The Final Sick Drag-and-Drive Event of 2024 – How Competitors Become Family
As the drag-and-drive hangover takes control of me for the third time this year, thoughts of the drag-and-drive community are forefront in my mind as I try to readjust back to normal life again.
Sometimes it seems surreal that I’m able to do this, and after racing for a little over three decades, going from a weekend racer to an announcer still seems odd at times.
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It was January 2022 when I got a text from Brian Lohnes about announcing Sick Week. I felt time stop, my throat was dry, my mind racing, I didn’t know how to respond, except “I’m shocked - LET’S DO IT!”
I was only two years into announcing part time at my local track - Gainesville Raceway - but being around the drag racing game all my life, I felt prepared me somewhat for this chance. I had no idea just how life changing that Sick Week would be.
Now, with Sick 66 completed, I’m thinking back to all the cool things we saw as a group. The tracks, the check points, the history of doing a drag-and-drive almost completely on route 66 for the first time in history.
And after last year’s Death Week event, where a smaller group of enthusiasts banded together to cover 2000 miles over nine days, the drag-and-drive community once again showed their true colors. We’re not competitors; we are a family. Granted, some are closer family than others, but we’re here for the adventure. And we want to see EVERY person cross that finish line.
For all of you that have taken part in one of over 30 drag-and-drive events so far this year, thank you for sharing this way of life! For those that haven’t, there are still seven events between now and December, in both Australia and the US, available to you.
There’s already over a dozen drag-and-drive events with 2025 dates scheduled as well! Get out there and experience an event, and the extended family, of the drag-and-drive world. Then, you too can wake up a day after the event completion, wonder why you’re not already on the road to the next track to make passes, and determine how to adjust to the real world once again.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com