2024 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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This will be the 20th running of HOT ROD Magazine's Drag. Unbelievable how this event has grown in size and speed over the years. Actual street driveable cars running 6s and 7s in the quarter mile.

Schedule.

Day 1 Racing: Monday, Sept. 16
  • National Trail Raceway (Hebron, Ohio)—Gates open 7:30 a.m. local time, racing hours 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.
Day 2 Racing: Tuesday, Sept. 17
  • Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (Indianapolis, Indiana)—Gates open 7:30 a.m. local time, racing hours 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.
Day 3 Racing: Wednesday, Sept. 18
  • US 131 Motorsports Park (Martin, Michigan)—Gates open 7:30 a.m. local time, racing hours 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.
Day 4 Racing: Thursday, Sept. 19
  • Milan Dragway (Milan, Michigan)—Gates open 7:30 a.m. local time, racing hours 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.
Day 5 Racing (Finals): Friday, Sept. 20
  • National Trail Raceway (Hebron, Ohio)—Gates open 7:30 a.m. local time, racing hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time, followed by awards.


Really looking forward to this, and one car in particular. Mike Finnegan has been reworking Blasphemi, his 528ci supercharged Hemi powered '55 Chevy gasser, in an attempt to make it more driveable and not lose any of the blinding speed that saw the car set records for the class a few years back. After an incident at the end of the last drag 'n' drive event Mike did he had the whole front end of the car reworked - no more straight axle, now it has A-arms with a lot more travel.

And he's actually tested it before getting to Drag Week :eek:

What price another A-Gas win?

Ned Dunphy's back with that wild SMX-powered Viper and armed with a NHRA licence that lets him run the times that this car is capable of. He's already been hugely quick in test 'n' tune, and might be a good bet for the overall title this year. Many of the usual suspects are also there - Bryant Goldstone, Alex Taylor, Dave Schroeder. But at least two big names are missing this year, for very different reasons. Tom Bailey couldn't get Sick Seconds 2.0 ready in time - the car's frame broke a little while back, and in the thrash to get it ready for competition just couldn't quite get there. And in sadder news Harry Haig, the lunatic Aussie who piloted that Chevelle with the turbos stuck right up out of the hood, passed away in a road accident back in Australia that also claimed the life of fellow racer Andrew Baumgartner. Haig was a true one-off, and will be sorely missed by everyone in the racing community :(
 
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Day 1 - National Trail Raceway, Hebron OH


Brian Lohnes and David Freiburger will be announcing the event as per usual, but they've also got KJ Jones (senior editor at HOT ROD and occasional star in some of the Motor Trend programming like Roadkill) reporting from the pits.
 
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Day 1 livestream is on. The drivers briefing has just ended, gonna be going racing soon :)

***edit***

Already got a stoppage, someone's Buick hosed the track down with ATF. D'oh!

***edit 2***

So far some quick times and some guys looking for more. The Viper laid down a 6.19. Finnegan's ran 8.7, he'll almost certainly turn that one in and head out. Alex Taylor's just been down in a low 7, she may or may not call today at that. And Dave Schroeder's nitrous-huffing 'vette just went 6.78 as I type this!

***edit 3***

I'll link the day 1 results pdf as soon as HOT ROD gets it uploaded, but I can tell you that the top four in Street Race Small Block Power Adder ran the following - 8.501, 8.502, 8.504 and 8.506. Always in awe about the ability of folks who can run index classes (or just classes that in effect become index ones like this).
 
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Day 2 is live. 11 cars reported out as of this morning. We've got an early stoppage, a nice Chevelle got loose at the top end and might have tagged the wall.

***edit***

Dunphy's Viper has eaten a lifter on the drive, so he's thrashing to get it ready to run later today. That's gonna impact on his programme, he'd have liked to be running early and getting into road trim and out of there.

***edit***

Well, Dunphy and co got the Viper ready...and promptly ran down a 6.20 ET :cool: That thing is wicked fast...

Blasphemi a bit too powerful for its own good, Mike forgot to set the two-step and launched at around 8,000rpm...putting the thing on the trailer hitch. It bent the steering when it landed, but he and Tony fixed that only to hit ignition issues. They only managed one full pass in the 9s, knocking them off the lead of A/Gasser.

Day 2 results.

Dave Schroeder's blue Corvette is out :( So's David Armentrout's '67 Chevy II in the Ultimate Iron class. I make it 34 cars done in total out of I think 358 starters?

Check out Street Race Small Block Power Adder if you want to see what consistency looks like. 0.1s separating nine cars.
 
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Day 3 - US 131 Motorsports Park, Martin MI



***edit***

Viper's out :( "Catastrophic engine failure" on the drive between tracks. I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's often the drive that gets these cars rather than the track action.

***edit***

Finnegan had to wait until the last pass of anyone at all to make a clean run...where he promptly equalled his day 1 time and speed to within a pretty fine tolerance. Such a shame he couldn't/didn't get a representative pass in on day 2.

Attrition is biting everyone now. Goldstone still leads Ultimate Iron (and overall, since the only Unlimited cars left are slower) but had his engine apart at the end of competition yesterday getting a cylinder head welded up (!). 46 confirmed out, expect that number to go up as sunrise hits Michigan and everyone works out what they've got left.

Day 3 results.
 
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Day 4 - Milan Dragway, Milan MI


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Day 4 results.

If you leave out day 2's debacle, Blasphemi has been incredibly consistent - breaking down, misfiring, overheating, and running 8.7s. Once Mike has got the hang of setting up that slipper clutch he'll have the thing in really good race trim.

Bryant Goldstone ran down a decent pass after the thrash to put his engine back together. Alex Taylor in a solid second place. But Randy Seward's performance in Street Race Small Block PA is where it's at for me - the class is effectively an 8.50 index, and he's averaging 8.50730 :cool: And spare a thought for Chris Ingle and his Unlimited class '65 Nova - a 9.51 @ 162 day 1, and he's been limping it through ever since running 13s and 14s just trying to finish the week.

Speaking of - 57 cars confirmed out.
 
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