HOT ROD Drag Week 2019

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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That time of year again. The schedule for the week is as follows:

Sept 8th (tech), Sept 9th Day 1 - Virginia Motorsports Park, North Dinwiddie, VA
Sept 10th Day 2 - Cecil County Dragway, Rising Sun, MD
Sept 11th Day 3 - Atco Dragway, Atco, NJ
Sept 12th Day 4 - Maryland International Raceway, Budds Creek, MD
Sept 13th Day 5 - Virginia Motorsports Park, North Dinwiddie, VA

Phillip Thomas on HOTROD.com said:
On HOT ROD Drag Week's 15th anniversary this September, roughly 400 racers will again enter the world's toughest street-legal drag car competition - altering the definition of "street car" with every passing year. But there's more to it than that single champion. "This put all the 'you can't do that' guys in their place," said Larry Larson after completing the first-ever Drag Week in Third with an 8.847 at 154mph. 2005 was the launch of a revolution in the street car world. While most events qualified a "street car" as something that could survive a short tour around the block, David Freiburger formulated Drag Week to absolutely ruin trailer queens and keyboard commandos. HOT ROD had experimented with the idea in the past, but the Pump Gas Drags and Worlds Fastest Street Car Shootouts never quite captured the masochistic love of Drag Week's gauntlet. Not only did the new format stress test alleged street cars with a grueling, 1,000- to 1,500-mile endurance race (better known as daily traffic), but the ruleset itself evolved over the years with the mindset of defining classes not just on performance balancing, but also how a street car should be equipped and built. Year after year, a wildfire of homebrew innovation descends on our humble automobile competition as the most intrepid, insane, and often brilliant minds burn through the bad ideas fast enough to find enough good ones that make it to Friday

Beyond the everlasting effects on machinery, the racing family that has developed in the past 15 years is a true testament to the hell week's most important element: the racers. The folks who turn wrenches and dig ditches eight days a week are the heart of Drag Week, a blue-collar race through and through. Without a big cash prize, the only bragging rights are wrapped in Drag Week's biggest trophy: a jacket! And without looking like another paycheck, the racers that Drag Week attracted are akin to the Salt-cured souls of Bonneville - there for personal motivations more than competitive ones. Their M.O. for committing vary: a racecation (racing-vacation), a test of a new combo, the hunt for a new personal-best, or the raw thrill of chasing that top spot. Really, those selfish reasons almost always fall behind the friendships and families that have grown out of the week. There's just nothing like returning to the asylum to visit your buddies as, once back in the "real world," you understand that there's just nothing that replaces your fellow crazies.

With that said, working through 15 years of Drag Week results is something of flashback for us as much as it is for the hundreds of racers who have left the couch and keyboard to prove their mettle as much as their metal. It's all about that lonely feeling of uncertainty as you dive into a plan that, despite the best intentions, could go entirely wrong - and the warm reminder that you're not the only one floating. Those years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds of paranoia and uncertainty giving way to a cold sense of relief and satisfaction that words can't describe as it all comes together at the timing lights. It's raw curiosity being driven under a pressure and pace necessary to learn the limits of the mind, body, and machine. And that, friends and foes, is why HOT ROD Drag Week thrives on nearly two decades later.
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Drag Week Results 2005-18.

Hard to believe that this will be the 15th running of Drag Week. It's grown so much from that first edition, in size and in speed. In 2005 there were 40 cars, the fastest of which were running around the 8.5sec mark. Now there are ten times as many cars, 8's are almost common, 7 seconds is on the way to becoming the new 8, and we've seen the top guys well into the 6's. In not just street-legal cars, but street-legal cars that can actually be driven distance on the street. It's truly mind-blowing.

