NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

A week-long drag racing event billed as the ‘hardest vacation you’ll ever take’ is coming to Florida and Georgia in February when Sick Week, presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, brings 350 of America’s quickest street cars to four NHRA member tracks in the Southeast Division. The event begins and ends at Bradenton Motorsports Park, and also makes stops at Orlando Speed World Dragway, South Georgia Motorsports Park, and Gainesville Raceway, home of the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals.

Sick Week competitors will race at the four different venues over five days, but must drive between each track on public roads providing the ultimate test of a street car. Entrants cannot use transporters or support crews; they must race with what they can tow in a small trailer.

Along for the ride will be a further 150 participants and their passengers in the Sick Ward, who will be tagging along for the Florida cruising and pit shows in everything from hot rods to rentals. The entire event will be covered by Sick the Mag, a new magazine for the drag-and-drive scene, and streamed for free on the Motion Raceworks live feed (on sickthemag.com).

The soul of drag-and-drive events is on the road, and Sick Week will be paying special attention to the cruising between tracks, with special stops and creative routes. From Orlando theme parks to “Big Daddy” Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, from swamp to beach, Sick Week is planned to be the ultimate drag racing party.

The event promoter is Tom Bailey, owner of the world’s quickest street car, a 5-second turbocharged Camaro. NHRA fans have seen Bailey make exhibition runs at several Camping World Series events including the U.S. Nationals and last year’s Gatornationals. Bailey has sought to create what he hopes will be the premier drag-and-drive experience and so far, he’s on pace as both the race entries and the Sick Week quickly sold out.

“Being from Michigan, I send my race cars down to Florida for winter testing, and earlier this year we were talking about how many good venues there were in close proximity,” Bailey said. “We got to thinking about it, and we realized it was the perfect location for a new event. The drag-and-drive scene is exploding right now, with the original Hot Rod Drag Week inspiring other events such as Rocky Mountain Race Week and Summit Midwest Drags, and now Sick Week.”

The event has attracted entries from all over North America including popular YouTube influencers Cleetus McFarland, PFI Speed, Derek Bieri from Vice Grip Garage, Alex Taylor, Kevin Smith of KSR Performance & Fabrication, Cooper Bogetti and Steve Morris.

Pushing the record books in the Unlimited class will be 2021 Hot Rod Drag Week champ Dave Schroeder, and Bailey, who are each hoping to put their entries into the five-second zone. At least a dozen other cars are capable of clocking six-second averages over the five-day race. Racers must make at least one run each day, and then verify that they've followed the proper route by documenting their appearance at prearranged check points.

“We’ve assembled what I think will be the greatest group of competitors to ever attempt a drag-and-drive event,” Bailey said. “There’s a lot of names we haven’t seen in a while coming back, and I want to see records broken."

Spectators are welcome to follow the week, with general admission tickets available for the tracks on each day and checkpoints open to the public.

Sick Week will start at Bradenton Motorsports Park with the TBM Brakes pre-party, registration, and testing at on Sunday, February 6. The official competition begins in Bradenton February 7, with competitors then driving to Old Town, Florida for a cruise-in night.

Day two (February 8) will include racing at Orlando Speed World Dragway, followed by a beachside drive to the day three (Feb. 9) location, Gainesville Raceway. Racers will then travel to South Georgia Motorsports Park (Feb. 10), before driving to “Big Daddy” Don Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala for the ultimate drag-and-drive car show, presented by Summit Racing Equipment. The event will conclude with a return to return to Bradenton Motorsports Park on Friday, February 11.

Sick Week sponsors include Gear Vendors Overdrive, Motion Raceworks, Dodge, Summit Racing Equipment, ISKY Cams, VP Racing Fuels, Mickey Thompson Tires, Nitrous Oxide Systems, TBM Brakes and Vice Grip Garage.