Auto enthusiasts can be drawn to a particular vehicle for several reasons. It could be the styling, the power, the handling, or even the chance to fulfill a dream of owning one when you couldn’t earlier in life. But then there’s cars and trucks with history, or a family connection, and the bonds and memories created with these rides can be some powerful ones.

The 1968 Mercury Cougar of Josh Dowies has a sixteen-year history in his family starting when his father bought the car for his mother to drive. “She always wanted to have a little hot rod to cruise around,” said Josh. She passed away back in 2017, and the car sat until 2022, when Josh bought it. “Getting to build this car has been as much for me, as it has been for my mom and in memory of my mom."

In a racing event, rarely does everything go 100-precent smoothly. Ask a veteran of the drag-and-drive world, and they will likely tell you the chances of experiencing no hiccups along the way of an event are small. Hundreds of things can happen, and most of the time, it’s not during racing, and in part two of the Drag Week 2024 Movie on the popular YouTube channel Finnegan’s Garage, Mike Finnegan and Tony Angelo attempt to overcome the pitfalls and complete Hot Rod Drag Week.

In part two of Finnegan’s Drag Week coverage, Finnegan and Angelo get to work to fix the damage to Blasphemi from the wheelie at Indianapolis, troubleshoot numerous issues over the next three days, and attempt to salvage their week. Did they make it happen?

Since the introduction of Junior Dragsters into the National Hot Rod Association in 1992, thousands of kids have gotten the chance to become competitors in the sport of drag racing. Competition at hundreds of tracks across North America, as well as larger national events just for junior dragsters, have proved a springboard for racing careers, world champions, and a second class, Junior Street, that’s been incorporated into select drag-and-drive events.

Junior Dragsters have been a big force behind not only a new wave of racers competing, but also the second, third and even fourth-generation of a family getting into the sport.

With the success of Junior Dragster, the NHRA introduced the Junior Street class to give thirteen-sixteen year old boys and girls a chance to compete in a street-legal car or truck with an adult co-driver as their teammate.

As one of the participants that’s attended every year of Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, Matt Lamphier has experienced the highs and lows of a drag-and-drive event. He won the hotly-contested 235 Outlaw Street Race class at Sick Week in 2022, but had the reversal of fortune the last two years of Sick Week. But Matt and his wife / co-pilot Meg have a plan for 2025 to return to winning ways.

One year after scoring a coveted Sick the Magazine class-winning orange helmet, Matt and the LS-swapped 1992 Mazda Miata known as “The Turtle” had the engine lock up less than an hour from his day two destination – Bradenton Motorsports Park. Last year he exploded an engine.

Can Matt and Meg find the magic from their 2022 Sick Week and collect a second helmet in 2025?

The BoostedBoiz have built several cars and trucks that can make most people do a double take. From constructing a 7-second Honda engine-swapped MR2, to the ‘Rowdyssey’ Honda Odyssey van sporting a turbocharged Honda 4-cylinder and clocking mid 9-second times, the crew has come up with some crazy builds.

But their latest creation, merging a Tesla Plaid S chassis with a Dodge Challenger body, could prove to be one that gets even more attention, and might change a few opinions on muscle cars as well.

With a rich history that dates back over six decades, it may surprise some that Milan Dragway has hit the ‘for sale’ market. The track has played host to a number of big events over its history, including stops on this year’s Hot Rod Drag Week and Heads Up Hustle drag-and-drive events.

But unlike most tracks with ‘for sale’ signs in the window, Perry Merlo and co-owner Harold Bullock have plans for an active 2025 season, whether a buyer comes along or not.

Many people might associate the ‘LeRoy’ C5 Corvette as the car that kickstarted the Cleetus McFarland YouTube channel. But it was the C7 supercharged C7 Corvette known as ‘The Bald Eagle Machine’ that was featured first by Cleetus. The El Camino known as ‘Mullet’ has one of the more recognizable rides from the Cleetus’ garage, and it has captured a slew of drag-and-drive wins, as well as a World Cup Finals victory in 2022.

Mullet has run as quick as 6.3-seconds and over 235 mph at nearly 3600-pounds, but Cleetus knew the car needed changes. “I’ve been a little frustrated with Mullet lately,” said Cleetus this past May. “We’ve been trying to make it go faster, and it just doesn’t seem to want to go faster.” Now, the El Camino is in line for upgrades at Cameron Johnson Race Cars.

“The last time you saw us in 2022, total nightmare. We broke the motor on day 1.” The words spoken by Mike Finnegan, former co-host of the MotorTrend show Roadkill, as he and Tony Angelo opened an epic 2-hour movie showing what happened on Hot Rod Magazine’s Drag Week event in 2024. “If we just make it down the track, it’ll be a huge improvement,” said Angelo.

The road of Mike Finnegan and Tony Angelo tackling Hot Rod Drag Week is a storied one, and in this first part, we take a step back in time, covering Finnegan’s Drag Week past, and link the first movie release of his 2024 Hot Rod Drag Week experience.

There are some cars that stand out in the crowd just a little more. Whether it’s because of performance, appearance or the story behind it all, some rides are just more prevalent in our minds. From the first time we saw Robbie Price’s Mercury station wagon known as ‘Shelia’s Dream’, we knew it would be one of those cars, and now the Price family is working on more reasons to make us remember the wagon.

