The Two Sides of Day 2 at Sick Week – New Class Leaders Emerge, the Rise and Fall of a Champion, and the Art of the ‘One and Done’
After the highs and lows of Day 1 of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive at Orlando Speed World Dragway, the initial class leaders were determined, the overall leadership belonged to Tom Bailey with a 6.24 run, and the 332 competitors that started Sick Week was trimmed by nineteen names that started the Did Not Finish list.
With a lot of carnage at Orlando on day one, the drive to Bradenton Motorsports Park for day two would prove a late one, for several competitors not arriving at their hotels until the early hours of Tuesday morning.
But some learned their lessons, getting the right tune up in the cars for the first session on Tuesday to accomplish the “one and done” – one pass and then pack up and hit the road to cover some 300 miles to South Georgia Motorsports Park for day three.
Once again, near sea-level atmospheric conditions, combined with Wade Rich’s track prep at BMP, meant the cannon shots came about almost immediately.
Jason Tabscott went wheels up big time in his 1970 Chevrolet Camaro, but set it down nicely for an 8.54 at 158 mph, landed him third in Naturally Aspirated with an 8.53 average. Jason would make a couple more attempts, but was unable to improve on his first pass.
Brett LaSala stayed consistent to his 6.52 at 212 mph from day one, making one lap of a 6.55 at 215 mph and getting the ‘Snot Rocket 2.0’ loaded ready for the drive in the early afternoon.
Alex Taylor and Steve Morris lined up a side-by-side 6-second pass in the first session, with Alex delivering a 6.90 at 206 mph, resetting her own personal-best pass and getting to enjoy the ‘one and done’ – making one run, packing up early and to head for the next track, versus having to wait for the next session to mark a better pass. Steve rode the Boostmaster wagon to a 6.67 at 218 mph, also doing the ‘one and done’ route.
Then the Swedes took over, with Stefan Gustafsson and Michael Westberg trading blows. Finally, the S-10 got the upper hand, with a 6.40 at 210 mph from Michael narrowly edging out the 6.43 at 218 mph from Stefan. Plus, the Corvette driver blew the driver side door off in the lights, and as of Tuesday night, Stefan was still looking for a fix.
Bryant Goldstone improved to a 6.69 at 215 mph to lead the Unlimited Iron class over Alex Taylor in second.
Cleetus McFarland needed more than a few runs to his powerful El Camino down the track, but he did so a consistent 6.75 at 215 mph to sit second to Brett LaSala in the Modified class.
Eric Yost made his second-straight 7.4x time, this one a 7.43 at 187 mph, to continue leading the Super Street class.
But the carnage in day two was intense, and Tom Bailey leads the surprises with Sick Seconds 2.0 ‘69 Camaro, as transmission troubles put Tom out of competition.
The incoming Stick Shift class would be led by Chad Fegley with a 7.57 on Monday, the quickest pass ever for a stick shift car in drag-and-drive history. Less than 24 hours later, Fegley threw in the towel, as the manual transmission decided it was time to break.
Steve Morris got on the road to KSR to borrow a lift and some tools to swap out his transmission, but ended up with a damaged driveshaft as well, and had to raise the white flag.
What does day three hold? Be at South Georgia Motorsports Park, or tune in for the Motion Raceworks live stream on YouTube.
Written by Derek Putnam.