I've got a running thread on upgrades and thoughts with my '68 Fury, but figured a trip writeup deserves its own thread. Will try to knock this out in a couple posts.

Back in February I was accepted from the waitlist for Sick Summer, a new event that Tom Bailey was putting on. He'd already done Sick Week in Florida 2 years in a row and decided on a midwest version too. I'd been to almost every track on the list but hadn't raced at any of them besides Cordova, and I was super excited to drive a bunch of midwest roads near the Mississippi. The route was also quite short by D&D standards, so it was a good time to get my feet wet with the Fury.


Day -1, Clinton

I had some issues leading up to the event, namely a cracked LCA, a rearend that I picked up later than I was hoping, and I also underfilled it like a bonehead. But... the car felt good enough to load on the trailer, so Saturday the 3rd I picked up a U-haul car hauler, drove home, loaded the car, and then we took off for Cordova!

Was also able to meet up with Furious70/Jeremy briefly, he was coming back from Indy and was right behind me on the east west tollway so I pulled over in Naperville to chit chat for a bit. We got to the hotel around 6, the car had 5500 miles exactly on the odo to start the trip. We unloaded it at the hotel, and then decided to drive it 40 minutes to dinner at Bent River Brewing in Moline. Found parking on the 3rd floor of the downtown parking structure too. I'd been there before on work trips and loved their bacon wrapped jalapenos and beers. It ended up being even more stellar than I remembered, and was by far the best meal of the trip!

Drove back to the hotel along the Mississippi, and the front end of the Fury got *ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED* by all kinds of bugs. Have to take care of that later...




Day 0, Sunday, tech day at Cordova

Loaded the car back up on the U-haul and left the hotel around 7 after seeing several fellow racers in the lobby, including Sam from the Cleetus youtube channel. Was at the track by 8 after a lengthy stop at Kwik Star for supplies and gas, and the line for tech was already 5 lanes deep. Unloaded the car again, and it went pretty smoothly - everything on the car worked, my paperwork was in order, and tech was pretty light since I signed up to stay under 11.50. They checked my battery hold down, taillights, turn signals and horn... that's about it. Once tech was done, we went back to the trailer, where I wanted to check a few last minute things- tossed a fresh set of -6 NGK's in it, checked torque on suspension fasteners, and also checked the torque converter bolts. Everything was looking good.

Didn't make a test pass- was feeling gunshy about the trans and some vibrations it has on certain turns. Turns out it didn't get worse over the week, thankfully. Left the track around 5, grabbed dinner at a very average mexican place in Clinton, Iowa, and were at the hotel by 7. It was around 90 and we were suffering mightily in the sun, luckily the weather got progressively better over the course of the week. The hotel a/c was a welcome relief!

Day 1 - Cordova

Left the hotel bright and early, and hit up a coin op car wash we'd spotted near the track- really wanted to get the bug guts off the car and start the week off correctly! Got at the track early enough to snag a pit spot on concrete. Made it to the driver's meeting at 8:30, then said goodbye to the truck/trailer for good and began the unloading process and switching the car over to "race trim". That involves throwing down a nice foam mat, setting the front shocks to 12 compression/5 rebound, and the rear shocks to 10 compression/4 rebound. Then dropping the rear tires to 18 psi. And.... that's it. lol

D class is called up last on Monday- we waited around until noon before we were called to the lanes. Time to race it for the first time after all of the suspension work and rearend swap. I was one of the first D class pairs down the track, lined up with a very nice black '69 GTO convertible. 2nd gear burnout felt fine. Footbraked on a pro tree, cut a not stellar light, and the car felt slow, I think from the gear change. However, it went 12.51 @ 107.96 in not great air. Not bad at all! I was worried the gear change from 4.30's to 4.10's and the extra weight of the dana was going to slow it down, but it pleasantly surprised me, didn't do anything stupid, and I turned my first timeslip of the week in!

Time to air the tires back up, set the compression to full soft on the Vikings, and load the trunk back up. It went smoothly, we were on the road by 2 or so. It was only a 77 mile drive day so there really wasn't a hurry. Stopped for fuel to be safe and a couple of the VW Beetles followed us in. The variety is so nice to see on these events. They didn't have a fuel gauge- instead they stuck a paint stick in the tank to determine level.

