Street Outlaws Are Coming to Sick Week!
Just over seven years has passed since Jeff Lutz participated in the 2016 Hot Rod Drag Week event, but Jeff has been keeping up on drag-and-drive news.
And although Jeff’s firesuit hasn’t collected any dust as he’s been busy with both the Street Outlaws and No Prep Kings television shows, the iconic ’69 Camaro known as ‘Mad Max’ has been on the sidelines. But that’s all about to change, as Jeff is planning a comeback at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive later this month.
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“It’s been a long time (since we’ve been on a drag-and-drive),” said Jeff. “We’re excited to do it.” Despite his busy schedule keeping him away from not only Hot Rod Drag Week, but any drag-and-drive event, Jeff never lost hope. “I’ve told Tom Bailey that I wanted to come do Sick Week for a while,” said Jeff. “It always falls on top of something else. Last year we were in Australia, and it just so happens this year it’s very doable.
The ’69 Camaro started life as a Pro Modified ride in a yellow finish that Jeff secured a world championship in the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) series in 2013.
The car was eventually converted to a drag-and-drive layout, and the stealth black bomber debuted in drag-and-drive trim at the 2015 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week. Son Jeffrey also debuted his ’89 Honda Civic at the same event, but the ‘Mad Max’ Camaro would get a lot of attention right out of the gate.
During Sunday’s test session, Jeff laid down a 6.05 at 249 mph blast, and then backed it up with a 6.05 at 251 mph blast on day one, nearly half-a-second quicker and 30 miles per hour faster than the previous record pass under drag-and-drive conditions.
Mad Max would fail to complete Hot Rod Drag Week that year, but Jeff got some redemption by scoring the overall title at the first Hot Rod Drag Weekend on the west coast later that year with a 6.47 average, the quickest average in the books to that point.
One year later Jeff returned to Hot Rod Drag Week, and this time he left little doubt that ‘Mad Max’ was the baddest Camaro in drag-and-drive competition. Scoring his second Unlimited class title, Jeff not only posted five runs of 6.25 or quicker, his winning 6.19 average still holds the quickest overall average mark to this day.
After that, Jeff took a hiatus from the drag-and-drive seen as he started to appear on Street Outlaws and No Prep Kings. And while ‘Mad Mad’ did make appearances, Jeff went back with what would become his trademark car, a ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air.
Ironically, when Jeff first appeared on the drag-and-drive scene in 2009, it was with a yellow ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air, but his Hot Rod Drag Week debut was cut short on day three after a pair of 7.6-second passes. Jeff recovered well in 2010 to complete the week with a 7.18 average at Hot Rod Drag Week, but finished second to Larry Larson’s Chevy Nova.
Jeff switched gears to bring out Denny Terzich’s freshly-built ’69 Camaro in 2011, sporting a 589 cubic inch big block and a ProCharger F3 supercharger, but the car failed to complete the week after a 7.33 pass on day one. The Camaro, known as ‘Sick Seconds’, became Tom Bailey’s in time for the 2012 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week.
Back behind the wheel of ’57 Chevy one year later, Jeff nearly garnered the top spot at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2012, but his 7.07 average came up just one hundredth short to Larry’s 7.06 mark.
Two years later, Jeff would score his first Hot Rod Drag Week title, securing the Unlimited class trophy with a 6.84 average from his ’57 Chevrolet, the final year we’d see Jeff on a drag-and-drive with a ’57 Chevrolet.
Now, with Jeff and son Jeffrey preparing to go back on a drag-and-drive, they need to get the ‘Mad Max’ Camaro back in fighting condition. “We’ve been working on Mad Max pretty diligently for the last three weeks, and it’s kicking our ass,” said Jeff. “We switched everything over to FuelTech. I had pulled the old motor out, and I’ve been using it at No Prep Kings. We’ve been switching stuff back and forth, but mostly bringing it up to date.”
The car will continue to employ a 540 cubic inch big block with twin 88-millimeter turbochargers from Precision, a Rossler Turbo 400 3-speed automatic and Gear Vendors Overdrive, very similar to its last combination on a drag-and-drive.
“I just want to come out and have fun again. I’ve missed doing this so I thought I’ll give it a whirl again,” said Jeff. “No expectations, I just want to show up and do my thing.”
The Camaro was not a shoe-in for Sick Week, but after weighing the options Jeff decided to bring back ‘Mad Max.’ “It was a toss-up between Mad Max and the new yellow ’57 Chevy, but the front end of the ’57 is still out at chroming, so Jeffrey and I decided to enter this,” said Jeff.
The Camaro will roll into Sick Week much lighter than ever before, and Jeff admits to losing 40 pounds himself. “I don’t know what the car weighs yet, as we haven’t even put the car on scales yet. But it’s going to be light.”
After being away from the drag-and-drive scene, what is Jeff hoping for during Sick Week? “If I can average where I was before, I’d be happy with that,” Jeff admitted. But has the thought of going for a 5-second pass and becoming the second car to do it crossed his mind?
“The 5-second thing is always in the back of your mind,” said Jeff. “I know no one has done it for the entire week, so that’s always on my mind.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Jeff Lutz and ProCharger.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com