Drag Week 2020

Dates and tracks are announced

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hot-rod-drag-week-2020-tracks/

Looooooong drive between Byron and 131.

I went to Cordova a couple years ago to watch. Had a blast. Will be fun going to Byron next year

263 miles according to google, Hot Rod will probably add some to that but that isn't terrible mileage for drag week.

Worst i have done on drag week was 415 miles Memphis to Tulsa 2012, we also had a 380 mile run that same year.

Memphis to Tulsa as the last drive of the week was brutal.

Holy smokes
If your car can handle that kind of mileage its definitely a "street car"

sweet, I'll be able to catch 2 days of it!

For sure! Folks that think otherwise are just not informed.

I'll for sure be there with my trusty trunk Monkey Jeff! We are both pumped about it.

Im going to try again hopefully with a happier engine

I might be dreaming but I’m seriously considering going this year, it’s not quite as close as 2016 but still basically in my backyard, and it’s been on my bucket list for a while. Problem is my car is in a million pieces and has never run during my ownership.

Drag week is great motivation. Set a goal to be there, make a plan on how much progress you need to make each week to be ready, then get busy!

Is that a paddle pool on your trailer ?




Tex

Cheep guy sleeping arrangements.

Neat


Tex

You will have a blast, but you better get started!

That is SO COOL!!

The goal is to have it ready to go racing by spring. I already have a fresh 410 small block and 727 sitting here along with 90% of everything else needed to complete it. I just have to build the 4.30 geared 8 3/4 center and get the whole mess assembled then start shaking it down and then hope it’s not quicker than 11.50 because a roll bar isn’t in the plans right now.

I've never seen any one post about the pay back for drag drag week from the magazines, is there one (pay for winning or runner up) for winning your class?
I think the magazines are making a hoop of money from it by writing about it in their rags

Hit the truck stops for a shower and you got it made in the shade.

Zero payouts for Drag Week... If you are looking to make money at the event, you wouldn't understand why people do it.

The magazine coverage for the event has been almost nothing the last couple years.

Prob just another sign the internet is killing paper again..... sure seems a lot of people watch the live feed

It should be interesting to see what they publish this year. It seems they actually reached out to some people to try and harvest stories etc.

They have shed a few staffers over the last few years that I feel hurt the publication. Elana Scher and Phillip Thomas were both Hot Rod staff that dug deep in the event and gave great coverage. Neither one of them work for Hot Rod anymore.

and i REALLY miss Billy's wright ups !

Agreed, I miss Billy's take on things Dragweek

Billy is going to be missed around here for a very long time. At least by me. He was a remarkable individual.

RIP Mopar Billy

Here's a link to Mopars at 2019 Drag week and some coverage of Billy's family...

https://moparconnectionmagazine.com/gallery-cuda-ricks-2019-hot-rod-drag-week-adventure/

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...rod-drag-week-adventure.html#Post2705839

You are absolutely correct on my not understanding working your butt off and spending a hoop of money to help the magazine sell more of their products while not offering even a small rewards for doing this event other than writing about their experiences and some printing of the winners for each day and the event chanmpions
I was invited to participate in the first Engine Masters Competition, when I ask about rewards for the winners they didn't respond or offer me any more invitations
My thinking is if your doing work for a corporation that will help them sell their products you should be paid, at least the winners in a competition, for doing well when you win
Volunteer work helping people or communities is one thing, using and abusing people by holding a competition in a hobby they love that mainly helps the company putting it on is not something I want to help promote, let alone pay a entry fee for, and participate in for zero pay back is not in my things to accomplish in my life
This is America, you have the God given right and freedom to pursue anything you like to create your happyness

Back when Eddie was running in the street class and one of the first in the 7's with his Duster didn't he receive a jacket and trophy? I actually like drag week tho.

Yaaaa and money collected on Moparts so he could make it there. 😂

Wow, there's a curmudgeon here.

Drag Week is still a blast....don't worry.

