2025 HOT ROD Drag Week

JRS

JRS

JRS

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HOT ROD Drag Week is the competition where street-legal drag-race cars run quarter-mile time trials every day for five days, driving on public roads between four different drag strips for a road trip of 1,000-plus miles unassisted by support vehicles. It's the ultimate test of a street/strip car, with trophies awarded in multiple classes for vehicles with various levels of modifications. The one car with the lowest average elapsed time over the week of racing is named HOT ROD's Fastest Street Car in America.
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  • Monday, Sept. 15 – Day 1 Racing, Maryland International Raceway (Budds Creek, Maryland)
  • Tuesday, Sept. 16 – Day 2 Racing, Numidia Dragway (Numidia, Pennsylvania)
  • Wednesday, Sept. 17 – Day 3 Racing, Maple Grove Raceway (Reading, Pennsylvania)
  • Thursday, Sept. 18 – Day 4 Racing, Cecil County Dragway (Rising Sun, Maryland)
  • Friday, Sept. 19 – Day 5 Racing, Maryland International Raceway (Budds Creek, Maryland)
Some serious metal showing up once again this year. Ned Dunphy has reworked the cooling system on his wild SMX-engined Viper, hoping to avoid the mechanical carnage that took him out on the drive last year. Sam Colalillo's back with his wicked twin-turbo big block GN. David Armentrout's '67 Chevy II has been refreshed ready for another tilt at the Ultimate Iron class win and maybe even more. Mike Finnegan has Blasphemi rebuilt, retuned and - gasp! - actually halfway thoroughly tested! And she sounds hungry for the A-Gasser win. In other '55 Chevy news Tony Angelo (Mike's buddy, transmission bench-presser extraordinaire and previous co-pilot) has his NASCAR-engined '55 there after a thrash to finish it. And I'm sure many of the usual suspects will be there along with a few oddball entries.

Oh, yeah. And Jeff Lutz is back.

*record scratch*

:eek:

Gunning to be the first to hit the "run 5s every day" mark, if Lutz can run to anything like the car's full potential on the strip and survive the drive between tracks then he's in with a real shout of setting records this year.

Kick-off for the first livestream is about 13:30 UK time. Hopefully the internet signal is good in Budds Creek, going to be quite a few people tuning in.

Day One - Maryland International Raceway (Budds Creek, MD)

 
Oh boy.

In test 'n' tune yesterday Lutz ran a 5.91.

HHlRiH5.gif


***edit***

Ned Dunphy's made a couple of low six passes (6.17 and 6.10) in the Viper as well. Game on!
 
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I used to go to Santa Pod an awful lot in the late 60s and 70s. Still got some 6x4 prints somewhere. I will have to dig them out and clean them up. I saw Don Garlits, and several of the funny car drivers. Fun times.
 
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We're racing. Track prep looks to be on-point :cool:

Couple of cars already eating themselves, including a Chevy Nova that just set a low six in Ultimate Iron before belching out all the smoke on the return road to the pits...

***Edit 1: The Motion Picture***

Dunphy just brought the Viper up for a run...and it's a bust, shook the tyres on the launch. Methinks the track is a bit grippy, they'll need to make adjustments and come back around.

***Edit 2: The Wrath of Khan***

Lutz up to the line. Staging...and off, but tyre shake. He'll also be coming back around to try again.

***Edit 3: The Search For Spock***

Finnegan up in Blasphemi. HUGE WHEELIE! Must have made two shifts with the front pointing to Low Earth Orbit! He'll have to make another run later, but damn was that cool :D

Here's Bryant Goldstone in his new '53 Corvette Unlimited car (he ran the Ultimate Iron AMX for years). Let's see if he can get a shake-free run in...nope, tyre shake. Another guy that will need to come back later.

And now Dave Schroeder in the nitrous-huffing blue 'vette. Can he find grip? Nope. Not nearly enough traction for that power off the line.

***Edit 4: The Voyage Home***

Lutz out :( His engine is distinctly unhappy after the tyre shake on that first attempt. Ned Dunphy is fixing the Viper to have another go later, the tyre shake on his first attempt broke the rear end. The track prep probably suits the guys running drag radials rather better than the cars on slicks.

***Edit 5: The Final Frontier***

Finnegan came back up, wheelie'd again and may have hurt Blasphemi this time :(

Dunphy back up...and the Viper goes 6.17!

***Edit 6: The Undiscovered Country***

Bryant Goldstone back up. Gets out well, runs a 6.75. 1.05 to the 60ft suggests that he was pedalling it a bit further down the track.
 
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Timely as I now work from home and won't be visiting any sites this week. Can watch every minute!
 
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DD_Crash said:
I used to go to Santa Pod an awful lot in the late 60s and 70s. Still got some 6x4 prints somewhere. I will have to dig them out and clean them up. I saw Don Garlits, and several of the funny car drivers. Fun times.
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Don't forget Paula Murphy (I think) and bloke on V8 bike - Our blokes were running 4 pot engines. I was there as well. -This is going back a bit. - Forgot Don the Shu
Never ever forget the bogs.
 