After the wagon completed its second Sick Summer in 2024, owner Robbie wanted more. For 2025, the Price wagon is making the change to turbocharged motivation, as a pair of units will replace the nitrous on the wagon.

While some are able to hang on to their first car, others can’t for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s tough decisions that force the sale, or a willingness to move on to a different ride, a person’s first car will reflect on them. In the case of Tor Nupen, remembering his first car, combined with wanting to participate in a drag-and-drive, led him to this 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle.

“I’ve had cars since I was 16 years old,” said Tor. “My first car was a ‘69 big block Chevelle. I’ve mostly street raced. and did some small tire 10.5-inch tire racing at my local tracks. With raising kids, and having responsibilities the car was sold.”

Nor didn’t forget that Chevelle, and although he didn’t buy that one back, it had an effect on him, and the ’68 Chevelle he now owns. “I’ve wanted to do a Hot Rod Drag Week ever since David Freiburger started it. My biggest goal and challenge is to complete a drag-and-drive with a car that my sons and I built.”

“Freiburger here. It’s true; my television shows have been canceled.” The former editor-in-chief for Hot Rod magazine, as well as the creator of Hot Rod Drag Week and Pump Gas Drags, stated those words to open his most recent video. Freiburger tells his side of the story of the popular MotorTrend show Roadkill, which was recently canceled after thirteen seasons.

It’s not uncommon to see racers cross over into a drag-and-drive event from other forms of racing, including grudge racing, heads-up class and even bracket and index racing. Even some no-prep racers have made the jump to drag-and-drive.

But Allen Thompson will go a step further as he looks to rebuild his no-prep car to get it ready for next year’s Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.

As the track that hosted not only the first National Hot Rod Association national event in 1955, but also been a part of Hot Rod Drag Week and Rocky Mountain Race Week, the Sunflower Rod and Custom Association (SRCA) Dragstrip has been void of any racing action for the last two years. Recently, a settlement was reached that might change the 2025 season hopes for the track in Great Bend, Kansas.

When the news first hit Sunday night about the popular show Roadkill being canceled, it immediately spread like wildfire about the future of MotorTrend.

Speculation about the magazine and brand, as well as sister shows Hot Rod Garage, Roadkill Garage, Roadworthy Rescues, and Faster with Newburn and Cotton, and even the events like Roadkill Nights and Hot Rod Drag Week were in question by many. Thanks to MotorTrend, we have some clarification on the future of shows and events.

It’s been a common sight at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, and Jordan Boudreaux’s Mustang has also made its mark in the event standings every year.

The turbocharged LS-swapped ride has earned a spot in the top three standings in the 275 Street Race class at the end of each Sick Week, but 2025 will bring a change for the Louisiana-based ride.

“This is the show where we play with cars, and you point and laugh. We call it Roadkill.” Those words were stated by David Freiburger in Episode 1 of the popular MotorTrend show ‘Roadkill’ which hit YouTube in early 2012. 

Nearly thirteen years and thirteen seasons after that first show was recorded, Mike Finnegan broke the news on Reddit that ‘Roadkill’ will not record a fourteenth season.

When building a car for the street, there are several things that require a bit more attention versus a race car. The cooling system is definitely one of those, and with thousands of cars pushing well past the 1,000 horsepower mark now, cooling isn’t something to be cutting corners on.

“Drag-and-drive has been very important to us because it showcases the importance of a powerful and efficient cooling system. 2024 has been another high growth year. We have new products announced, including our oil coolers.” - John Pairaktaridis of Delta PAG.

Nitrous Oxide has been a part of the racing and street car landscape for nearly a half-a-century, and is one of the cheapest and easiest power adders to add to a vehicle.

Nitrous can also lay claim to the first power-adder to capture an overall drag-and-drive event title, as the first Hot Rod Drag Week was won by Carl Scott in a nitrous-fed Chevy II.

Nitrous Oxide Systems was born in the late 1970s, and is still a choice of many enthusiasts to add nitrous to their favorite ride. Here’s what they’re doing for the drag-and-drive market, as well as why it’s still a viable power-adder choice.

With several turbochargers on the market, there are a ton of choices on how to add boost to your ride. Precision Turbo is one of the names that’s been in the market for a while, and based on the results of the last few seasons of drag-and-drive events, they are making their mark.

Precision Turbo has been on some of the quickest and fastest rides in racing, and offer several different versions of turbochargers. From entry level and mirror-image turbos, to specific class legal designs for heads-up racing, Precision has several options to choose from.

It’s no secret that technology and better parts have made it to where upgraded cars and trucks are not only showing up at tracks around the globe, but also several factory stock rides are capable of delivering times and speeds that bring a need for upgraded safety equipment. Racequip has been providing that safety gear since 1975, and added a new chapter to their story with Sick the Magazine in 2022.

There are thousands of single-digit-capable drag-and-drive cars, and a lot more in the 10 and 11-second range on the quarter-mile standard. That means the need for better safety equipment exists, and Racequip offers a lot of options to keep drivers safe on the track and the street.