Rick Dyer, Car Enthusiast and Participant in the First Hot Rod Magazine Fastest Street Car Competition in 1992, Has Passed Away
As the drag-and-drive community and event schedule grows, there have been several articles and inquiries into the origin of the first drag-and-drive, Hot Rod Magazine’s Drag Week in 2005.
Hot Rod also played host to the Fastest Street Car Shootout, held in Memphis, Tennessee, where several drivers etched their names as the first competitors in a street-legal car shootout. One of them was Rick Dyer, and sadly, we’ve gotten word that the Michigan resident passed away on Wednesday, December 5th. The cause of death is unknown at this time.
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A car enthusiast even before that first Fastest Street Car Shootout, Dyer got recognition from Hot Rod Magazine as one of Hot Rod’s ‘Top 10 Cars of the 80s’ thanks to his work on a 1959 Chevrolet Corvette. The International Show Car Association (ISCA) winner from 1984 wasn’t just a pretty face, as it was tagged and insured for street duty.
It also got exercised at the track as well, with a best of 9.46 at 142 mph thanks to a 467 cubic inch big block engine. The car was originally built and raced by Mauri Rose Jr., but Dyer would be the one that finished it into the show winner and 9-second monster it was.
Fast forward to Memphis Motorsports Park and 1992, where Dyer’s blindly-bright yellow 1969 Chevrolet Camaro would be one of three first-generation Camaro models at the event under the CARS Inc. banner. Along with Danny Scott’s blue 1967 model, and the 1968 orange-hued model of Jim Treppa, the trio made a splash at the event with 8-second time slips.
Dyer’s best run that year would be an 8.81 at 152 mph, ranking him sixth overall in qualifying. But Dyer failed to show for final eliminations due to an electrical gremlin.
Video of that iconic 1992 event is below:
Many have credited this event as the kickstart to street-legal drag racing, as well as the drag-and-drive movement. But as the competition got quicker, Dyer would as well, and the yellow Camaro would be sidelined for quicker rides. Dyer would compete in both a 1962 Chevrolet Impala and a 1955 Chevrolet, both sporting massive cubic inch big block Chevrolet engines with a healthy dose of nitrous oxide. Both rides would continue to fly the CARS Inc. banner.
The ’55 Chevy can be seen in some classis video below:
Dyer eventually sold the '55 Chevy, and it is now owned by Keith Roberts, and was featured in the Havliks FSC Shootout event at Tri-State Raceway in 2024.
Dyer’s yellow Camaro also still exists on the street and strip circuit, which according to Brian Lohnes in a Bangshift article done in 2014, was completely refreshed before being sold.
The lucky new owner would be Jeff Atkinson, and he put the ‘period-correct’ ride into Hot Rod Drag Week in 2015, and later won the Pro Street Naturally Aspirated class with a 9.42 average in 2016.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dyer’s family and friends.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Rick Dyer, Keith Roberts, Jeff Atkinson.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com