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I have never used the Santa Pod bogs, I was never brave enough. E J Potter on the bike and some Dutch nutter running 2 Kawasaki's on Nitro. The bikes were totally mad.
 
Day One results. 15 cars confirmed out so far.

Street Race small block PA, as effectively an index 8.50 class, was predictably tight. Rick Steinke and Randy Seward separated by the finest of margins - 8.506 vs 8.507. In Unlimited Ned Dunphy's thrash to get the rear end of the Viper back together was worth the panic, he stuck in a 6.178 @ 247.38mph to get the overall lead from Graham Hayes' '66 Chevy Nova running in Ultimate Iron who put down a 6.287 @ 224.62 and promptly dropped a valve. Hayes is not listed as out, so I think he's at least got it back together and attempted the drive to Numidia so we'll have to see if he can keep running in competition.

Mike Finnegan is bringing up the rear of A-Gasser, he couldn't get a better pass than a 10.433 in because Blasphemi simply wouldn't stop climbing the ring gear right off the hit. The car uses a slipper clutch, and the efforts to make that work towing a trailer on the road combined with the track prep and Pete Harrell's monster of a Hemi build have left Mike chasing things again. The car worked well at the final test before Drag Week, but different track, different prep, different air...gotta love drag racing.

I see from the results page that the guy running the Lucid Air EV has switched to Unlimited, he broke out of whatever class he was entered in as his ET was too quick. But at least he gets to keep competing for a finish now instead of just doing exhibition runs or going home.

Day Two - Numidia Dragway (Numidia, PA)


***Edit***

Oof. We've just had the replay of Dave Diehl's Mustang crashing at the top end. Nasty moment, glad he got out okay.

That's why they have all the safety gear in these things!

***Edit 2***

Finnegan just put down an 8.89. Blasphemi's still tugging the front wheels off the ground even as late as the 2-3 shift!

And Rick Steinke has just gone down in 8.502. In what's essentially an 8.50x index class. That's some pretty fair country drivin' :cool:

***Edit 3***

Ah, beans. Cody Helger's rolled his '55 Chevy at the top end of the track. He's alright, but that car is going to be done. It tumbled and it got the retaining wall.
 
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Day two results.

The carnage has started in earnest. 38 cars now out, including the two who crashed yesterday. Both Cody Helger (B-Gas '55 Chevy) and David Diehl (Super Street small block PA '01 Mustang) got out okay from their respective wrecks, which is the main thing. Even cars as wild as these can be replaced.

The overall lead looks much the same. Ned Dunphy ran the Viper to a 6.114 @ 247.57mph, and is looking like a contender for taking the week average ET record (6.1918) still held by Jeff Lutz. I think he'll have to go some to sneak in a record pass to beat Tom Bailey's epic 5.99, even with how well the car seems to be running. Maybe on Friday if it has anything left with which to turn up the wick.

Day Three - Maple Grove Raceway (Reading, PA)


***Edit**

God damn, he is good at this. Steinke goes 8.504. Incredible consistency.

Goldstone back up for another go having ran a high six earlier...trans brake not really holding on very well. Re-stage, and...nope, jumped out of the groove on launch. He may try and get one more attempt in but he'll have to hustle.

Finnegan at the line in Blasphemi. Goes 8.97, still pogo-ing up the track but this one looked at least a little more controlled than some of his runs this week!
 
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Day three results. We're up to 50 officially out, including Colalillo's GN which I believe lunched the transmission. Graham Hayes is also out - they got the engine back together after the day one valve drop but it blew itself up for good on his run yesterday.

Day Four - Cecil County Dragway (Rising Sun, MD)

 
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bimbleuk said:
Pity, was just settling down to watch and the gasser drops the rear screen all over the track :(
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To be fair, the track crew got it cleaned up remarkably quickly!

Day four results.

Ned Dunphy's average ET remains absolutely awesome - 6.1685 @ 247.105. In a street legal, street drivable car. Staggering. He's in with a strong shout of breaking the average ET record that Lutz has held for years. Also staggering is the consistency of Rick Steinke in Street Race small block PA - his average currently sits at 8.5048 @ 161.188. If he can run a low 8.50x on the final day then he can break the average ET record for his class as well.

Finnegan had trans issues on the drive to Cecil, and was only able to break the timing beam to stay in the competition. He's stabbed a new transmission in (just a stocker Tremec T56 I believe) last night so he'll run today and finish the week.

Still only 59 cars reported out. Reliability has actually been pretty good across the field this year, even with some serious times being set.

Day Five - Maryland International Raceway (Budds Creek, MD)


***Edit***

Street Machine Eliminator cars running first. Already got cars breaking out of the SME 10.0x limit. Freiburger and KJ in the booth musing that this might really be the fastest Drag Week ever.

***Edit 2***

None of the fast cars have a representative time yet. But Steinke's run has tied the class record average :cool:

***Edit 3***

Dunphy up...6.21!!!! New fastest average ET for Drag Week!

Now...has he got anything left to go for a 5.xx? :D
 
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