Cars to watch this year? Well, I'm looking forward to seeing this bad boy again - Scott Brown's wicked '53 Chevy. Mike Finnegan has just about gotten Blasphemi ('55 Chevy gasser with a supercharged Chrysler Hemi motor) back together after yet another engine rebuild along with some remedial suspension work and a new fuel system. Hopefully it's now keeping the coolant in the cooling system and not pouring it into the oil...Finn's been even quicker in the car since that 8.97 on Day 5 last year, so if she holds together then a win in A/Gas is not beyond the realms of possibility. Dave Newbern, 'Spirit of Drag Week' winner last year, is bringing the Attempted Murder Nova back with much more powerful running gear. Top honours in Unlimited will probably be fought out again by Tom Bailey ('Sick Seconds' 1969 Camaro) and Dave Schroeder (nitrous-huffing blue Corvette). But the great thing about Drag Week is the surprises that pop up. For me, last year it was Paul Cornman's '71 Dodge Demon that laid down a 9.452 on Day 1 like it was no big deal with a carb'd NA small-block and 3 speed automatic 'box. That was a really cool car.

I'll post the livestreams as they become available each day along with results as they get published.
 
My Insta feed is basically people thrashing to get ready for Drag Week right now :)

Finn and crew have got Blasphemi's two-step set up (before, he was just leaving the line revving by ear and dumping the clutch, now he can set an RPM limit for the initial launch, mash the gas, go and it'll raise the limit once moving). And yeah, she launches hard. If that engine is genuinely over the reliability issues and can keep the valves where they're meant to be, this could be the year that Blasphemi makes good on all that promise...
 
Day 1 - Virginia Motorsports Park, North Dinwiddie, VA


MToD link now live.

There were at least three cars in the sixes yesterday during the test 'n' tune after tech :cool: And Finnegan threw down a pass of 8.75 @ 159mph in Blasphemi, he'll be hoping for similar today. Seems like spending the time to get the launch on the two-step right was worth it!

Currently the track team are drying the racing surface, it's gonna be a little while getting ready.
 
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Okay, so they're going to go racing in 20 minutes or so. But it's going to be everyone getting one shot only with the time lost due to weather. Going to need to not lose any more time due to breakages!

***edit***

Aw, man. Dave Schroeder (the nitrous-ingesting blue 'vette) is out of competition. He had issues in the test 'n' tune yesterday and it's too much to sort. Damned shame, I love that car :(

***edit 2***

That's Day 1 done then. Hell of a day of competition. Some stuff went quicker than expected, some stuff stumbled. One that didn't stumble was Blasphemi - Finnegan pedalled the car to a new Drag Week A/Gasser class record of 8.529 @ 161.85mph :eek::cool:

I'll link to the results of Day 1 once they've been sorted out. Roll on tomorrow!
 
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Finnegan having alternator belt issues on the road, because Roadkill. At least he's got Tony Angelo as a co-pilot and riding mechanic!

Tom Bailey leads in Unlimited and overall having put down a 6.21 @ 228mph. Bad. *******. Ass. Second overall is Magnus Frost in the Opel Ascona from Estonia, he ran 6.43 @ 230. And Bryant Goldstone is 3rd on 6.93 @ 215, he'll be running quicker than that later this week.

At the other end of the scale, some lunatic is running in a 1917 Franklin Series 9B Touring :D 30.72 @ 45.45mph, would have been quicker just breaking the timing beam and accepting the usual 20 second penalty ET! An early contender for Spirit of Drag Week winner IMO. Hopefully they make it through the entire week.
 
Day 2 - Cecil County Dragway, Rising Sun, MD


MToD: Link is live

Looks like much drier weather for racing than yesterday :) CC Dragway is a higher elevation than VMP though, so don't expect many times to improve much even with the drivers having the opportunity to do multiple passes. The guys who broke out of their tech/class speed certainly will be improving on their 20sec penalty ETs though. And look out for 'Roxy' the red late model supercharged Pontiac GTO of Emily Reeves, she ran something like a 13.15 on Day 1 after it stuttered on the two-step when launching so she'll be aiming to do a bunch better with that today.
 
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Live on MToD now, and the MCM Cresta just threw down an 8.95. The Franklin is running next :D

***edit***

28.79 seconds! Picked up 2 seconds from yesterday! Epic :)

15 cars confirmed out so far. Not too bad compared with recent years.
 
