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.”

Some cars will come and go, but the ones that make for some of the best stories are the ones that have history with their owners. Colin Nowak has owned this 1995 Ford Mustang since high school, and after a dozen years cruising and racing it, he’s ready to roll into Rockingham Dragway for next month’s Sick At The Rock and tackle the Sick Street Car Challenge class.

If this supercharged Mustang looks familiar, it’s because Colin made a presence at the 2024 edition of Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, finishing second in the Modified class with a 9.18 average.

“Car did great,” said Colin. “We didn't have to mess with anything other than swapping tires, shock settings and fuel. Was pretty wild to see after day one I was in third.” He eventually moved to second on day three, where he would stay until the event was completed.

Now, he’s prepping for Sick Summer, Sick Smokies, and Sick At The Rock in 2025.

The Edelbrock name has been a staple in the performance industry since they released their first product in 1938. Vic Edelbrock Sr. had made the move from Kansas to California, and had been at the helm of a successful repair business.

After buying a 1932 Ford roadster in 1938, which marked Vic Sr.’s entry into the world of hot rods, Vic Sr. would dive into the world of performance parts.

The ’Slingshot’ aluminum manifold, a 180-degree design for the Ford flathead engine that used a pair of Stromberg 97 carburetors, would be the first product to feature the ‘Edelbrock’ name.

It's not uncommon to see the Edelbrock Performance name at dozens of events, especially drag racing. So, we were excited to have Edelbrock join us for our Sick 66 as the title sponsor in 2024. “It was an amazing time,” said Billy Carroll of Edelbrock. “To combine Route 66 with some great participants made for an enjoyable week. It almost felt like I wasn’t working.”

After competing in his wife’s Trans Am in 2023, Chuck Stefanski decided to up the ante and re-vamp his 1981 Pontiac Lemans station wagon for a full season in 2024.

Chuck Stefanski achieved some solid results, completing two drag and drive events, and scoring wins at two events. Now he’s got new goals for 2025, including the new Sick Street Car Challenge class at the Sick At The Rock event next month.

“I think this is an awesome way to showcase drag and drive, and giving the competitors several chances to win some real cash,” said Chuck. “This structure allows the spectators to stay at one track and see every pass. This event is going to set the pace for the future of drag and drive, and I am along for the ride!”

As trends come and go, one thing that’s shown staying power is the drag racing world and the history behind it. As each year rolls by, the history of racing, as well as the cars that participated as part of it, become talking points at more benchracing sessions and staging lane gatherings. It’s just cool to see cars with history come back into focus once again, and for Darin Hendricks, he’s ready to write the next chapter of a storied history for this Ford Mustang Cobra.

Now, the fact this is a real deal 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra, one of 5100 originally built for the model year (including the rare Cobra R models). But despite its collectability, Darin was anything but gentle with it. “It has spent most of its life as a race car,” said Darin. But after almost two decades as a race ride, Darin is ready for the next chapter - drag-and-drive action with a supercharged combination under the hood, and a 5-speed manual transmission!

When mentioning power adders, there are a ton of choices in today’s market. But when it comes to superchargers, one made quite the impression with turn-key systems for Ford engines back in the 1990s, and that was Vortech Engineering. Since that start of the business, they’ve added more power to a lot of rides, and now it’s becoming just as common to see Vortech units on 7-second and 8-second rides as the thousands of fun street cars and daily drivers on the road today.

After being in business for about a decade, Vortech purchased the owner’s former employer’s business, Paxton Superchargers, and added it to the Vortech portfolio. Today, Vortech’s expanded offerings with Paxton onboard means well over 100 different kits are available.

Unless rules dictate otherwise, it’s becoming more common to see turbochargers at the top of the drag-and-drive playing field. Now, granted there are plenty of supercharged and nitrous-assisted hot rods as well, and even a few quick naturally-aspirated combinations. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see a majority of the top ten spots on the recent Edelbrock Sick 66 going to turbo entries, but looking a little closer reveal some parity.

With a solid resume in bracket racing in multiple cars, Lane Cavar had become a common name in the winners’ circle on the west coast. But he still felt like something was missing, especially with his high school car, a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu.

“I have always attempted to keep my car as multipurpose as possible, but was getting to the point of being a sole race car,” said Lane. “Being this is the car I drove to high school, I wanted to revert the car back to street car form.”

This ‘69 Chevrolet Camaro might be rare with its Australian heritage and right-hand-drive layout. But that doesn’t mean it won’t lay down a solid burnout!

2024 has been epic for Sick the Magazine - we’ve done two great events - Sick Week and Sick Summer - and done three vehicle giveaways. But we’re not even close to done for the year, and here’s our next vehicle giveaway: this 1962 Chevy II Gasser!

Last year, we saw Adam and Jason Kelley hit the ground at Sick Powerfest Presented by Dodge and M1 Concourse with a pair of Ford F100 pick-up trucks and a 3rd-generation Camaro. This year, they will bring two new burnout vehicles that we didn’t get to see last year to defend their title!

It’s been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Australia’s Darren Parker could not have flattered Chevrolet any more with the passion behind his COPO-inspired Holden Commodore.

I’m ready to be spending more time enjoying the car; the challenge of a drag-and-drive, and hanging out with like minded folks.

“The 2022 Sick Week was my first time down the track in my whole life. It hooked me, and now I look forward to it every year!”

Ryan Mitchell is normally in the mix with this Firebird, and although it’s picked up its share of wins with a twin-turbocharged big block set-up, Ryan recently made the change to a ProCharger F-3 supercharger.