As one of the participants that’s attended every year of Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, Matt Lamphier has experienced the highs and lows of a drag-and-drive event. He won the hotly-contested 235 Outlaw Street Race class at Sick Week in 2022, but had the reversal of fortune the last two years of Sick Week. But Matt and his wife / co-pilot Meg have a plan for 2025 to return to winning ways.

One year after scoring a coveted Sick the Magazine class-winning orange helmet, Matt and the LS-swapped 1992 Mazda Miata known as “The Turtle” had the engine lock up less than an hour from his day two destination – Bradenton Motorsports Park. Last year he exploded an engine.

Can Matt and Meg find the magic from their 2022 Sick Week and collect a second helmet in 2025?

Well known in the small tire and no-prep circles, the ‘Beater Bomb’ Ford Mustang has been winning on practically every surface for over a decade. Joey Hiykel’s Mustang is an eighth-mile rocket, and although he usually keeps things under wraps on engine combination and performances, he recently dropped a new record and revealed times.

Both Rocky Mountain Race Week and Sick the Mag event rules for the Rowdy Radial class are simple: 235 sized tire (26-inches tall and 8.5-inches in width), and an eighth-mile distance format. No suspension requirements, no weight minimum, run what ya brung and hope you brought enough. But with increased performances and shrinking fields at some events, is it time for an updated ruleset?

“Sick Week 2024 was my first time competing (in a drag-and-drive) and it was truly a dream come true. Probably back to middle school, I used to drive my teachers insane for a week out of every September where I would do nothing but watch the Hot Rod Drag Week live feed. I’ve followed this stuff forever, and always wanted to build something to compete.”

One of the newest competitors to Sick Week in 2024 is Kolby Bouck, who made the trip from Edmonton, Alberta Canada to Orlando. Kolby has owned a few Mustangs, but this 2017 model showed up ready to party in the Rowdy Radial class.

Entering its eighth year on a multitude of platforms, the 235 tire continues to gain interest and new competitors. The 26-inch-tall x 8.5-inch width tire may have originally gotten a home with mostly 5-second rides on the eighth-mile standard, but it’s pushed several rides into the 4-second zone in 2023 and 2024.