 at 157 mph blast from his gray wagon.
That moved Chuck to his second-straight Sick the Mag final round in Ohio, and after getting the runner-up spot to Kyle Bemount in 2023, Chuck was looking for a final round victory thids time around. Bob Hess would stage up an all-Big 3 Racing final round in his Gen 3 HEMI turbocharged Mustang, but at the green Bob’s Mustang faltered, while Chuck’s ProCharger-fed LeMans wagon clocked a 4.76 at 162 mph for the Shootout victory.
“This is something right here,” said Chuck. “This is what it feels like to be in the winner’s circle!” He thanked Tom Durst, Ray Masters, Logan Sigman, William Masters, Mike Long, and Daniella Stefanski, as well as Marty Merillat and Bob Hess Jr. so he and Bob Hess could make it to the final round.
“Big thanks to Tom Bailey and his crew from Sick the Magazine for putting on this shootout and doing so much for the drag-and-drive community,” Chuck said. “Next step is to change the center section for a new gear, then test and get ready for Hot Rod Drag Week in a few short weeks.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Dan Grippo and Chuck Stefanski.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com