Oh!

Magnus Frost just rolled the hotter of the two Asconas. He's out of the car and okay, that was a scary one. Good thing they built that one safe.

The car was meant to run in last year's event, but it got held up at Customs and wasn't released in time to make it. So they left it in the US to have it ready for this year. It's been mega quick, in second place after Day 1. Looking at how it hit the wall, I wonder if it might not actually be all that badly bent. Hopefully we'll see this car again.

***edit***

Oh boy. The live feed just showed the car now it's been scraped off the track - that front clip is pretty hammered. The cage looks pretty much untouched, which is good. But the front right corner of the car is badly bent.
 
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Tee hee. Finnegan ran an 8.75, which is pretty damned okay given how late he got to CCD and how little sleep he'd had. The trunk lid fell off the car as he crossed the line, which is pretty much Roadkill :D
 
Results as of the end of Day 2.

33 cars out. Finnegan comfortably leading A/Gasser in spite of Blasphemi trying to come apart on him at the stripe :p Tom Bailey leading overall despite a less-than-stellar run yesterday.

Greatest run of Day 2 for me was a toss-up between James Eby's Franklin banging gears to a 28 second pass, and Rick Steinke's '67 Malibu running right on the class bracket ET with an 8.500 @ 149.00mph. Actually, the top four in Street Race Small Block PA had one hell of a battle. Steinke's 8.500, Randall Reed running 8.525 in the '93 white Mustang, Brett LaSala 8.509 in the '13 green Mustang, Mike Reichen 8.517 in the '01 Camaro. Doesn't get much tighter than that, and I suspect if Monday had been a 'normal' day of racing instead of one-and-done then the average ETs would be even closer than they are. As it is, the top five in the class are only separated by a shade over 0.1sec.
 
Day 3 - Atco Dragway, Atco, NJ


MToD: Link live

Glancing around Insta I see at least one guy is out on the drive between tracks - Chuck Zeek's blue '76 Trans Am lost oil pressure :( Quite often it's not the track that breaks your stuff (Opel yesterday aside, fortunately crashing at a Drag Week event is very rare), it's the drive - whether it's a lifter going bad and wiping the cam or the engine overheating or oil pressure going away or a wheel bearing letting go or your alternator going through an entire Pep Boys worth of belts or lack of sleep sending you into a psychotic episode or...

Hopefully he'll be back next year, because that's a sweet car.
 
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The Franklin is up first :D The MCM Cresta is behind him I believe. In the other lane is the Barra-powered black Fox Mustang from Australia, can't quite see what's behind it.

Barra Mustang 9.07, Franklin 30.00! MCM Cresta is up...9.03.

***edit***

Here comes Finnegan...8.89 @ 155. I'd have to do some arithmetic, but I reckon that still keeps him in the lead of A/Gasser so he might decide to call his day early and get driving to the next stop. Tom Bailey up now, having made a run earlier where he spun the tyres. And WOAH! 6.18! He'll definitely hand that one in and head out :)

***edit 2***

Day 3 results.

Dave Newbern had carnage on the roadtrip. He might well be out. Which is a damned shame, because he'd been turning some really good times. Emily Reeves has gotten 'Roxy' (her late model Pontiac GTO with a supercharger strapped to it) into the 11s, which is rather better news. Mike Finnegan and Blasphemi lead A/Gasser by a couple of tenths. Meanwhile the 1919 Franklin is maintaining a sub-30sec average ET :D And the top four in Street Race small-block PA continue to be separated by the proverbial cigarette paper only - 8.527, 8.537, 8.553 and 8.561 are their respective average ETs.
 
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Day 4 - Maryland International Raceway, Budds Creek, MD


MToD: Link live now

Low altitude track, this one. If the DA stays low enough and the prep is good then we could see some pretty serious times being thrown down. Might get a bit warm for it yet though.

***edit***

Yep, density altitude headed up with the temperature. Hey ho!

