Hot Rod Drag Week 2024: Day Two Indianapolis Raceway Park

With Day One of Drag Week in the rearview mirror, racers made their way to the hallowed ground of Indianapolis Raceway Park. The drive from Ohio to Indiana claimed numerous cars, and some just barely made it to the track for Day Two. The standings went through a big shakeup at Indy thanks to the amount of carnage that occurred during the course of the day. Numerous racers got on the road as soon as they could for the long trek to Martin, Michigan for Day Three.

David Schroeder was sitting number two in the Unlimited class after the first day of racing, but he never made a hit at Indy. Schroeder was forced to drop out after it was discovered the Corvette's street-mode rocker arms had begun to fail, and sent a lot of material into the big-block Chevy mill.

It was a LONG night for Chuck Stefanski and his crew. The Pontiac wagon had a cooling fan fail, and the car then lost all steering when the team was just two minutes from the hotel. Stefanski patched the wagon up, and made it to Indy where he had parts waiting for a more permanent fix for the steering issues. After a 7.55 pass, Stefanski packed up and got on the road. The goal was to make good time to Michigan so other issues with the car could be addressed.

Ned Dunphy brought the lead and some drama into Day Two. The Viper spent a lot of time on ProJacks during the day as the team took care of some issues that showed up after the drive to the track. Metal was found in the oil, and it was discovered some valve train parts weren't happy. After swapping the parts out, Dunphy made his way to the starting line and ripped off a 6.20 pass in the heat of the day.

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Jeremiah Kirby brought his home-built 1972 Chevelle to Drag Week for his first drag and drive event, and so far things are going well. The Chevelle has run a best of 8.41 thanks to the 665 cubic-inch big-block Chevy under the hood. Kirby said his goal is to just finish Drag Week, and work on getting the car sorted out more as the week goes on.

Jerry and Matt Sweet almost didn't make it to Drag Week. The father and son duo's 1976 Chevy Nova is powered by a massive Sonny's Racing Engines Hemi that's basically a streetable Mountain Motor Pro Stock mill. Well, that big five-inch bore space beast ate a few rods and pistons, plus put a hole in the block at an event a few weeks ago. After a mad thrash, Team Sweet got the engine back together, made it to Drag Week, and ran a 7.76. If they can finish Drag Week that run will be a new Pro Street N/A class record.

Brian Goldstone and his 1970 AMC Javelin are wrecking shop in the Unlimited Iron class at Drag Week. The 556 cubic-inch big-block is feasting on all the air the twin turbos are feeding it. The rowdy AMC has laid down a pair of 6.50 passes so far this week. Goldstone believes the car can run a 6.40, but he isn't going to turn it up until the final day.

Les Smith's 2011 Camaro is handling its first Drag Week well so far. Smith had campaigned a stunning 1967 Nova for several years, but that car was never built to handle what Drag Week threw at it. The Nova was replaced by the Camaro, which is a purpose-built drag and drive monster that's powered by a big-block Steve Morris mill. Smith has coaxed a 6.91 at 207 mph out of the Camaro so far this week, and his goal is to collect more data to improve those numbers by Friday.

About the author

Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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