Drove through a couple little towns, followed a skid steer for a bit in Dixon, and then stopped at the riverfront park for the checkpoint photo op, I tucked in behind Alex Taylor's '55. After the picture against the river, I moved it to a regular spot so we could hang out in the parking lot. Shortly after I parked it in an angled spot, a guy with a trailer tried squeezing between my car and 2 lanes worth of cars that were stopped taking pictures- he was within an inch with the spare on his trailer, he thought he was clear, and then pulled through... clipping the rear bumper of the Fury with the aluminum fender on his trailer while about 10 of us were yelling at him to stop. Ugh. He tried buffing it out and promised to come back on Tuesday at Byron. Of course he didn't show up for the rest of the week.

Left the parking lot and headed to the hotel in Rochelle. A bunch of racers were there already- we dropped luggage off, then headed to a local bar for dinner. Came back, bs'd with a guy from Chicago with a Malibu, a couple Mustangs, and the Barra powered Fairmont. Was asleep by 10, can't complain at all after hearing all of the horror stories from Drag Week!


Day 2 - Byron

Woke up around 6, ate some decent breakfast from the Holiday Inn Express, and left for the track around 7:15 after the usual morning gas station stop for Red Bull, a crapload of water, and ice for the cooler. Made it to Byron at 8, and once again lucked out with a pit spot on the concrete! Unloaded the car, adjusted the shocks, and waited around- D class was last again today. Watched a few of the impound and C class cars. C class finished up, they called A/B to the lanes, and they got most of the way through them before it started to rain. It drizzled, then rained heavily, then stopped. We were pitted near some guys from Melling Performance who happened to have an EZ-up, and they graciously offered shelter while we were getting rained on!

After the rain stopped we had hope they'd get to the D class, but looking at radar it didn't seem promising. Around 1 we saw cars leaving the staging lanes, and then the official announcement came over the PA. Loaded up, and it immediately started raining again while leaving the track. This is the first time I've ever driven my car in the rain and was curious to see how it would do with the ET Street SS's on the back. They definitely exceeded my expectations- no hints of hydroplaning even at 55 mph. They hooked surprisingly well in 1st gear too. After about an hour of driving, the rain stopped, and we'd made it most of the way to the first checkpoint at the auto museum. Took some pics, hung out in the parking lot for a bit, then left again for the next checkpoint - making it back to Wisconsin!

There was an unofficial checkpoint at the Boar's Nest, with a General Lee on the roof! Leaving there, the spectators and fans on the side of the roads gradually increased- I totally wasn't expecting this. There were people in their yards who had made signs, guys hanging out at intersections, all kinds of people in Lake Geneva, etc... all who were waiting to see us. It was really surprising, and it continued later in the week as well.. We cruised through Lake Geneva, then made it to the 2nd checkpoint of the day - the Mars Cheese Castle on the side of I-94 in Kenosha! Took our obligatory photo, hung out, and then we headed north to Milwaukee to stay with my parents for the night and also grab some great dinner at Cafe Hollander in 'Tosa. While we were driving up to Milwaukee, the group text indicated that not only was D class running first on Wednesday, they also expected a huge crowd and we were supposed to get there as early as possible. Of course my parents live 40 minutes away, and they mentioned they're opening the gates at 6am. Oof!

More pics for day 2!

Pic of the people in the pickup truck credited to the Sick the Mag media team - posted in the FB group.

Day 3 - Great Lakes Dragaway!!

Got up at the buttcrack of dawn, and to be polite as possible to my parents neighbors, we pushed the car down into the middle of the street before starting it and driving away. Cruised the 30 minutes down to Racine, stopped at a Kwik Trip for breakfast sammies/Red Bull/water/ice, and saw tons of other racers stopping as well. Left the gas station around 6:45 and got to the track at 7, again just in time to get a pit spot on concrete! Unloaded the car, set the shocks, added a half quart of oil, lowered the tire pressure, and I noticed the valve covers were leaking slightly so I tightened the allen head bolts. Also figured I'd try running without the air cleaner today to see if it would pick up any.

My parents decided to come and they showed up in the pits around 8:15. By 8:30 it was hard for them to find a spot in the stands, and at 9 my class was called to the lanes- we got to run first today! I was absolutely shocked at how full the crowd was at 9am on a Wednesday for an amateur race with zero prize money.

First pass felt very good - I tried bringing it up against the converter harder, and t seemed to hook a little better by the seat of the pants, and it turned out to be true- it went 12.50 @ 107, but the 60' was almost 6 hundredths quicker than Monday at Cordova, or my other passes at Milan and Norwalk with it. The MPH was off- I'd put ethanol free fuel in it and thought it may have swung too rich based on the a/f meter, but I figured I'd try getting back in the lanes and see if putting the air cleaner back on it would help.

