The newest build for the Cleetus McFarland camp started at Cameron Johnson Race Cars in May this year, as a new ‘69 Camaro takes aim at the 5-second zone.

Yesterday, the latest build out of CJRC hit the track at Bradenton Motorsports Park to get Cleetus ready for World Cup Finals at Maryland International Raceway this week.

After two-plus years away from the scene, Doug Cook and his storied 1972 Chevrolet Nova came into 2024 with some goals. By October, the Nova has already put in a bunch of street miles, delivered a chunk of solid runs on the track, and even won a Sick Summer class. But Doug and the crew aren’t done yet, but recently they checked off a big box during a test session.

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.

After successfully completing his second drag-and-drive event at the Redwood Rally in 2023, Ryan Saiki plans to return in just over a week with some updates and ‘adjustments’ to a storied Chevrolet Corvette. This C3 Corvette embarked on its first drag-and-drive last year, and Ryan plans to make the second one just as memorable.

Tom Kuepper's version of the popular Ford half-ton platform served as a farm truck in its past life, but Tom wasn’t focused on field work when he picked up the truck. Sporting a 438 cubic inch Windsor-based engine with a pair of 78/75-millimeter turbochargers, Tom recently went hunting for a 8-second time slip!

For Alexis Zarate, she’ll embark on her first drag-and-drive, something she’s wanted to do for nearly a decade, at the Edelbrock Sick 66 this October.

The 26 year-old mother of two got her introduction to cars through her father, as well as the ’69 Camaro she currently navigates. “My dad bought the car at age 17, and gave it to me when I was a year old."

"Our goals were an 8-second average, and an 8-second pass every day. I ran in the 8-second range for three of the days, despite having just converted it to pump E-85 fuel prior to the event." Heading back to Byron Dragway for the final day, Mike Chenoweth was looking at a possible top five finish in the Sick Street Race class, but faced several challenges on day five of Sick Summer.

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.

The evolution of engine building and making big horsepower has really ramped up in the last decade! Although there are classes that keep those power figures in check with weight and power-adder restrictions, seeing the potential of what’s available to consumers is still eye-opening!

After pushing his first ‘Snot Rocket’ Ford Mustang into the 6-second range at over 200 mph, Brett LaSala made the jump in 2022 to a lighter chassis to pursue his next set of goals.

After two years, multiple victories and becoming a record-holder in the drag-and-drive scene, the ‘Snot Rocket 2.0’ 2012 Mustang has gone up for sale.

Chevrolet recently announced the latest Corvette ZR1 model, stated for roll out in spring 2025. Packing a 5.5-liter LT7 flat plane crankshaft engine and a pair of turbochargers, the output is a staggering 1,064 horsepower at 7,000 RPM, and 828 lb/feet of torque at 6,000 RPM.

With the increase in the number of drag-and-drive events in the last three years, it’s becoming more commonplace to see competitors at more than one event during a calendar year. There are several that have made their mark in the drag-and-drive world, and one of the top ones is Bryant Goldstone.

As the number of burnout contests increase, it’s not uncommon to find cars and trucks that are built for the sole purpose of creating clouds of smoke and destroying tires. But there’s a few that see street and drag strip use as well, and a unique one plans to make their return to Sick Powerfest a good one.

After building an exo roll cage for Cleetus McFarland’s Corvette several years ago, it was no surprise that Cameron Johnson was tapped to build Cleetus’ latest race car, a ’69 Chevrolet Camaro known as ‘Eagle.’ Now, Cameron Johnson Race Cars (CJRC) is jumping into the drag-and-drive world with a brand new build of their own.

Kevin Schweizer chose a different car for his efforts with a 1980 Mercury wagon, and he also skipped past traditional Ford options, instead landed on one of Ford’s newest engines, the 7.3L Godzilla pushrod engine. This not only allowed him to run the all-Ford NMRA series, including their popular True Street class, but also take part in the Godzilla Invasion special classes at the recent Norwalk event.

One year ago, Travis Larson was riding high after attending the inaugural Sick Summer; compiling an 8.56 average to secure the Street Race 275 class win. But just three months later at a race during Labor Day weekend 2023, things took a turn for the worse.

After being on the sidelines for close to two years, what better time to bring back Uncle Sam than an election year? The 1991 Camaro got finished in time to participate in the first Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2022, and Nick Taylor is ready to return to the drag-and-drive scene in 2024.

Since the crash at this year’s Sick Week, we’ve waited and wondered when the 6-second station wagon of Steve Morris would see the light again. The answer: this weekend at the new Drop the Hammer drag-and-drive event, put on by fellow drag-and-drive runner Carl Stancell. It starts at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan Friday, May 31st.

“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.”

To take a “trashcan” pick-up to possibly the fastest full-size pick-up in drag-and-drive, this GMC got a complete rewire by HCR innovations, plus a LS engine north of 400 cubic inches sporting a pair of Precision Turbo and Engine turbos. Is it enough?