HOT ROD Drag Week 2018 – Race, Drive, Repeat!

One of the most unique events in drag racing is HOT ROD Drag Week. Race car builders from around the world are put to the test that is half drag race, half road rally. The challenge: to build the fastest street legal car that can still drive hundreds of miles between race tracks for five days straight. Simply surviving drag week is an accomplishment itself, but to be crowned the fastest street car is the ultimate prize.

Most people know someone with a clapped our drag car that is built just to hit the strip and then get back on the trailer. Not these cars. Each participant must have a current license plate and registration along with insurance. To keep things legal on the road each vehicle must also have working headlights, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals, and even a horn. Beyond these guidelines almost anything is game. Creative participants have swapped out entire front clips, intakes, bypassed superchargers, even crafted removable side pipes that adapt to zoomie headers!

This year the honor of fastest average across all five days was Tom Bailey in his 1969 Camaro. Tom averaged a 6.85 elapsed quarter mile time at 202 miles per hour! Keep in mind he did thisin a street car that towed its own trailer for well over 1,000 miles.

Starting at Atlanta Dragway, racers traveled next to Darlington Dragway, then to zMax Dragway, on to Bristol Motor Speedway, and finally back to Atlanta Dragway for the final day of racing. We caught up with the caravan on their final day in Atlanta and tried to capture the extreme range of racers. Everything from high-tech high-boost imports to revived farm trucks were giving it all they had in a bid for street car glory.

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