- 4 months ago
HOT ROD Drag Week 2025 once again put the toughest street cars in the country to the test. Over five days and more than 600 miles
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00:00I'm Ron Drag Week, the toughest test for streetcars.
00:08Five days, thousands of miles, and one crowd.
00:11The fastest streetcar in America.
00:14That's what I've been trying for a lot of years.
00:17That is just I'm still in awe about.
00:19It's iconic, really.
00:25Welcome to Drag Week 2025.
00:27For those of you who don't know what this is,
00:29this is an event that was started in 1995 by David Freiberger,
00:32and David will say he modeled it after Brock Yates' One Map of America,
00:36where that was road racing around the country.
00:39This is drag racing over five days.
00:42So we start at one track, go to three others, end up where we started,
00:46and the drives are what ends up killing most of the cars.
00:50It's a very tough competition.
00:52The drag racing is one thing. You can build a drag race car,
00:54but you have to be able to make the drive,
00:56and sometimes the drives range between a thousand miles.
00:59And this year, we're looking at something like 660 miles.
01:03A little bit shorter, anything can happen on the road.
01:09This is our eighth drag week.
01:11Why do I come back?
01:12It's friends, man.
01:14This is like family.
01:15If you'd never have done drag week, you would never understand what we're talking about
01:20because the camaraderie on the road, people pulling over, helping you,
01:23and it's just neat because this gives everybody an avenue to take their daily driver car
01:30or, you know, put slicks on it and go down the racetrack for the first time, mate.
01:34I've seen the hands this morning. How many first-timers?
01:37There's a lot of first-timers here.
01:39This is my first drag week. I've been in cars for all my life,
01:42so the fact that you can drive your car and drag race it is probably the coolest thing ever.
01:48This is an addiction. It's a different format.
01:50It's a lot of pressure to make one pass and have it count.
01:53And so I love the challenge. This is something new, something different.
01:56I would say the fans and the followers of Drag Week are better than any fans out there.
01:59I can't believe the comments we get, the congeniality, the generosity.
02:02People are like, do you need water, food?
02:03Would you like to stay at our house? People are amazing.
02:05So we're grateful to be putting on a show for everybody.
02:07I'm not sure what keeps me coming back, but I know what doesn't keep me.
02:12My wife doesn't keep me from coming back because she doesn't ever restrict me at all,
02:16which someday maybe she will and she probably should start,
02:19so we might have some money so we can live, you know, into our 60s or so.
02:23But I don't know. We haven't gotten any smarter, so we're still doing it, you know.
02:27It's basically you've got to be a moron to do this, and you can bleep me there if you need to.
02:32But in order to do this, you have to have no like for money, sleep, any kind of rest or clean fingers or anything else.
02:39And I've got moron friends that go with me, so.
02:42We've got several different classes in Hot Rod Drag Week.
02:47Top class is unlimited. That's typically the fastest cars, but they're not always the fastest cars.
02:52And we've had winners in the past from the Ultimate Iron class, which is one step below.
02:57And the classes are figured out by basically engine size, whether there's a power adder or the engine is naturally aspirated,
03:04weight of the car, different safety equipment like different kinds of roll cages, different roll cages,
03:10certification to a certain mile an hour and a certain ET.
03:14And that figures out which class you fit into.
03:17Some of those rules are designed to keep really crazy expensive race cars out of the competition.
03:22So we still want this to be a street car show.
03:31Hey everybody, I'm Ned Dunphy. I'm standing in front of my 2013 Viper.
03:35This was built by RK Racecraft out of Cartersville, Georgia.
03:38Absolute craftsman and artsman. As you can see, this car is perfection.
03:41We have a Proline built SMX motor inside of there.
03:44The block, all the parts, all the heads are Steve's, but Proline assembles.
03:47They're right by my house. Partners of mine for another car that I race.
03:50And so what a team I've got with Steve and Prolines in this power plant.
03:53Precision twin turbo 102s. Fuel tech on board for all of our engine management.
03:57And one of the most stout transmissions, the Mark Mickey 400.
04:00This thing's doing drag week. We're just beating the heck out of it and it loves it.
04:03So I can't say enough good things about that 400 with the lockup.
04:06Brian Goldstone, Osceola, Indiana. This is my 53 Corvette.
04:10Everybody knows me from the Javelin that I've campaigned the last 30 plus years.
04:16Tainted it the same, so not the same car, different.
04:19It's got a SMX engine that Brian Robbins at his own shop put together, my co-driver.
04:25It's got a Rossler transmission, ProTorque converter, Mark Williams 11-inch rear end.
04:31Turbos on this. So they're stainless diesel turbos.
04:34Local guy that has been doing diesel racing is getting into the gas business.
04:38We're doing a lot of R&D for them. We're hoping that they do good.
04:43And so far, so good. I mean, hell, it's first full run and it was a 35.
04:48So I'm pretty happy, or 27 at 235. So we're pretty happy to know that they'll make some power.
04:53My name is Will Fair. I'm from Palm Coast, Florida.
04:56The car is a 56 Chevy. I purchased it two years ago from Texas as a roller.
05:03And then it took almost two years to build it into a drag and drive car.
05:08We put it on radials because I just like radials.
05:12The motor is a 540 PAR motor. It's a bulletproof motor.
05:16It showed itself to be very reliable. Turbo 400 from Rossler.
05:20Texas Precision does the rear gears. It's been a really good package for us this week.
05:26Hi, I'm Steve Spies, south of Chicago, Manhattan, Illinois.
05:30And the car behind me is a 1969 NOVA with a big Ford motor in it.