Same first two runners as yesterday - Barra Mustang and Franklin. Mustang went 8.83! Franklin somewhat slower, but still quickest ET for the week at 28.35 :D

Mechanical Stig in the MCM Cresta now...good launch and an 8.93 :)

***edit***

Aargh. Looks like first gear has let go in Blasphemi's G-Force transmission. Finnegan's put in a 10 second pass to keep him in competition, but unless they can fix it then he's not winning A/Gasser :( Those things are normally bullet-proof, yet last year it stuck on the 2-3 shift and let the Hemi badly over-rev, this year it's lost a gear. Roadkill...

qQ4D83g.png
 
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Someway, somehow, Mike and Tony got the trans back together (first gear was in rather more than the one piece that it should have been in...) in Blasphemi in time to make a 9.30 pass right at the end of the day. If my arithmetic is right they keep a slender lead in A/Gasser going into Day 5.

It's going to make for one hell of an episode of Roadkill when it comes out...
 
Dave Newbern is confirmed out. Blew 3rd gear out of the trans, then his engine started making noises of distress and he called it quits rather than risk sending the rods out of it. He'll be back next year, potentially with a power adder of some kind :)

Dup said:
I don't think it's ever lasted more than 3 consecutive passes. Looks great when it launches. Not a gasser fan but love hit it gets down when it works.
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He actually made the end of Drag Week 2018, but blew it to Narnia when trying to make one last quicker run attempting to win the class with the "party pulley" on the engine (smaller supercharger pulley for mo' boost) and the transmission hung on the 2-3 shift. This year he just left the party pulley on all week! The car makes north of a thousand horsepower at the rear tyres. Stuff breaks :)

As of 3:30am Eastern they hadn't quite made the second checkpoint yet due to the weather (straight axle gassers, trailers and a lot of rain don't sensibly mix) and needing to sleep. But they'll get there.

Day 4 results.

Looking interesting in places here. Three or four guys can still win Street Race small-block PA if they can nail that 8.50 bracket. SR big-block PA is tight as well, with three cars closely matched including the Aussie Chevelle with the turbos poking through the hood. George Dodworth's Tesla continues to be Mr Consistency having laid down a 10.4xx every day so far - not sure if you guys have seen just how much he's removed from inside that car, but the weight saving must have been considerable!

Unlimited is all but decided in Tom Bailey's favour, though the Supra can overtake the OG Ascona today for third place. Oh, and we might see Bailey turn the wick up here and try to beat his 6.18 from earlier in the week - what price a 5.9xx??? And in A/Gasser Finnegan's average ET is 8.872. Jarrad Scott in the Ranchero is at 9.035. What these two do rather depends on each other now - if Finnegan gets a reasonably good run then Jarrad needs to go deep into the 8's to win the class. And it's not as if the Ranchero has had bullet-proof reliability this week, if he starts chasing a time then he could well end up breaking down. ***edit*** Freiburger has crunched the numbers, if Finnegan runs a 9.145 or better then he can't be caught (because the cars aren't allowed to run quicker than 8.5 without a funny car cage, and gassers aren't allowed FC cages).

Like I say - it's looking interesting.
 
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Day 5 - Virginia Motorsports Park, North Dinwiddie, VA


MToD: Link live

The programme is a little different today, starting and finishing later than the previous days. First up will be Street Machine Eliminator final qualifying runs to get into the Top 32 race. Then class cars get one last session. Then the SME Top 32, which will be a bracket elimination competition held head-to-head - so reaction times at the tree will matter, rather than the simple time trial that the racing has been all week so far! After the Top 32, then time permitting there will be a shootout between qualifying stick-shift cars, and also a competition between qualifying 8.50 class cars in Street Race small-block PA (the 'Crazy 8s').

Oh, and if you think the week has potentially made the drivers a little insane at this point then check out what it's done to Freiburger...I'll bet Lohnes is glad to be out of the way at his NHRA job today :D

***edit***

Rain delay at the moment, so Freiburger is doing storytime and Q&A on the live feed for a while. Might be a couple of hours before they can get Day 5 going.
 
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