Perfect Attendance: Sick Week History

As we said on EP 93 of the Drag Drive Repeat Show presented by Summit Racing, Sick Week gives everyone a chance to race in their typical “off-season”. With Sick Week just a few weeks away, let’s cover the attendance since the beginning! This article in named Perfect Attendance to highlight the racers that have raced at each of the previous three Sick Week events in Florida and South Georgia in Late January/Early February. We also hear “Why they keep coming back” from Aaron Shaffer, Chuck Stefanski, Nick Diehl and Stefan Gustafsson.

Before we do that, let’s run through the numbers from the previous three years of Sick Week….

Total Racers: 939

Unique Racers: 661

Racers that have competed in One Event: 454

Single Event Racers by Year: 2022: 171 / 2023: 118 / 2024: 165 (These racers have only ever attended One Sick Week.)

Two Time Attendees: 137

Racers with “Perfect Attendance”

In my opinion (Mike Narx), when an event reaches the three year mark, historical stats become more important. Typically, the promoters are hitting their stride and the classes create good competition. With this event, the class counts are typically great and provide alot of great stories! We will dive into those in future articles.

There are 70 Racers with “Perfect Attendance” at Sick Week!

Aaron Shaffer - Finished all 3

Adam Sullivan

Alan Mougey - Finished all 3

Alex Corella

Alex Taylor

Audrea Beeler - Finished all 3

Azeem Sheikh - Finished all 3

Bill Boulis - Finished all 3

Bobby Ripp - Finished all 3

Brian Carney - Finished all 3

Brittney Sammartino - Finished all 3

Bryan Anders - Finished all 3

Carl Stancell

Chad Noel - Finished all 3

Christine Wiegand - Finished all 3

Chuck Stefanski - Finished all 3

Cleetus McFarland

Daniel Grubaugh - Finished all 3

Darce Laws

David Diehl - Finished all 3

David Waksman

Derek Bieri

Derek Henderson - Finished all 3

Dustyn Caudle - Finished all 3

Edward Schwarz - Finished all 3

Frank Romano - Finished all 3

Gilbert Correa - Finished all 3

Glenn Hunter

Guy Protano - Finished all 3

Jacob Davis - Finished all 3

Jaeson Hager - Finished all 3

James Holth - Finished all 3

James McEntire

James Taal

Jason King - Finished all 3

Jason Tabscott - Finished all 3

Jason Zeigler - Finished all 3

Jeffrey Moll

Jessie Harris

Jimmy Rinehart

John Dodson - Finished all 3

John Manckia - Finished all 3

Jordan Boudreaux - Finished all 3

Kelly Harvey

Kevin Partin - Finished all 3

Kevin Smith - Finished all 3

Kristopher Burnham - Finished all 3

Kyle Cartwright - Finished all 3

Kyle Wade

Lance Disharoon - Finished all 3

Mark Mannor - Finished all 3

Matt Sweet - Finished all 3

Meric O'Grady - Finished all 3

Michael Maione - Finished all 3

Michael Pamparo - Finished all 3

Michael Turner

Mike Moore

Nicholas Desimine

Richard Flint - Finished all 3

Richard Guido - Finished all 3

Robert Sharp - Finished all 3

Robert Worcester - Finished all 3

Sam Lankford

Stefan Gustafsson - Finished all 3

Timothy Blythe - Finished all 3

Tom Bailey

Tom McGilton

Walter Doyle

William Lujan - Finished all 3

Zachary Wicks - Finished all 3

When asked what brings him back each year, Aaron Shaffer said “I keep coming back to SW for the competition, good weather, nice tracks, to watch the faster cars compete, and most importantly hang out with my friends! Changing classes for SW25 to Rowdy Radial and have no expectations to win, but this 3950lbs streetcar has some MPH behind it and looking forward to being able to push my combo instead of turning it down for 8.50. You never know…this is also a battle of attrition too.”

Nick Diehl had this to say, “Sick Week was the event that started all the drag and drive for us. It was the first one we ever attended. We had decided to skip it this year, but being that we’ve attended everyone of them, we are kind of stuck doing them and will continue to do them as long as we are healthy and can afford it, we’ll probably do it forever. I think it’s the level of competition is what we like. We want to fight with the biggest, best and baddest cars in the country. One of our goals is to go 6s in the orange car and be one of the few to go 6s in small block, single turbo on a small tire. We love the drag and drive community and Sick Week. The car doesn’t have an inch of wire in it, or paint on the panels…We have 19 days to build the whole car and we’re a little stressed out about it. But that’s why we do it.”

Another racer that started his drag and drive career with Sick Week is Chuck Stefanski, who said, “The 1st Sick Week was my 1st drag and drive back in 2022 with my wifes Trans Am and I have done everyone since, as well as 2 Drag Weeks. And Sick Week is my favorite one, not only are the cars faster but it is a different vibe all the way around; more of a hang out with your friends at the hotel or a dive bar or even the ice cream stand vibe. The fans and media are top notch and just so much more of them whether it is at the track or lining the streets in a small town, it's just an amazing feeling. Even though I won Modified this past Drag Week, I have never placed at Sick Week. That is my goal, along with a 6 second pass and to once again reset the centrifugal supercharger record!”

And the guy that won it all in 2022 and has placed Top 3 in 2023 and 2024, Stefan Gustafsson; “We want to compete with the fastest dnd cars in the world. They are at Sickweek. For 2025, we come untested with a new car, never driven a single mile on streets. With a new trailer, in another country. What can go wrong. We aim for Quartine day 2. To have a chance at doing something to all heavy hitters. Then just play along and see how it turns out after the first part of week.”

Lastly, Azeem Shiekh sent me: We keep coming back to Sickweek because its the perfect mid-winter vacation that gives me an excuse to drag my car half way down the coast, and go racing with my friends! As much as we love racing the Camaro, we enjoy watching everyone else bring out their hotrods and lay down some sick times. Tom and his crew put on a very polished and organized event which we appreciate, and that's one of the many reasons we keep coming back. We're looking forward to hopefully bringing home an orange helmet. We got second place last year in DYO, and moving up into Pro-DYO this year. Aside from my personal goals, I'm looking forward to seeing someone finally break the 5 second Sick Week record. I think this is going to be the year it happens.”

Are you one of 200+ Multi-Time Sick Week Racers? If so, let us know what keeps bringing you back to Sick Week!

Article written by Michael Narx. Photos taken during Sick Week 2024 by Michael Narx, Edited by Eric White.