Following a couple seasons in the National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) 8.60 Street Race class, Leticia Hughes made the jump to her first drag and drive event at the 2024 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive. Doing the event with husband Rick riding as the co-pilot, Leticia completed the week in her 2018 Ford Mustang GT with an 8.57 average and third place in the Sick Street Race Category.

“It was an amazing event,” said Leticia. “I didn’t think we would place top three; we just planned to have a decent tune up in the car, make a single pass each day, and hit the road.” After competing primarily in the NMRA series, Leticia decided to branch out and do a few new events in 2024. Leticia and daughter Abbey even wheeled the Sick BBQ-Ice Cream-Hot Dog truck on Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks.

“Doing the drag and drive style of event was so much rewarding,” Leticia said. After completing her season at No Mercy at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Leticia and Rick decided the Mustang needed some upgrades. Those changes included a switch in power adders on the Stage 2 TKM Performance Gen 3 Coyote, as Leticia and Rick have installed a pair of HPT Turbochargers in the 68/70-millimeter size, as well as a custom air to water intercooler.

Leticia will have the latest round of upgrades done in time to enter our Sick At The Rock event in April, where she hopes to claim her share of the $32,000 up for grabs in our Sick Street Car Challenge class.

For Rick and Jacki Steinke, they’ve been around the drag-and-drive scene for quite a while, and although both have done well behind the wheel, Rick’s 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle 4-door is the more well-known ride.

The Chevelle has been absent from the drag-and-drive scene in 2024, but the classic Chevy known as ‘Honk If Parts Fall Off’ will be hunting for a top spot on the upcoming Edelbrock Sick 66 event next month.

As we roll into the last part of summer, and the last third of the drag-and-drive season, we’re also seeing several competitors seeing success at standalone events.

We have a trio of big drag-and-drive events coming next week, but here's a few stories from the drag-and-drive community last week.

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.

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.