The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) has been through a lot in the last couple years, including being purchased by two different entities, ceasing to host their popular Nitro Jam / Pro-Am events, and losing sanctioning for several dozen tracks to the new World Drag Racing Alliance (WDRA) and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

But an announcement today about ten events for the IHRA’s Pro-Am 2025 national event schedule signifies a big change in the organization, and a few of the race tracks on the schedule should raise some eyebrows.

The IHRA schedule includes Galot Motorsports Park and Maryland International Dragway, which were under IHRA sanctioning at the start of 2024.

But some of the tracks on the schedule, including Darlington Dragway, Milan Dragway and National Trail Raceway, were under NHRA sanctioning at the beginning of the 2024 season.

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!”

The 72nd annual Detroit Autorama in Michigan showcased hundreds of rides, including the ‘Great 8’ finalists for the coveted Ridler award. And although a lot of focus was on those beautiful rides, as well as the Ridler award winning ‘55 Chevrolet Nomad of Tom and Christy Bresnahan, there were a lot more awards given out, including the popular Drag and Drive category.

Drag and drive rides have to prove themselves on the track and the street, but the Detroit Autorama gave them a chance to do it under the lights at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan for a chance to claim an award. The familiar ’63 DIVCO Milk Truck of Nick Cryer, which was part of the Sick The Magazine display, scored the third-place finish in the category.

The recently completed Oldsmobile Cutlass of Steven Haefner would take a display spot in the Summit Racing Equipment booth, and by the end of the three-day show, Haefner collected a pair of awards, taking home first place in the Drag and Drive category, as well as Street Best Engine.

Following a couple seasons in the National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) 8.60 Street Race class, Leticia Hughes made the jump to her first drag and drive event at the 2024 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive. Doing the event with husband Rick riding as the co-pilot, Leticia completed the week in her 2018 Ford Mustang GT with an 8.57 average and third place in the Sick Street Race Category.

“It was an amazing event,” said Leticia. “I didn’t think we would place top three; we just planned to have a decent tune up in the car, make a single pass each day, and hit the road.” After competing primarily in the NMRA series, Leticia decided to branch out and do a few new events in 2024. Leticia and daughter Abbey even wheeled the Sick BBQ-Ice Cream-Hot Dog truck on Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks.

“Doing the drag and drive style of event was so much rewarding,” Leticia said. After completing her season at No Mercy at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Leticia and Rick decided the Mustang needed some upgrades. Those changes included a switch in power adders on the Stage 2 TKM Performance Gen 3 Coyote, as Leticia and Rick have installed a pair of HPT Turbochargers in the 68/70-millimeter size, as well as a custom air to water intercooler.

Leticia will have the latest round of upgrades done in time to enter our Sick At The Rock event in April, where she hopes to claim her share of the $32,000 up for grabs in our Sick Street Car Challenge class.

Several drag and drive events each year following the week-long format that Hot Rod Drag Week initiated in 2005. But we’ve seen a few events start to use the 2-3 day format, and Sick The Magazine’s will take that to the next level with our new Sick Street Car Challenge class at the Sick At The Rock event, April 10th - 12th, 2025 at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina.

“We have been trying to incorporate this into an event for a few years now,” Tom Bailey said of the new class. “Everyone we have mentioned it to has been all about it. Well, here it is - the Sick Street Car Challenge class!”

Registration to this two-day drag and drive format is now open to 200 lucky competitors, for a chance to collect their share of $32,000 in payouts. You don’t necessarily need to be the quickest overall either, as we have 32 different categories to award $1,000 in, and we’ve come up with some good ones to give every competitor a shot at some money.

The Sick Street Car Challenge, based on a two-day drag and drive format (Friday April 11th and Saturday April 12th), will compete on an eighth-mile distance. Street legal machines will battle for $32,000 in prize money across over two-dozen categories, with the ability to stack more than one category for huge payouts!

