By Tommy Lee Byrd – Images by the Author
The drag-and-drive scene is more than just a fad. The concept of drag racing your car and driving it to the next track on repeat is growing in popularity, and there are many events all over the country that give gearheads a special experience. Tom Bailey hosts a series of events under his Sick Week branding. Along with his annual event that occurs in Florida and Georgia during the winter, he hosts one-off events in other parts of the country. One such example is the Edelbrock Sick Smokies event, a special race that travels through the hills of Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, stopping at old-school, eighth-mile dragstrips along the way.
Each day’s racing consists of four hours of time trials, split up into several groups. A, B, C, and D groups are separated by elapsed times (A being the quickest), and then the E group is designated for racers running hard street tires. In addition to the groupings, there were a few gasser classes, as this event was promoted heavily within the gasser community. More than 50 gassers came out to race, going for the quickest six-day average in their respective class.
The event kicked off at Rocket City Dragway in Huntsville, Alabama, on a Monday morning, and then racers loaded up and headed into Nashville, Tennessee. The next day, they raced at Music City Raceway in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Racers jumped on the back roads across the Cumberland Plateau, leading to Fitzgerald Motorsports Park in Crossville, Tennessee. From there, it was another mountainous drive to Knoxville, Tennessee, with a checkpoint at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary and an awesome open house and cruise-in at Lokar Performance Products. Thursday’s activities kicked off at Knoxville Dragway in Maynardville, Tennessee, and ended with a scenic drive that would only be a taste of the next day’s adventure on the road.
Friday had no drag racing but plenty of action, as more than 200 race-prepared cars tackled one of the most spectacular and dangerous roads in America. With 318 curves in 11 miles, the Tail of the Dragon was an unforgettable part of Sick Smokies, and event organizers gave racers three route options to add to the experience. Ultimately, the racers ended up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Friday evening. Saturday morning, racing action took place at Brainerd Motorsports Park just across the state line in Ringgold, Georgia. After securing a satisfactory pass, racers loaded up and headed across Lookout Mountain and later crossed back into Alabama with a destination of Huntsville, bringing it back to where they started. The final day of competition at Rocket City Dragway saw plenty of action, and a huge sense of accomplishment as racers completed their adventure.
The variety of cars and trucks in competition is outstanding. Some are mostly stock and some are extreme combinations. The wild setups require hours of work each day to switch the car from race mode to street mode, and, of course, there are the roadside repairs to make things even more interesting. With more than 900 street miles and six grueling race days, these cars and teams were pushed to the limits. Ultimately, it was Nick Cryer taking the overall win with a 4.631 eighth-mile average in his twin-turbocharged hot rod. In the gasser classes, it was Mike Finnegan winning A/Gas with a 5.512 average, Matt Donovan in B/Gas with a 6.125 average, and Randy Quay winning Outlaw Gasser in his turbocharged 1957 Chevy with an average of 6.253 seconds. Despite efforts to run as quick as possible during the Edelbrock Sick Smokies event, the real thrill is to complete the drive and make it back home with a truckload of memories and stories to tell.
