Can Mike Finnegan, Joe Cole and David Newbern Survive Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive 2025 – Watch 5 Days, 900 Miles and Lots of Gear Jamming Action!
As a project he built from the ground up starting in 2012, Mike Finnegan might not have foreshadowed his 1955 Chevrolet could be a race car, let alone a drag and drive ride.
The car that employs an old-school HEMI powerplant, thus the name ‘Blasphemi’ from the engine swap, got its first use to do a 2,600-mile road trip from California to North Carolina for the start of Hot Rod Power Tour.
But just a few years later, Finnegan made the choice to jump from pit reporter and drag and drive enthusiast to competitor, and for his 2025 Sick Week adventure, he brings us along for a 5-part breakdown on YouTube.
Mike Finnegan Bringing Blasphemi to Sick At The Rock for Stick Shift Action in the Sick Street Car Challenge Class!
Although he has a couple drag and drive project cars waiting in the wings, Mike Finnegan has shared with Sick The Mag that he wants to be back behind the wheel of ‘Blasphemi’ - his Gasser '55 Chevrolet with a supercharged HEMI - for a couple more events this year.
“After completing Sick Week, I’m in love with the car again,” said Finnegan of his ’55 Chevy. “I feel like that week helped us learn a lot, and I want to get back in the seat again.”
He admits the shorter drive distance and three run average that Sick At The Rock is a different way to tackle a drag and drive, but the two-day format should hopefully bring more participants.
“I hope it gets more enthusiasts to come out and try a drag and drive,” said Finnegan. “I might get with Tom and see if we can get a group to go cruising together Friday evening. I think that would be cool, and the local community could participate too.”
Mike Finnegan Thrashes to Bring Blasphemi to Sick Week for the First Time in 2025!
“There are just two weeks until the Sick Week event, the next drag-and-drive we’re going to compete in here on Finnegan’s Garage, and I have some problems.”
This is how Mike Finnegan, the host of the popular Finnegan’s Garage YouTube channel and recently concluded Roadkill show, started his most recent video upload. The urgency to get his 1955 Chevrolet packing a supercharged HEMI engine, appropriately named ‘Blasphemi’, completed and ready for Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive is apparent, but peppered with humor and a little sarcasm.
Finnegan has had a love-hate relationship with drag-and-drive events, and although not uncommon to some participants, Finnegan has experienced a variety of reasons for not completing the event.
Will he complete Sick Week in his first appearance since 2022?
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 has passed away.