Cab, I've been on drag week 10 times and the fact that they don't pay is 100% completely irrelevant to me. Same with any racing I've done. I race because I'm a racer. That's what I love to do. Racing's a money pit. If I won a cash prize for doing well at a race, so what? The prize would be a fart in a hurricane. I'd still be way under water. I don't care if a magazine makes money off of coverage of the event. It's no different than if you race at NHRA. They make money off of the racers. Unless you're a professional racer, it's going to be a money pit win or lose. Those of us who do drag week love to race, and we love the event. if they started throwing big prize money out, it would probably ruin it. It's very grassroots. You see a lot of the kind of cars that will never fit in at the events that pay bucks.

Joel, we race for the same reasons, I love it also
Growing up in SO CA back when drag racing was big I cut my drag racing teeth on the street and then at several different SO CA drag strips ran under AHRA, NHRA and some non certified tracks for local street racers. All of them gave you a trophy or money prizes for winning your class and later on your bracket when it got big.
I chose drag racing as my passion, it is a money pit and it consumes a bunch of my time even today, I still do it as I like to win and go fast, I've thought of putting a younger better driver in my current car but I haven't found the person I would let drive it with trust and knowing they can provide good feedback when things start to go sour I didn't choose to go drag racing for the money but when you win and get some of your investment back it adds to the addiction
Maybe some day I'll find a good driver, hopefully before I sell both cars

They do give out a nice jacket to the winner of each class. Plus some other stuff to the winners of the top 3 fastest classes like drums of fuel, and fancy Drag Week electric guitars.

And I did get that free GV overdrive in 2014....

Anyways, racing is a fun hobby for me, and Drag Week turns it into a really challenging, real world adventure. And it gave me an excuse to build a neat Mopar. Which I have to get working on again, for 2020.

The experience, and friendships made on Drag Week, by far outweigh any payout. Billy always did an awesome job of describing Drag Week in his write ups, but it can't be put into words, it NEEDS to be experienced. I stay in contact with people I first met on DW 2015 yet today. In fact one of them, I've offered to pull his car, with my truck and trailer to DW 2020, just because it is a opportunity of a life time for him, and the adventure that lies ahead, will be priceless.

It is hard to fully appreciate Drag Week without actually doing it as a driver or a rider aka trunk monkey.

I can see it as being fun and a true challenge, but what I can’t understand is if guys love it so much and it only happens once a year why can’t guys get there cars ready for it. Even Billy admitted every year that he always started getting ready late for it every year and a lot of the story was about stuff that could or should have been addressed months earlier. It’s hysterical watching the same guys bow out every year. I just shake my head when they post they signed up.

Why??? because most people have jobs, family and other adult life that gets in the way. Even if you have the car ready a month in advance, you are testing, checking, and fixing things. It's a 6 day event with tech, and now add in drive time, both ways. You burn up 2 weeks right there. After the event you are so exhausted, and don't want to even look at the car for a couple months. Then you take the car apart, make some changes, wait on the machine shop to get back to you... Next thing you know, you have a month until the event starts again.

The event is not for everyone. Most people that have experienced, NEVER look at racing the same way. Your expectations of what a fast street car, are tossed right out the window, once you survive the event.

Ya but many of these guys sign up every year and never end up going so that excuse doesn’t fly for many. And a two month break shows a lack of wanting it very bad.

Signing up pushes you to get the car done. I don't know too many that sign up every year, and bow out at the last minute.

As for Not wanting it because of you took 2 months off, that isn't true. Guys like Joel, have a business to run, and a household to maintain. Things that can get sidetracked while trying to prep for DW, and need to be addressed when you get back. For Joel, that is his busy time of year at work, and he puts in A LOT of hours. Does he want to work on the car after a long day? He has quite a few irons in the fire. When we get to Drag Week it's pretty much ALL business with us. We take it very seriously.

Have you ever read the story of the tortoise and the hare? I think that applies in many instances. You have a whole year to be ready. SO you do a bunch of other stuff. Next thing you know, it's crunch time.

