As you are reading this, the state of Florida has been taken over by drag racers driving their street-legal beasts from one location to another for an event dubbed Sick Week 2022. We’ve already discussed one of the participating machines, a Chevrolet Caprice Wagon with 4,500 hp on tap and now we’re back on the topic with a Chevy that’s even fiercer: the 1969 Camaro “Sick Seconds”.
Having started on Sunday (February 6) and ending on Friday (February 11), Sick Week 2022 will see dozens of drivers clocking a total of about 650 miles (1,050 km) on public roads to drag race their beasts on four different tracks, with some mandatory parties along the way—this is the total distance between the various stages of the competition, but some of the approximately 350 participating street cars will be doing way above that, depending on where they came from.
Tom Bailey, the organizer, describes the adventure in the 1320video YouTube clip below (4:47 timestamp). You can think of this as the Drag Week format (originating in 2005 and taking the annual edition road mileage to about 1,000), but with shorter drives between tracks.
As the enthusiast, who has been a Drag Week participant for over a decade, aptly points out, having to go between 100 and 200 miles between tracks is more than enough for a drag strip monster to prove its mettle on the street.
And who else would have what should be the quickest car at Sick Week if not Bailey? Welcome to his “Sick Seconds” Camaro.
1969 Chevrolet Camaro “Sick Seconds” New Spec for 2022
Tom Bailey’s ’69 Camaro tale kicked off back in 2007, with the vehicle’s initial tech issues having inspired its first nickname: Indian Burial Ground Car. The man only kept the 615ci V8 from that car, relocating this into the original Sick Seconds ’69 Camaro back in 2012, which brought him into the six-second arena (a Drag Week record).
2015 marked the switch to Sick Seconds 2.0, which can be described as a Pro Mod drag racer adapted for street duty, right down to the tube chassis. And, with a little help from engine builder Steve Morris—the owner of the Caprice mentioned in the intro—Bailey delivered the first 5s pass in the history of Drag Week back in 2019. It’s also worth mentioning that, with a 1/4-mile time of 5.7s and a trap speed of 260 mph (418.6 km/h), this is the world’s quickest street-legal car (that title is related to the E.T rather than the trap speed).
Alas, the ‘Maro was consumed by a fire last year, which only added to the aficionado’s motivation to rebuild the thing. And you are now looking at the risen-from-its-ashes form of the car, which is still dubbed Sick Seconds 2.0 (we would’ve imagined a 3.0 moniker in there).
Regardless, for 2022, Tom Bailey’s Sick Seconds 1969 Chevrolet Camaro is animated by Steve Morison’s SMX 426 V8 featuring a pair of 102mm turbos. The list of tech goodies also includes a Rosser Turbo400 tranny with an overdrive—for instance, the gearbox used by the said Caprice Wagon doesn’t have an overdrive, relying on large-diameter tires to reduce engine rpm when cruising on the road.
Sick Week is more difficult than it might appear
Keeping these cars functional, whether this is about the quarter-mile abuse or the long road trips, is all about tweaking the little details, and you can get a taste of this in the second YT video below, which comes from Bailey himself.
For Day 0 of the event, an 8s pass done while coasting was enough, but the goal is to return to the 5s range, and we should see the ’69 Camaro pulling the stung later in the week. Meanwhile, the first clip will also bring you a sweet selection of Sick Week cars, which range from a 1964 Triumph Spitfire with a turbocharged 5.3L GM V8 and some Swedish insanity to a 1934 Chevy that identifies as… a ’34 Ford and rocks a nitrous-fed 498ci (8.2L) big-block.