Reinstalled the air cleaner, and at the same time saw one of my cousins from the Chicago area walking up in the lanes. I wasn't expecting him to come and was super cool to race in front of more family! They ran through the lanes quickly. Same thing, brought it up against the converter a little more, and it went a new PB on motor of 12.40 @ 108. The MPH came back from reinstalling the air cleaner, and the 60' was great too. The caltracs are working and the gear change didn't hurt the car at all. And coming back on the return road was insane - by my 2nd pass, the stands were completely full and there were people camped all the way up to the top end of the track. Even the track workers by the scoreboards were smiling and giving thumbs up to everybody passing by. Just surreal!

After the great pass on motor, loaded the car up, turned in the timeslip, hung out with the parents for a bit and then hit the road around noon. Detoured up to Gus's drive in, in East Troy, for a proper 50's diner experience. There was also a kindergarten class outside, and one of the parents came over to apologize at one point because the kids were quite rowdy. When we started the car the kids started jumping and screaming.

Cruised to the 1st checkpoint at the Hog Cabin Saloon, then crossed into Iowa. Car is running great with no issues at this point, got to the hotel in Dubuque around dinnertime and slowly watched more racers trickle in. We walked across the street to Chick Fil A for a quick dinner, and went to bed early- we still had to hit up one last checkpoint before stopping at Tri State tomorrow.

*pic of the Fury on track at GLD purchased from Alan Smith/Mr. Fabulous Photography

May you be trouble-free for the duration - sounds like a pretty epic adventure !

Man, they have some big people there - not hard to equate to the food pictures

Day 4 - Tri State in Earlville, Iowa

D class was running last today as well so I wasn't in a super huge hurry, but we were woken up by Devin Vanderhoof's 6 second, 275 radial Mustang convertible starting at 6:15 am. Grabbed breakfast, then took off, again briefly stopping for fuel and the required morning supplies of Red Bull, water and ice. One thing I haven't mentioned yet- you literally can't go anywhere on one of these without somebody asking about it. Either in town, at a gas station, at a stoplight, or whatever. The towns love it, and it's really unique. I'm jaded as that doesn't happen in Detroit, but you really are a spectacle on these events.

We had to stop by the second checkpoint before the track- this one is special, it's the Field of Dreams movie site. Only a few race cars were there while I was, and we didn't spend much time there, but I did donate to the lady manning the information booth as it was really cool to see it in person and it looks like it's all volunteer run. Got to Tri State around 9, this time we were pitted on the grass. The humanity!!! lol

Did the usual unpack procedure, set the shocks, and I also decided to check lug torque and the u-bolts. Everything checked out. We had plenty of time so we decided to watch a bit of racing. The grandstand area is super cool, it's built into a hillside and the track itself was very nice. We were called to the lanes around 1pm. I ran a forgettable 12.51 @ 108.5, and turned it in immediately as it was close to my timeslip on day 1. This was the first track where the timeslip people were in the 3rd floor of the tower, and it was awesome to see the track from above- have never had that opportunity prior to this! Also weighed the car on the drive back as it was the only track with functioning scales- 4345# with me in it. Oof.

What I neglected to mention in the first part of this writeup - I'm in the dial your own class. Whatever you turn in on day 1 is your dial in, and then whomever has the tightest spread over the 5 days wins. I didn't know how good it was until tomorrow.

We loaded up, and then headed out for a quick detour. Many of you remember the Charger R/T I owned in the early 2000's. I sold it in 2008 to a nice gentleman in Iowa who finished it over the course of several years. He unexpectedly died, but his son Jeremy has the car now and we've kept in touch all these years. Jeremy pointed out that the Charger is only about a half hour from Tri State, and suggested I could go visit it. Knowing that opportunity may never present itself again, I absolutely had to detour to see it, and can't thank him enough for letting me see it and move it out of the garage for the photo opportunity with the Fury. The Fury and the Charger share drivetrain parts with that Imperial a few posts above, and it also couldn't be with a better home.

It's the nicest '68 Charger I've ever seen in person, the pics really don't do it justice!

Nice write up Nick. Needs more BS, and making fun of your Trunk Monkey… lol

Day 4, continued

We took off for the first checkpoint and are a little behind schedule, this is the last drive day and also one of the longest- especially with the detour I added. First checkpoint was a state park with what looked like a man made lake. Got our pic, headed on down the road. Checkpoint 2 was at Hot Rods by Havlick- these were very cool people. Offered us water, soda, had a little area set up for people to do burnouts, and tons of people spectating along with directing traffic. Hung out for a bit, watched some cars, then took off again.

