Steve Morris Claims Sick The Mag Drag-And-Drive Shootout Victory at NMCA-NMRA Power Festival at US 131 Motorsports Park
The second Sick the Mag Drag-and-Drive Shootout of the 2023 season is in the books, recently completed at the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) / National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) Power Festival, held last weekend at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan.
The eight-car shootout field was selected from drivers and rides that had completed a drag-and-drive, and the weekend included some great match-ups, personal best times, and our first driver to go undefeated for the event in five match-ups.
The experience for the group started on Friday with a cruise to Four Roses Café, where the eight competitors would enjoy lunch together followed by the chip draw for round one of competition.
The competitors would see two rounds of competition on Friday, as well as two rounds on Saturday, with each round done by random chip draw to give each competitor a fair shot at the possible match-ups.
The two drivers with the most round wins would move to the final round on Sunday to determine the class winner.
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The eight-car field was packed with quick small tire and big tire vehicles, with Steve Morris, Aydan Bailey and Nick Cryer representing the big tire crowd.
On the small tire side, Dave and Nick Diehl, Kyle Bemount, TJ Linebaugh, Matt Donovan and Bryan Crane would do battle with their big-tire brothers.
Friday afternoon’s first round started with Steve Morris and his 1993 ‘Boostmaster’ station wagon against Kyle Bemount’s 2000 Pontiac Trans Am, and Steve Morris’ 4.36 would hit the eighth-mile stripe first over Bemount’s 4.97 pass.
Bryan Crane’s stick-shift 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra faced the unique 1963 Divco Milk Truck of Nick Cryer in the second pair, and Crane recovered from initial tire spin off the line for a 6.11 to pull off the win over the milk truck’s 6.90 pass.
The third match-up pitted David Diehl’s 2000 Ford Mustang opposite TJ Linebaugh’s 1978 Ford Fairmont station wagon in a battle of turbocharged LS-swap rides, and David Diehl’s 5.45 at 136 mph held off the 5.80 at 120 mph of Linebaugh on the eighth-mile standard.
That left Aydan Bailey to battle Matt Donovan, and the ’57 Chevrolet wagon took the win via as close 6.16 at 110 mph to Donovan’s 6.24 at 111 mph in his ’38 Chevrolet coupe.
The Friday evening session started with a rematch of Bemount and Morris, and the cooler air and track surface delivered improved performances as Morris picked up his second win with a 4.24 at 177 mph to dismiss Bemount’s 4.89 at 147 mph.
Crane faced Linebaugh in an all-Ford battle next, and Crane got the win with a 5.43 at 140 mph pass staying ahead of Linebaugh’s 5.69 at 121 mph.
Diehl picked up his second win of the day with a 4.83 at nearly 150 mph over Cryer’s 6.84 at 99.98 mph. Bailey and Donovan would stage up their second-straight battle, with Bailey’s improved 5.49 at 126 mph getting the better of Donovan’s 6.07 at 112 mph.
Saturday afternoon would put the eight rides back in the lanes for their third lap, and the random pairs kicked off with Morris opposite the wheelstanding milk truck of Cryer, with Morris picking up the win via the 4.31 to 6.91 count.
Bemount got his first win of the weekend, rolling to a 4.96 over a troubled 9.09 for Crane. Donovan staged ‘Garbage That Barfed’ opposite Diehl, and the gasser pulled off the upset with a 6.10 over the closing, but second-finishing, 6.28 of Diehl.
Bailey and Linebaugh staged up an all-station wagon battle, which Bailey won with his best pass so far, a 5.29 at 131 mph over Linebaugh’s 5.70 at 121 mph.
It was down to the final round Saturday night, and both Morris and Bailey entered this stage with three wins each, while Crane and Diehl had notched two wins a piece. Diehl and Crane got paired to open the round, and a little friendly smack talk entered the chat before they staged up. Diehl got the win with a 4.85 at 149 mph over a 5.26 at 142 mph from Crane, his best pass of the weekend.
Morris and Bemount pulled the other’s chip for the third time in four match-ups, and Morris’s wagon would stay undefeated with a 4.36 at 171 mph to lock up a final round berth and negate Bemount’s 4.83 at 148 mph, his best pass of the weekend.
Cryer’s milk truck got its first win of the weekend with Donovan left the starting line too soon for a red light, and a second-straight wagon battle between Linebaugh and Bailey found the tables turned when Linebaugh’s 5.64 at 123 mph won over Bailey’s 6.34 at 99 mph as he experienced boost cut issues.
The final tally had Morris with a perfect 4-0 record, while Bailey and Diehl both snagged three wins. So, the tiebreaker of best average time would be employed to determine who would run Morris for the overall title, and Diehl got the nod over Bailey.
So, Sunday afternoon Morris and Diehl would stage up to determine the second Sick the Mag Drag-and-Drive Shootout winner. Nick Diehl wicked up the tune in hopes of taking down Morris, but a best-of-the-weekend 4.82 at 149 mph for David Diehl finished second to the 4.27 at 179 mph of Morris, netting Morris the overall win and the coveted Sick The Mag orange helmet.
In a couple grudge pairings, Cryer lined up with Donovan with ice cream on the line, and Donovan’s 6.44 squeaked by the holeshot-aided 6.90 of Cryer, meaning Cryer was on the hook for ice cream.
Bailey and Linebaugh would stage the battle of station wagon once again, as they had each gained a victory over the other. This race would come with the loser buying Chick-Fil-A, and Bailey got the win with a 5.35 over Linebaugh’s quickest pass of the event, a 5.63.
Tom Bailey and crew captured the action from the cruise to the chip draws and pairings, and you can watch that here:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Tom Bailey, TJ Linebaugh and Kyle Bemount.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com