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Combining Ingenuity and a Need for Parts, Isky Racing Cams Provides Better Solutions for Enthusiasts – Including Several in the Drag-and-Drive Community

Racers and automotive enthusiasts can be resourceful in more ways than one. If something isn’t available or built to tolerate a vehicle’s demands, there is normally another option. Even if that option is doing it yourself, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and that’s exactly how Isky Racing Cams got its start.

Now, over 70 years alter, ISKY Racing Cams continues to support enthusiasts, including in the drag-and-drive community.

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How Summit Racing Equipment Combined a Love for Drag-and-Drive with Business Smarts to Provide a Better Experience for Competitors and Enthusiasts Alike

The Summit Racing Equipment name brings decades of experience in the performance and racing landscape. But their introduction to the drag-and-drive community was through one of their valued employees. “I’ve always been a fan of drag-and-drive since the first year of Hot Rod Drag Week,” said Tommy Dupree of Summit Racing. “I went a few times when it was close to my home base.” That love for cars and trucks that could handle street and strip duty took the next step when Tommy encouraged Summit to get involved.  

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Gear Vendors Overdrive Celebrates 20 Years with the Drag-and-Drive Community and Giving 3-4000 Horsepower Rides An Extra Gear

The drag-and-drive community started with one event, Hot Rod Drag Week, in 2005. That event has grown into a movement with a large community of participants and fans, over 40 different events across multiple countries, and influenced thousands of car and truck builds to prove they can survive the street and the strip torture tests known by many as drag-and-drive.

There are a only a select few that have seen it all since the beginning, and Rick Johnson with Gear Vendors Overdrive is one of those people.

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Luke . Luke .

Defining Moment: Goldstone’s No-Quit Drag Week Highlights 20th Running of Hot Rod Drag Week

Bryant Goldstone has been a player in the drag-and-drive game for over a decade. 2024 was playing out like a dream for Goldstone leading up to Hot Rod Drag Week, with a trio of major event victories.

Could he keep the 6-second 200+ mph laps coming at Drag Week and earn another title, or would a nightmare Did Not Finish await him at the twentieth running of Hot Rod Drag Week?

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Jerry and Matt Sweet Recover from Engine Damage in Time to Return to Hot Rod Drag Week in Hopes of Finishing His 7-Second Reign From 2023

This colorful 1976 Chevrolet Nova has already secured a class victory at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2022, along with a pair of top three finishes at Sick Week in 2002 and 2023.

But for Drag Week in 2023, Jerry and Matt Sweet rolled to the starting line on day one packing a new engine combination north of 800 cubic inches, putting the Nova into the 7-second zone for the first time in competition. They didn't finish the week last year; will they complete the task this time around?

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Buried for Over 30 Years, A Former Magazine Project Car Gets a Second Chance At This Year's Hot Rod Drag Week

Discovered as a time capsule car a few years back, Ken Robinson saw this 1969 Plymouth Valiant for sale on Facebook Marketplace in the spring of 2022.

Originally built as a ‘Street Rat’ as ‘Uncle’ Tony Defeo penned in the Mopar High Performance magazine article on the car in 1985 (that first issue came out in early 1986), the car didn’t give any indication it was a bruiser, other than the scooped hood.

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A Flying Fairmont Goes in Search of 6-Second Runs and a Class Win At Hot Rod Drag Week

During this year’s Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, Frank Webb shot onto our radars on day two with a massive triple-wheelie from his 1978 Ford Fairmont.

It got Webb and the Ford a lot of attention, but it also resulted in a trip to the tower looking for a replacement Aeromotive mechanical fuel pump, when the wheelie claimed his pump. Would it be the second-straight DNF for the 7-second Ford?

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Looking to Tame a New Animal, Jody Ames Moves from Cougar to Jaguar to Coyote for Turbocharged 8-Second Runs at Hot Rod Drag Week

For many that strive to attend a drag-and-drive event, you can sometimes hit a wall where you realize that attending that year might not be in the card. Some might have a back-up plan, or in rare case, multiple options.

For Jody Ames, the 2024 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week marks the first time he is able to take his original ‘Plan A’ car, a 2016 Ford Mustang.

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A Decade of Drag-and-Drives – Bob Ruppel’s Nova Has What It Takes to Survive on the Street and the Track

Bob Ruppel's drag-and-drive experience was solidified on his Hot Rod Drag Week. "I'm a competitive person, so even when things are going wrong, I try to push through it all. When my second ever drag-and-drive event required a short block swap in a checkpoint parking lot 800 miles from home, and you're with like minded car people, anything seems possible."
What story will he tell from this year's Hot Rod Drag Week?

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SuperNova – Jack Brooks Aims to Return to the Site of His First Drag-and-Drive, Hot Rod Drag Week, With a More Powerful ’64 Nova

After a successful drag-and-drive debut at Hot Rod Drag Week in 2023, Jack Brooks looked to continue his drag-and-drive adventure at this year’s Sick Week and Sick Summer. Neither panned out as he wanted, so it was back to the drawing board, and a bunch of changes, to plot his return to Hot Rod Drag Week.

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The State of Street Race and Limited Street - How Close Things Get When Battling in the 8.50 Ranks

There are so many things you can focus on as part of a drag-and-drive, and one that I’m diving into today is the tight competition that comes with the Hot Rod Drag Week Street Race class, as well as the Rocky Mountain Race Week Limited Street class, Sick Week and Sick Summer’s 275 Street Race and Sick Street Race classes, and the Midwest Drags Street Race classes.

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This Supercharged Station Wagon Keeps a Promise Made, While Making Updates for Wheels Up Single Digit Passes at Hot Rod Drag Week

Although some look at cars and trucks as mere transportation, others look at them as part of the family. When Travis Fathi purchased this 1983 Chevrolet Malibu wagon from friend John Barton, the purchase came with a promise. “Before John passed away, I promised him that it would always be old school, a big block street rod.” It keeps that promise into 2024, but with some updates.

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Chasing Perfection – Clocking the Perfect Pass in Hot Rod Drag Week, Rocky Mountain Race Week, Sick Week and Sick Summer 8.50-Second Limited Classes

Although Hot Rod Drag Week didn’t start out with the intention of making their Street Race classes into an index-based competition, that’s become the norm. Rocky Mountain Race Week and Sick Week-Sick Summer followed suit, and the competition to run that 8.500 perfect pass is heating up.

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Repeat Performance: the Kurczak Family is Returning to Sick Summer, and Thrashing to Do So Once Again

Despite the lack of sleep and another year of thrashing, Jeff Kurczak is looking forward to spending time with his family on Sick Summer. Jeff will be piloting his Godzilla-powered ‘93 Mustang, while his son will wheel an ‘80 Fairmont. For daughter Aly Kurczak, she will participate as a competitor on her first drag-and-drive ever, after riding with Jeff on last year’s Sick Summer.

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