Last run was to Motion Raceworks for their end of the road party. We stopped for gas prior to it at one of the few stations that had 91- everywhere else was 87 only! Was also nervous as there was a report that one of the stations near Tri State had a tank full of water- a '57 Chevy in the Sick Ward had to dump out all of their fuel after posting a picture of the water in their fuel system. But, our fuel was fine, the car was running great, and we made it to Motion Raceworks for free drinks, free dinner, shop tours, and a huge party. Got a spot up front and enjoyed bench racing and watching the variety of cars. Pretty much everything you'd see was cool or unique in its own way, and everyone we talked to was friendly as well.

The only unfortunate part was that in front of Motion Raceworks they had an impromptu burnout area. How is that unfortunate?? I'm too chicken to do them in the Fury in the dry. I don't think it has enough power to do easy 2nd gear burnouts with no water on the ET streets with a trunk full of supplies, and it has a non-LBA valve body so there is no way I'm risking a 1st gear burnout with it. I either need to carry a water bottle just for those burnouts, or give the car some more power. lol

We made it to the final hotel in Le Claire around dusk, and again a bunch of competitors roll in, including more hilarious guys from Chicago, and Bryant Goldstone. Last hotel stay of the trip, it went by way, way too quickly, and I'm one pass away tomorrow morning from being able to say I've completed my first drag and drive event.

I'm not good with the BS. It'll get stepped up with more of these events for sure. lol

And on the trunk monkey topic, I did find out that my friend Spencer who came with me snores about as loud as a train horn. I was wearing earplugs in the car to help with noise some, but they were no match for his snoring. Found industrial strength earplugs on day 3 and I finally was able to sleep again.

Guy with the black 69 GTO you raced is Vince Rasch. Hes one of the original DragWeekers from 2005.Great friend. Good to see him back out doing dragon drives.

Day 5 - back to Cordova!!

Was feeling quite thrilled with the car at this point, only had a 30 minute drive to the track- we took the long way to burn some of the fuel out as I wanted to put race gas in it and run it on spray for the last day. The gates weren't officially opening until 9 but we were still up and out the door by 7:15-ish. Drove to the same car wash we used on day 1- wanted the Fury looking fresh for the finale, and for the tow home. Got her washed off, and made it to the track again just in time to get one of the last paved pit spots!!

At some point late on Thursday night, they tabulated the DYO results, and it turns out I was tied for 2nd overall out of 84 cars with my 12.50/12.51/12.51. I struggled with what to do, was hoping to get 3 passes in today. If I was smart, I'd run all 3 on motor to see if I could win class if the leader slipped up. He did, but I also chose poorly. lol

Began the changeover process, but this time I wanted to spray it after the first motor pass. D was supposed to go first today but they bumped us for A/B. Let air out of the tires, adjusted the shocks, and I went 2 clicks tighter on rebound in the rear in anticipation of the nitrous hitting the tire harder. Changed the plugs from -6's to -8's, bought two pails of 110 from the VP truck onsite and borrowed his quick spout because I was horribly unprepared! Also reset the preload on the caltracs to be safe.

Finally got called to the lanes a slight bit after noon, I was again one of the first pairs down the track in D class. It went a 12.476 on motor- super stoked I finished, and pulled back into the lanes immediately so I could get another pass. What I should've done is try to get closer to the 12.50. Had I kept the average I had going into the event, I would've won DYO as the leader had multiple bad passes- but in the lanes for pass 2 I checked the nitrous setup, had to monkey with the WOT switch again, and then turned the bottle on for pass number 2.

It went 11.41 @ 117.9, in not great air, with a 4 hundredths better 60' than it did at Milan, and I also was shifting at 6k (was shifting at 6500 last year). Trying to keep this stock block together and LY rods in the motor, and even with those changes it still ran what it did last year on the spray. Derek the announcer even mentioned I turned the spray on over the live feed, as he was used to seeing it run 12.50's all week.

I was happy with the result but figured if I could get another pass in, why not? It had 110 in the tank and enough nitrous for at least 2 more passes. I looked at the plugs after the run and they were a smidge lean. Debated switching the jetting from 73n/76f to 76n/80f, that would be a little more of a shot and also richen it up some if the mechanical pump can keep up. But as I was fishing through the jets they called us up for the all run session, and I didn't have time to swap them. Instead I pulled a degree less timing out of it with the MSD, and also changed the window switch on the nitrous controller to allow it to go to 6600 instead of 6000- on my last 2 nitrous passes in 3rd it has turned the nitrous off and then back on due to converter slip. Figure turning it on and off was worse than just letting it pull clean through it, as lifting wasn't going to be an option.

