Chasing Records at Sick Week: A Look Back and Forward to 2025
Chasing Records at Sick Week: A Look Back and Forward to 2025
As we head into the 4th running of Sick the Magazine’s Sick Week, we want to look back at a few stats and stories that have come from this event! Also, we’ll look at the current Event Records as the racers begin to plan out their run for Championship Points for the 2025 season!
Who will take down long standing records? Which records are unobtainable? Will Sick Week be the quickest group of racers again in 2025?
Let’s start with a bit of history. In 2021, Tom Bailey and the team at the recently created Sick the Magazine announced they were planning to host their own drag and drive event. Fast forward a few months and the internet was going wild about racing in Florida (and South Georgia) in the winter. Before Sick Week 2022, drag and drive racers had to wait from Hot Rod Drag Week & Race Week in Sept until June for Rocky Mountain Race Week, a span of 9 months, for another National level drag and drive event. (At the time, we didn’t even use the term National and Regional events).
Sick Week 2022 was a new event, in a new part of the country, in a new season and gave many people the chance to race when the temps and weather at home was too cold to even think about starting the racecar, much less driving it!
The Heavy Hitters and Unbroken Records from Sick Week's First Year
That first year brought out some heavy hitters, with Stefan Gustafsson taking the Overall Win with his 6.677 Average, with Michael Borgrren and Rick Prospero rounding out the Top 3 Overall. With each racer finishing the week with a Six Second Average, this event showed to be a must-attend event.
As with all events, cars get faster, but there are a few records that linger from this first running.
Jackson DeVaughan still holds the record in a newly designed class that was debuted at Sick Week 2022. DYO is based on the spread of a racer’s quickest time slip and slowest time slip during the week. Jackson set the Record Spread at just 0.025 with his 14.200 on Day 5 and his 14.225 on Day 4, submitting a 14.218 and 14.219 on the other two days of racing!! Another Class Record that still stands from 2022 is Jason Tabscott in Street Race NA SB with his 8.763 average for the event. Brian Havlik also holds a record from 2022, with his 8.889 average in the Modified NA BB category. Matt Donovan still holds the Gasser B record with his 10.652 average. And rounding out the long standing records from 2022 is Jarrad Scott, in Gasser A, with his 9.367 average.
A racer collects a Second Record
Cars went quicker, moving records for most classes in 2023. The Top Three cars were Michael Westerg in his S10 at 6.464, with Stefan Gustafsson and Brett LaSala behind him. This event expanded to include four racers in the sixes, with Alex Taylor finishing with a 6.987 average. Five Class Records still stand from the 2023 running of Sick Week. The second running was the first time we had seen the Rowdy Radials rules carried over from RMRW, and Jordan Tuck and Devin Vanderhoof came out swinging in the convertible Foxbody on a 235 tire. The 4.644 average still stands as the Class Record. Sick Week Freaks (4 and 6 cyl cars) saw the class record set by Tony Niemczyk with his 8.7606. Sick Street Race would have the record dropped by a hundredth, with Aaron Shaffer putting up an 8.5106 average. Jason Tabscott would set the Modified NA SB record with his 8.5962. Yes, that’s two records that still stand from Jason Tabscott….And the final class to hold a record from 2023 is Unlimited, with Michael Westberg’s 6.464 Average!
