Sick Week wins USA Today ’ s ‘ Best Motorsport Race ’ By Rob King

Nominations for the award were carefully curated by a panel of subject matter experts and USA Today 10Best editors before being voted on by the public . The Sick community quickly rallied to the cause and helped bring national recognition not just to Sick Week , but to dragand-drive as a whole .

Sick Week Presented By Gear Vendors Overdrive is held annually in Florida and Georgia . Over 300 teams take street-legal cars to four dragstrips across five days , handing in their best time on each day . In simple terms , the racer with the quickest average time is the winner . The event pitches itself as the Super Bowl of Drag-and-Drive .

The sport of drag-and-drive is currently in an explosive state of growth . Cars are under construction in thousands of workshops across the country and new events are being created across the world . First imagined by journalist David Freiburger as the ultimate test to determine America ’ s quickest street car , drag-and-drive now encompasses not just those in search of peak performance , but the adventure that comes with it .

Sick The Magazine was launched in 2021 to cover the sport in detail , with a quarterly book of 212 pages dedicated to real car people . Tom Bailey is the publisher of Sick The Magazine , as well as one of the top drag-and-drive competitors .

“ Some people might ask , how can an event like Sick Week possibly compare to the Indy 500 with over 100 years of history , or the thunder of Daytona ?” Bailey says . “ For me , it comes down to opportunity . Where most professional motorsport is a dream out of reach , drag-and-drive is for all . We see people from all walks of life at Sick Week and they are racing on the same dragstrips , driving on the same routes and having the same adventure , no matter what vehicle they are in .

“ Sick Week encourages us not just to be spectators to other people ’ s achievements , but to make sure our own lives are full of accomplishment . Drag-and-drive is a sport where people have experiences they remember for a lifetime . We ’ re proud to be the recipient of USA Today ’ s Best Motorsports Race award and I hope this helps bring even more people into the world of dragand-drive .”

The first Sick Week was held in 2022 and it has become a must-attend event for any fan of motorsport . Sick The Magazine editor Luke Nieuwhof said Sick Week and the sport of drag-and-drive is unique for the way it breaks free of the confines of a track and takes part in the real world .

“ Elite motorsport is almost clinical , racing down to a science ,” Nieuwhof says . “ While the engineering behind the cars at Sick Week is incredible , they are all subject to the demands of the road and the inherent unpredictability of that environment . What ’ s more , the general public are exposed to the sport in a visceral way – it ’ s really something to be cruising down the highway alongside a street car with 3,000 horsepower . We have a lot of people now racing whose first exposure to the sport was simply seeing the cars on the road , and that ’ s pretty cool .

“ Thanks to everybody who voted for Sick Week to win USA Today ’ s Best Motorsports Race . It goes to show the strength of the community we have involved in drag-and-drive . The passion and enthusiasm people have for this sport is taking it far .”

Sick Week ’ s 2024 edition was won by the USA ’ s Brett LaSala thanks to an average quarter-mile time of 6.340 seconds over five days of competition . Fellow American Bryant Goldstone was second with a 6.519 average , while Sweden ’ s Stefan Gustafsson clinched third with a 6.745 average .

The name Sick has now become synonymous with the drag-and-drive lifestyle , offering a full range of merchandise as well as the industryleading magazine that launched the brand .

Sick Week couldn ’ t happen without a team of volunteers , support staff , media , and officials who ensure safe , fair , and fun competition for all . These efforts are boosted by those of Sick Week ’ s sponsors , including Gear Vendors Overdrive , Motion Raceworks , Summit Racing Equipment , PEAK Performance , Driven Racing Oil , ISKY Racing Cams , Mickey Thompson , VP Racing Fuels , Pilot Transport , XS Power Batteries , Delta PAG , Dodge , Edelbrock , Precision Turbo & Engine , RaceQuip , TBM Brakes and Holley NOS . DI

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUKE NIEUWHOF

34 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 189