Boost Positive - Switching to Twin Turbos Nets Graham Hayes Two Straight Wins at Sick Week and Sick At The Rock!
Although we normally get to see all three power-adders do well at drag and drive events throughout the year, turbochargers are making a bigger presence on the results sheets and the awards ceremonies.
New to the turbo game in 2025 is the Nova of Graham Hayes, and based on his results from his first two drag and drive events of the season, the proof is in the boost.
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We’ve seen the Virginia-based ‘Bad Draw’ 1966 Chevrolet Nova at several events as a nitrous entry, but when Hayes showed up to this year’s Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive event with a pair of turbos under the hood, we took notice. “I have run nitrous from the time I was 17,” said Hayes. “I love a nitrous car; it is the easiest way to go fast. But after our 2024 Hot Rod Drag Week finish… we knew the car needed more power.”
That event, where Hayes rang up a best single run of 7.18 at 190 mph, as well as a 7.26 average, was a solid showing for the big block nitrous ride. But a fourth-place finish in Ultimate Iron, behind a trio of turbocharged cars, combined with the cost to add more power to his ride, gave Hayes pause on his next step.
“The nitrous motor I wanted to build was going to be 6 figures,” Hayes said. “We could buy a turbo motor and redo the car for half that and run just as fast, so the money made the difference for us.”
Over the winter, Hayes made the switch to twin-turbos. Matthew Smith at Performance Fab was credited with making the switch, with a PAR-built 540 cubic inch big block Chevrolet engine with pair of HPT 88-millimeter turbochargers providing the boost. A Turbo 400 3-speed transmission with the lock-up option from M & M transmission slid into place behind the potent powerplant.
It didn’t take long to show Hayes made the right move at Sick Week, starting the week with a 6.88 at 214 mph pass at South Georgia Motorsports Park on day one. It turned out to be the slowest run of the week, as Hayes and noted tuner Eric Gold continued to chip away at the Chevy Nova’s performance to compile an all 6-second week.
The average for week was a 6.64 tally, highlighted by a 6.49 at 225.00 mph blast with a 1.15 60 foot time, winning the Ultimate Iron class and the Sick orange helmet, as well as a top three average, which got Hayes a bonus Gear Vendors Overdrive guitar. “It was an amazing week,” said Hayes. “But I know there’s more left in this car.”
We saw him less than three months later at the recent Sick At The Rock Presented by Motion Raceworks at Rockingham Dragway, where the Nova arrived on 275 drag radials and the wick turned up. After some solid shake down runs where Gold continued to work on the 60 foot times, Hayes completed the mandatory cruise and checkpoints on Friday.
Saturday of Sick At The Rock found the duo tuned up for some stellar runs, and Hayes and Gold combined to put the Nova through its paces for a 4.191 at 183 mph run, followed by a 4.136 at 184.58 mph with an eye-opening 1.08 60 foot time.
The resulting 4.16 average earned Hayes the ‘Quickest Radial 275’ category win on Saturday night. “As far as Sick At The Rock, it’s something different, kind of a home run derby of drag and drive,” said Hayes.
Doing some benchracing on the data from his two appearances of 2025 shows Hayes could be a serious contender going forward. On the 6.49 pass from Sick Week, the ’66 Nova clocked a 4.30 at 178.71 mph to the eighth mile. Consider the elapsed time gain on the eighth-mile distance between Sick Week and Sick At The Rock, could the Nova have some 6.20s in it, and possibly a new ‘Ultimate Iron’ class record?
We may have to wait for 2026 to find out the answer to that question, as Hayes and wife Alyssa Harper-Hayes are expecting a baby girl in June. But Hayes will still get the clean Chevy some exercise at local eighth mile 275 radial racing, and said a return to Hot Rod Drag Week, and possibly Southeast Street N Yeet, is not out of the question.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Graham Hayes.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com