After a notable 2023 season where this 1993 Ford Mustang convertible picked up a trio of drag and drive wins, including the Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive and the Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes event, owner Devin Vanderhoof decided to make some major changes in 2024.

That list included a switch from a stock-style suspension to an aftermarket (parallel) 4-link suspension, double frame railing the Mustang, upgrading the roll cage to a 25.1 / 25.2 SFI-certification, and putting the car on a diet and removing around 200 pounds of heft.

Vanderhoof and Davis started their 2025 season with a win at this year’s Sick Week in the Modified class, including a new personal best pass of 6.37 at 227 mph at Gainesville Raceway (with eighth-mile numbers of 4.23 at 181 mph).

Just a couple week later, Vanderhoof and Davis returned to South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP) for the popular radial tire Lights Out event to participate in the ‘Braggin Rights’ street car class. After a few days of work, the team captured the overall title with a 6.38 at 228 mph final round blast.

But a recent test session at Carolina Dragway yielded a performance number they've been working towards for a long time.

For the 72nd time, Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan has been filled to capacity with hundreds of rides for the 3-day Detroit AutoRama.

One of the largest indoor car shows, news has just dropped on the ‘Great 8’ selection, a necessity for those eight finalists in their hopes to earn the coveted Ridler Award.

First presented in 1964, the Ridler Award is one of the highest awards to be captured in the custom and hot rod car community. It is awarded annually, and to even earn one of those coveted ‘Great 8’ slots, the vehicles must fall under under strict “never been shown before” guidelines.

The Great 8 finalists at the Detroit AutoRama have been announced – who will win the prestigious Ridler Award?

The 72nd Annual Detroit AutoRama in Michigan has showcased everything from race cars to street bikes, and for the 2025 edition of this massive indoor show, Sick The Magazine is displaying twelve of some cool and quick rides proven in drag and drive events.

But one of the main attractions at the Detroit AutoRama is the dozens of rides hoping for a ‘Great 8’ selection, and ultimately, the Ridler Award.

Since it was first presented at the Detroit AutoRama in 1964, the Ridler Award is one of the highest awards to be captured in the custom and hot rod car community. It is awarded annually from a group of vehicles selected as the ‘Great 8’ and these vehicles must fall under under strict “never been shown before” guidelines.

With Sick The Magazine getting our area set-up on Thursday, we had a chance to walk the show and check out some of the amazing rides. Below are some of the ones that caught our eye as possible ‘Great 8’ selection and could be the next Ridler Award winner.

The inaugural Sick At The Rock event will bring a party atmosphere, and hundreds of America’s quickest real street cars, to Rockingham Dragway on April 10-12th, 2025.

The newest class to Sick At The Rock, the Sick Street Car Challenge, will battle it out alongside the wild Rockingham Big Dog Pro Mods, with classes inspired by the former National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) and National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) series: Street Race 8.60, Small Tire Pro Stock, Nostalgia Super Stock – Nostalgia Muscle Car Combo, Coyote Stock and Open Comp.

Sick The Magazine is launching a brand-new class at Sick At The Rock: the Sick Street Car Challenge! It will employ a two-day drag and drive format (Friday April 11th and Saturday April 12th) and use an eighth-mile distance.

Street legal machines will be able to shoot for over $30,000 in prize money across over two-dozen categories, with the ability to stack more than one category for huge payouts!

After watching drag and drive on YouTube for years, I thought I might have a good baseline on what to expect when I attended my first event, Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, in 2022. I was so wrong, but in the right way.

We’ve all heard the stories about competitors helping each other to get to that final day, that final pass, to FINISH. I’m lucky enough to talk about these stories, on the mic and on the web. And they happen in the super competitive world of heads-up racing too.

Just a few days ago, I attended the Lights Out 16 event at South Georgia Motorsports Park. One of the events that helped push drag radial racing into the spotlight more, I hadn’t been to it in a few years due to schedules.