The amount of work and preparation you guys do amazes me to compete in those events
I've spent many hours preparing my cars to race at the tracks and many, many hours on the road going to those races driving thousands of miles in the truck to get 3 to 10 11,00 10.00 seconds runs,, depending on how I do
You guys drive a hoop of miles in the same car that you race to get to the next track hundreds of miles away following a predetermine mandatory route, you spend 5 days on the roads to get to all the races, if the car holds up
You guys are CRAZY IMO Only in America
Your guys deal reminds me of a old joke I heard about a guy whipping himself with a horse whip, some one asks him why he does that and his reply is because he feels so good when I stop doing that
Continue on

I did pretty good on the first car I built just for Drag Week...I worked on it all day long every day for about 6 months (starting in December the year before), and was driving/testing it right up until that September. The car worked well, and has worked at all the DWs it's been on since (the one time it broke, we were able to get it going again in time to race the next day).

<---The second car I built just for DW was a lot more involved, and I worked on it from December until right before we loaded it on the trailer in September. I didn't work on it full time every day for the first few months, but starting in June, I did. And when I finished Drag Week with it, I didn't want to touch it for a long time. I ended up not taking it this year, took the "old" car instead. I'm just now getting the urge to get back to work on it.

So, why have I spent a couple years of my free time and well over $50k building a couple cars for this stupid race that doesn't even have a payout? I guess I'm an idiot. Fortunately, there are a few guys here who've done it, and fully understand. The rest...well, you can continue to shake your head, and believe we're just crazy. You're probably right.

I get why guys do the event , I know guys who have done Drag Week plus they now have an Australian equivalent .
I appreciate the effort but I guess for me there is no real challenge to 5 days of test and tuning , there is no actual race during or at the end of the Australian event as far as I know . As a racer that is what I want to do . It is funny watching all the last minute Larry's chasing their tail to finish stuff up , same stuff happens here .


Tex

Oh, it's a real race. You are seriously racing against your competition, just not side by side. And it takes all week to unfold. Always trying for a better et. There is a lot of drama, trying to decide whether to make another pass or hit the road, waiting for the results to be posted each day, calculating your average and theirs, seeing if they make the drive or drop out. You run as quick as you possibly can. You never lift or step on the brakes to win. You can't lose by going to fast. It's a real race.

I can see why guys do it, it just isn't for me. I can't justify the cost to run all week. I love driving my car, but a week long 1500 mile road trip in it doesn't seem all that fun. I'd be deaf, tired, and out of money by Wednesday, lol.

which is why making it through Friday is so rewarding.

Some guys just like bigger challenges.

No better feeling than pulling into the Hotel parking lot on Thursday knowing you made it back to the host track.Races,crewed and the last few times just been a spectator. No better group of people to call friends. When it comes to getting a win in any class it is indeed a Chess game.

I have done six of them and I am usually deaf tired and broke by Wednesday also lol.

Truley a good time and a way to escape reality. You are basically drag racing with drag racing people for 6 whole days when you count tech. I have also done 5 of my 6 drag weeks with my Dad which is impossible to beat.

See Elana has a story interview with Bailey in this months Hot Rod

Elana is freelancing now, and seems to be still getting plenty of ink in HRM. I like that. But she wasn't on Drag Week the past couple years.

I think the best reward of Drag Week is the people. To be able to go have dinner with guys like Squirrel, and his Trunk Monkey, Scott Abbott, Randy Heiselman, HEMI Joel, and many others is pretty cool. So much knowledge, and interesting stories to listen to.

Brian has the best stories

Yeah can't forget Kohlmann, and Mark Janaky.

What Jerico and Squirrel said. Plus total immersion in drag racing culture for an entire week. This is a big thing for me. Unlike real life where it is 99% non car people, on DW, everybody and everything for the whole week is totally Drag Week nuts. Everybody is a car guy (or gal) that we all relate to. At the track, on the drive, at the gas stations, at the check points, at the restaurants, at the hotels, all car nuts. Word gets out and throngs of local car guys congregate at the checkpoints. People sit along the road in lawn chairs and watch the race cars drive by.
Plus the cars, absolutely mind blowing to see the huge variety of street/strip cars, and 9,8,7,6, and now even FIVE SECOND street cars! I am unable to convey to you with typed words the feeling of being in the midst of all this. I'm getting excited just thinking about it now.

I can see the test n tune guys loving this more than the all out racers. All for all you excited guys it’s go time. Hit the shop as it will be here before you can say, damn I’m not going to make it this year, again