Pass 3 was a personal best of 11.375 @ 118! The mph didn't pick up any with the extra degree of timing so I'm definitely going to put that back to where it was. But it ran great, it is in one piece, I finished the week with a new PB and it was time to hang out for free dinner and a multi hour award ceremony.

Last few notes...

When I turned in my 12.47 to the timing ladies, Don O'Neil the Top Sportsman racer and pit announcer for the event saw the t-shirt I was wearing and came over immediately to talk to me. I've never met him before in my life, and he definitely doesn't know who I am. But I was wearing my Monte Smith Performance t-shirt that I bought from Monte on Drag Week in 2016. He apparently was a good friend and wanted a picture with me just because of the shirt!! We spent a good 10 minutes chatting about Monte and what he contributed to the drag racing scene. It's crazy how almost a decade later we're all still paying our respects to him.

After my passes I celebrated with the only track food I'd had all week- a walking taco from Cordova. Solid choice- apparently the chicken nuggets and french fries weren't anywhere near as good!

Loaded the car up and parked next to Dino from Chicago again, he was at the hotel in Rochelle on Monday night, and he'd just finished with his Vortech supercharged, LS3 Malibu. He'd driven there from Chicago with a U-haul trailer, Joe Barry style. Had a couple beers and BS'd with him, and it turns out he'd spent a bunch of time working in Detroit and was a bit of a foodie so we talked about all of the good spots locally. Went up for the awards ceremony, and ended up with a pile of free stuff that Don had tossed to the crowd- now have Strange and Callies banners that are hanging proudly in the garage.

Results for DYO got posted and my 12.47 was good enough for 9th place. Still don't regret spraying it instead. lol

Awards ended a bit after 9, and we drove to Milwaukee to stay with my parents for one more night before driving back early to Detroit so my trunk monkey could get home.

Of course, we had to have some spice on the trip. When I picked up the U-haul trailer, the tires were looking a little haggard but they didn't have another to use, and I'd hoped they would at least make it the 900 miles to and from Cordova. They almost made it... until one blew out on I-94 just after Chesterton, Indiana. Was able to watch it disintegrate in the sideview mirror- pulled off to the shoulder, contacted U-haul, and in about an hour they had a new tire/wheel installed on the trailer and we were able to finish the drive home.

Overall, couldn't be happier with the car and the event as a whole. It did better than I thought with the gear change and extra weight, and I do think I can get another tenth or two out of it before swapping heads over the winter. Am absolutely hooked on drag and drives- this one was easy compared to Drag Week or Rocky Mountain Race Week standards due to the shorter distances, but I also went out of my way on multiple days just for the adventure and opportunity. The official route was something like 425 miles, I ended the trip with 760 on the car when it was pulled onto the trailer on Friday.

Also can't stress enough how awesome the spectators were, both on the side of the road and also specifically at Great Lakes Dragaway. If any D&D event goes through GLD, I'm going to do everything I can to sign up again. Was thinking I'd take next year off due to work, but am already reconsidering that and am going to try to have the car a little faster and also make time to do it, regardless of my work schedule.

The few faster Chicago area guys I talked to had all done Drag Week before. Dino, and Chris Roscoe, who was at my hotel on the last day, both said they liked this better. It was a well run event, and anybody considering one of these definitely needs to just get out and do it!

Great write up, glad you had a great time.

Drag week is run by pretty much the same crew of people. One thing I have learned is that if they say the gates open at 9 the gates really opened at 6am and 60% of the people are already in the lanes at 9am lol!

Sounds like you had a great time! Finished the week, did well in your class, and got a new best! Enjoyed reading the story!

We went to Bristol in 2018, a couple hours before the gate opened, and were probably the 100th car in line. Those that want to be successful at winning class at one of these events, needs to spend a half hour listening to Curt Johnson (10x winner). He will tell you what needs to be done, from day one, to the day you arrive home from the event. It was a VERY interesting conversation. The guy had his program perfected, and he'd gladly tell you how he did it.

Great write-up! It sounds like you had a lot of fun and the car was stone reliable!

The Drag and Drive stuff is very addicting. You have to experience it, to understand it. I'm sure you met people at the event, that will be life long friends. I call and talk with people I've met on Drag Week, at least once a week.

Great write up Nick! Congrats on the new best! How did you like Tri-State? I liked that track and the owners always treated the racers well!

Great write up Nick, reminds me of when Mopar Billy did his.

Drag and Drive is on my bucket list, but being on the east coast doesn't make it as easy as I'd like .