Who Had The Numbers In Sick Week Testing? From A 200mph Celicas To A 7.6-Second Stick Shift Corvette To Struggling Champions!
Sunday, February 12th witnessed over 300 cars and trucks make the trip to Orlando Speed World Dragway for the 2nd Annual Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.
Some rolled in rested and relaxed. Others arrived stressed and tired. But everyone showed up with a common mindset: defeat the week and finish the event.
After nearly 13 hours at the track between the tech inspection line and the tower holding the microphone, what did Sunday show me?
Testing can be a huge sigh of relief for some, but not the ultimate conclusion. People may have run quick laps, like Devin Vanderhoof’s 4.69 at 161 mph in Rowdy Radial, but can he do it when it counts? Can he do it five times this week?
Sick Week 2023 Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive will feature hundreds of America’s fastest street cars, racing and cruising through Florida and southern Georgia.
Individual day spectator tickets are available here.
Tom Bailey and Steve Morris both suffered issues in Sunday testing - Tom having ignition issues and even needed a leak down tester? Steve thought his problems from last week were behind him, but his lone run on Sunday resulted in a damaged ring gear.
While the two quickest cars on paper were having issues, the Swedes Stefan Gustafsson and Michael Westberg showed up with a 4.24 eighth-mile pass for Stefan and a 4.29 eighth-mile rip for Michael. Will it be enough to hang on to the Unlimited title? I’d say it’s going to take quicker times.
Richard Guido is the defending Stick Shift class champion. But as much as I enjoy watching classics win, I think this year will fall to a battle between Chad Fegley and Jeremy Howell. We didn’t see a pass from Jeremy on Sunday, but Chad ripped off a 7.67 at 174 mph. Stick shift looks to be a 7-second playground, and that puts Guido into the third spot as best.
The honest answer is this; you could use the information gleamed from a test session or test day, use it to justify the “favorites” or the “odds-on favorite”, only to see them fail / break and a new face rises to the top.
So your best choice: be at the track today at Orlando Speed World from 9am to 3pm for an awesome day one of competition. Or if you can’t make it, watch the live feed at the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/live/7zZXR6m5Cho?feature=share
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick The Magazine.