But after only a few minutes after passing through the gate, I ran into Doug Cook of Motion Raceworks. Doug didn’t make it even a minute into the conversation before he told me about ‘Stevie Fast’ Jackson, and his last 24 hours that resulted in a win just by getting to the first round of competition.

For over 70 years, the Detroit AutoRama in Michigan has showcased tens of thousands of amazing rides, including hot rods, muscle cars, truck and motorcycles. One of the big attractions of the AutoRama is The Ridler Award, but for 2025, Sick The Magazine will bring a twelve pack of some cool and quick rides to our display at the AutoRama.

“It’s been on the greatest indoor shows for several decades,” said Tom Bailey. “We’ve enjoyed it for several years as enthusiasts, and we felt like showcasing a good number of drag and drive rides as part of our Sick The Magazine this year.”

The center of the display will be Sick The Magazine’s International ‘Chode’ truck and our merchandise trailer, where our full line-up of items will be available. This will be surrounded by a variety of rides from the drag and drive community.

After three seasons of hosting successful drag and drive events, Sick The Magazine expanded into stand alone events in 2025 with Sick At The Rock and Sick On The Green. Both events will feature 15 different classes of racing, plus over $100,000 of guaranteed payout.

Tom Bailey looked at the news of the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) and National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) closing their doors in October 2024, as well as his experience, and saw an opportunity to give back to the community. “With the announcement of the NMCA/NMRA, I couldn’t help but think that there were thousands of racers that had planned on racing that series in 2025,” said Tom.

The first of the two events, Sick At The Rock, takes place at the legendary Rockingham Dragway on April 10th-12th, 2025. Street machines and race cars will come together for an action-packed three days of racing and fun, with up to fifteen different classes of cars, including the 3,000+ horsepower Big Dog Pro Mods class!

The drag and drive season is underway, and with Sick The Magazine’s Sick Week, Sick Summer, and Sick Michigan Miles events in place and sold out, we turn our attention to our fourth drag and drive of the 2025 season.

Our second ‘one-off’ event - Edelbrock Sick Smokies – will take a group of competitors, as well as Sick Ward participants, through Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee on an eighth-mile drag and drive adventure.

“Having a different drag and drive event each year gives the Sick The Magazine slogan ‘For The Adventure’ a different meaning,” said Tom Bailey of Sick The Mag. “I appreciate each and every participant, and for our Sick Week and Sick Summer events, they work great in their current form. Why would I change them?”

“But some participants want more. They want to travel different roads, see different tracks, to make the experience about the adventure, the memories, and say I was part of a one-time deal. We answered that call with Death Week in 2023 and continue it in 2025 with Sick Michigan Miles and Sick Smokies.”

Registration for this eighth-mile event opens Saturday, March 22nd, 2025, with Expression of Interest competitor spots going on sale at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. General registration will start at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Sick The Magazine - the print magazine dedicated to drag and drive, includes benefits like free live streaming of events, entries into vehicle giveaways, and more!

After a decade of participating in drag and drive events, Tom Bailey knew this increasing community needed more attention than they were seeing. “When you have a lot of people supporting a segment of the car hobby, well as each other on the events, I felt that that deserved more recognition.”

Tom dropped the news in a May 2021 YouTube video, signaling the launch of the first issue of Sick The Magazine, which would hit mailboxes in August as the Summer 2021 issue. “To try and fill a gap in what’s there (for event and participant coverage), especially to bring more credibility to a lot of the drag and drive events that are out there, we’re looking at creating a magazine.”

In just over three and a half years since, the print edition of Sick The Magazine has brought coverage of not just Sick’s events, but several others, to a growing subscriber base. We’ve also added in more benefits than just a great print magazine.

Following the success of Sick Week and Sick Summer, it was clear the tracks and timing for the duo of events would remain in place. But for Sick the Mag creator and enthusiast Tom Bailey, he knew the community wanted more; a stand-alone event that would be unique each and every year.