The Record-Shattering 2024 Event: New Class Leaders Emerge
If you are counting, that’s eight classes with records prior to the 2024 event. If you have followed the event, you know there are more than 19 classes within the rules package of Sick Week. The 2024 event was the first time we heard the phrase, the “Super Bowl of Drag & Drive”. And there certainly was something in the air that would see class records drop significantly! Gabriela Lujan set the world on fire with her Pro DYO spread of just 0.021! Gabriela submitted five passes during the week in the mid 8s, with her quickest time slip of 8.58 and her slowest of 8.601, with the other three at 8.596, 8.598 and 8.583! Another mid 8 second record would fall to 8.5124 with Randy Seward’s Street Race 275 class average. Richie Webb brought his convertible Beetle and took home the record in the Beetles Class with his 10.2094 average. Kevin Willms took the Hot Rod class record to 10.7652 in 2024. Jason Pickett in the Haulin Ash Hearse would set the base for the newly added Heavy Metal Class with his 8.1592 average. Chad Fegley and his Corvette would leave with the Stick Shift class record of 7.9048. In Super Street, Michael Ward would pilot his Chevy II to a 7.3502 average. Glenn Hunter Jr would drop the Pro Street record to 7.274. Bryant Goldstone’s storied 2024 would begin with his record reset for the Unlimited Iron class of 6.5194. And Brett LaSala would put the world on notice with his Modified class record of 6.3402, resetting his own record by four tenths of a second.
The Naturally Aspirated guys love the cool FL air and we saw Matt Sweet take his Nova to a new level for 2024! He is currently the Overall Naturally Aspirated Record Holder with his 7.7378 average! This also holds the Pro Street NA BB Record as well. Guy Protano used 2024 to reset the Street Race NA BB class record with his 8.6542 average. Steve Winningham holds the Super Street NA SB record with his 9.0284 average. And Richard Peck holds the record for Super Street NA BB with his 16.5772 average.
There are a few classes that currently have no record, so when you show up to Sick Week 2025 you may take a look to see if our car fits in one of these classes - Pro Street NA SB, Unlimited Iron NA, or Heavy Metal NA.
3 Years of Data
One of the most interesting things that Sick the Magazine has done with their Sick Week and Sick Summer events has been visiting the same four tracks each year. They alternate the start point, schedule and routes to provide as many new experiences as possible though. While other events move around and visit new places, these two events have provided racers with a base of data for each year. And going into the fourth running of Sick Week, we look for that history of data, car upgrades and new cars being built to drop these ETs event further in 2025!
Why are Event Records Important?
One reason we at Drag Drive Repeat track these class records is the Drag & Drive World Champion Points Series presented by Summit Racing. Racers collect points based on their Event Participation, Class Wins, ET Range and will earn a much needed additional one point if they break the Event Class ET Record on their way to their win. If you haven’t followed the points series, you can find more at Drag & Drive World Champion
Sick Week Records - ET Average - Racer Name - Year
DYO (Difference) - 0.025 - Jackson DeVaughan - 2022
Modified NA BB - 8.889 - Brian Havlik - 2022
Street Race NA SB - 8.763 - Jason Tabscott - 2022
Gasser A - 9.367 - Jarrad Scott - 2022
Gasser B - 10.652 - Matt Donovan - 2022
Rowdy Radials - 4.6444 - Jordan Tuck - 2023
Sick Week Freaks - 8.7606 - Tony Niemczyk - 2023
Sick Street Race - 8.5106 - Aaron Shaffer - 2023
Unlimited - 6.464 - Michael Westberg - 2023
Modified NA SB - 8.5962 - Jason Tabscott - 2023
Street Race 275 - 8.5124 - Randy Seward - 2024
Beetle - 10.2094 - Richie Webb - 2024
Heavy Metal - 8.1592 - Jason Pickett - 2024
Modified - 6.3402 - Brett LaSala - 2024
Pro DYO (Difference) - 0.021 - Gabriela Lujan - 2024
Pro Street - 7.274 - Glenn Hunter Jr - 2024
Stick Shift - 7.9048 - Chad Fegley - 2024
Super Street - 7.3502 - Michael Ward - 2024
Unlimited Iron - 6.5194 - Bryant Goldstone - 2024
Pro Street NA BB - 7.7378 - Matt Sweet - 2024
Street Race NA BB - 8.6542 - Guy Protano - 2024
Super Street NA SB - 9.0284 - Steven Winnigham - 2024
Super Street NA BB - 16.5772 - Richard Peck - 2024
Hot Rod - 10.7652 - Kevin Willms - 2024
Pro Street NA SB - No Winner
Unlimited Iron NA - No Winner
Heavy Metal NA - No Winner