For 2025, those ‘one-off’ events - Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, and Edelbrock Sick Smokies - are poised to take the community to the next level!

“Having a different drag and drive event each year gives the Sick The Mag slogan ‘For The Adventure’ a different meaning,” said Tom. “I appreciate each and every participant, and for our Sick Week and Sick Summer events, they work great in their current form. Why would I change them?"

"But some participants want more. They want to travel different roads, see different tracks, to make the experience about the adventure, the memories, and say I was part of a one-time deal. We answered that call with Death Week in 2023 and continue it in 2025 with Sick Michigan Miles and Sick Smokies.”

Although not the first time drag racing has seen a ‘cost-limited’ or ‘budget-build’ style of car / class, Cleetus McFarland brought the latest round of his popular ‘Cheap Car Challenge’ to the 2025 edition of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.

Although we’ve seen Cleetus, James Taal and Tye Braun compete in quicker and nicer rides in drag and drive events, this idea was met with enthusiasm from not only Cleetus and crew, but also the fans and FRDM+ stream viewers.

By the final day of Sick Week, all four cars survived the week, and Cleetus started that the cars will be back for our Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks event, held June 15th through June 20th, 2025.

The question is: could this style of build / class be the next big thing for a drag and drive event, or in general for drag racing?

Although she comes from a family with a long history of not only racing, but also some quick Ford Mustangs, JoAnna Iacobelli Reid has never done a drag and drive event before 2023.

She changed that status by jumping into the second running of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, with husband Bryan joining her as co-pilot in her 8-second supercharged 2018 Mustang.

And although she’s traded her helmet to work at events recently, JoAnna and Bryan have plans to jump back into a competitor spot at this summer’s Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, right in the Reid’s home state.

Doing a drag and drive event in the home state of Sick the Magazine marks not only the first time a major event has been held solely in the state of Michigan, but also a first time for a couple additional classes.

Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, scheduled for August 10th through the 17th, 2025, will feature Junior Street and Motorcycle classes for the first time at a Sick the Mag event!

This event is one of many that was discussed for the popular ‘one-off’ event structure that Tom Bailey first tried at Death Week on the west coast in 2023. “The thing I’ve preached about a drag and drive event is about the adventure,” Tom said. “Your main goals should be surviving the week and creating some awesome memories.”

One big element about Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, is adding the Junior Street and Motorcycle classes into the program. “A bunch of enthusiasts have asked me about the possibility of adding those two classes to a Sick event,” said Tom. “After weighing our options, we’re excited about them being a part of Michigan Miles.”

After the success of the Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2022, Tom Bailey came up with the idea of keeping a consistent drag and drive event each year, as well as a unique one.

Following in the footsteps of our Edelbrock Sick 66 event in 2024, Sick the Magazine will host a pair of ‘one-off’ events in 2025, the first being in our home state with Sick Michigan Miles Presented by Driven Racing Oil, August 10th through the 17th, 2025!

“When the idea was first proposed, I started thinking about how nice the areas around northern Michigan are,” said Tom Bailey of Sick The Mag. “The more Luke Nieuwhof (Sick The Mag editor) and I discussed it, it made sense that we could visit four great tracks, incorporate an August tradition for automotive enthusiasts, and do a 1,000 mile road trip in one week’s time.”

In a state that has seen several dozen tracks since the 1950s, Palm Beach International Raceway looked to have the staying power, even going through a complete revamp in 2008 to become an all-concrete track.

Fourteen years later, April of 2022, the track saw its last action, and the land was going to be repurposed for warehouses. And although the southeast Florida area has been devoid of an operational quarter-mile track since, there’s been a good bit of news that could return PBIR to its former glory.

The sale never went through due to a variety of factors, and the track has continued to sit vacant and unused. The owner at the time of the closure, IRG Sports and Entertainment, has since fallen into liquidation of their assets, and as of a few weeks ago, the 174-acre property was listed on the open market with a “call for price” listing. Could the track possibly be saved?