05:37It's a John Cozzi racing engine. A 565 with 2088s on it.
05:45So 2018, I hadn't talked to him in three or four years.
05:48I called him and we talked. I said, hey, I want to do drag wheel.
05:52I want you to build me an engine.
05:54And he goes, all right, we've built a lot of Chevy motors.
05:57I go, no, no, no. I want your Ford motor in it. I want your Boss 9 in it.
06:02And he got real quiet. He goes, are you sure?
06:05And I go, yeah. He goes, well, I'm going to have to do a lot of research on it, which he did.
06:10He's a very smart man. And he talked to a lot of people.
06:14And the engine so far, it's almost bulletproof.
06:20Dave Almentrout from Charleston, West Virginia.
06:23I've got a 67 Chevy II, 540 PAR big block Chevy, twin 98 turbos.
06:31It's got a wicked transmission built by Jason Wicker out of Raleigh, North Carolina.
06:36I started building this car 16 years ago.
06:40It was literally, I bought a VIN, a VIN in the title.
06:44So the only thing left original to the car from GM are the A pillars and the doors,
06:51where the doors bolt on. Everything else is aftermarket.
06:54Carbon doors, carbon fenders, carbon hood, carbon deck lid,
06:58titanium firewall, but steel roof and quarters.
07:01Our expectations of Paul and I talked about it a lot.
07:05Our expectations were to come to drag week and run a six every day.
07:10And get our 200 mile an hour jacket.
07:14Well, as it is right now, I want to, I want to win this.
07:17And I could, I should be able, if I play my games right,
07:20but I can come in third on overall.
07:23So coming into this one with my goal was to finish.
07:25Just go a whole week.
07:28It wasn't to be top three or a place or anything.
07:32I wanted to go six seconds.
07:34I did that.
07:35And I want to finish.
07:36I heard that if I break the beams tomorrow,
07:38I'll be in the 200 mile an hour club.
07:40I didn't know about that.
07:42That's, that's, that's cool in itself.
07:44Coming into it a month ago,
07:46we wanted to be tested and ready to run fives.
07:48But as we had it made, but one eighth mile past before that,
07:52we kind of shortened them up a little bit.
07:54Testing didn't go well on, on Sunday and it didn't go great.
07:58We ended up in the sand,
07:59but it was already within a 10th of the other car in the eighth.
08:03So it had a lot more potential.
08:05So we figured, well,
08:06we'll just drive it around and fix shit all week.
08:10This week, our goals,
08:11we were hoping to set the low record overall.
08:14So we're going to work our best to do that.
08:16That's a tough thing to do.
08:18Day one is easy.
08:19Go out and make it a kill pass,
08:20but now three, four, five,
08:21can the car hold up?
08:22We'll see.
08:23So our goal, survive the week,
08:25set the average,
08:26run a five,
08:27have fun.
08:28That's, that's drag week 2025.
08:34Good morning and welcome everybody
08:35to Maryland International Raceway
08:37at Buzz Creek, Maryland.
08:38Participation wise,
08:39we're hearing that this is the biggest drag week in history.
08:41Now let's go to the deep end of the swimming pool
08:43with Ned Dunphy and the Viper.
08:45They have been putting a lot of years
08:47and a lot of laps and a lot of miles on this thing
08:49to make sure that they complete their drag week.
08:52It's day one on a beautiful racetrack
08:54on a beautiful morning.
08:55He went 247 yesterday.
08:57Can he run 250 miles an hour today?
09:00Dips in shallow.
09:02No, he cannot.
09:03Tire shake off the starting line.
09:06Decided to dip his toe back into it
09:08mid course and Dunphy
09:10with a bad trail of weird smoke out of the back,
09:13but it's dissipated pretty quickly.
09:15So Lutz rolling up here in the Camaro
09:17has publicly stated
09:19the intention here is to run fives every day,
09:22heating the Goodyear slicks
09:24on the back of the turbocharged entry.
09:27And keep in mind, Jeff Lutz right here,
09:29way back in 2016,
09:30set the quickest average ever at drag week.
09:34Over five days, he averaged a 619.
09:39How many attempts will Jeff make to go fives?
09:41He hopes one.
09:42Low gear is going to tell us the story.
09:47It's going to tell us the story of very high frequency
09:50tire shake that he is going to shut the car off
09:52and bring it back around into the lanes.
09:54Bryant Goldstone up here with his brand new car.
09:57You can see the tape on the front end here.
09:59This thing parachute did not come out yesterday.
10:02They parked it up in the beach.
10:04Obviously got the car back together.
10:06227 mile an hour terminal speed yesterday
10:10that precipitated his trip into the sand trap.
10:14There's some question as to whether or not
10:16he would bring the javelin back
10:18or bring this car out,
10:19which has been as they all are a thrash.
10:25And man alive.
10:26Okay.
10:27Rattled the tire just past 60 feet.
10:32666 at 229 miles an hour at the finish line stripe
10:37with the parachutes out.
10:38Still got the sand traps in the back of my mind.
10:41So I was going in and we've been messing with the creep on it.
10:47And obviously it took way too long to get it into the lights.
10:50So I had to do it that way.
10:52So I got it into the lights and left.
10:54And then it got to the same point and it shook the tires again.
10:57We keep taking power out there and it just keeps shaking.
10:59So 666, I mean, I was expecting it to be faster,
11:03but we'll probably stick around and make another run.
11:06So new tune up in there.
11:07We got aggressive.
11:08We were really going hard for the start.
11:09And what happened was the tire was going a little bit too slow.
11:12We brought the boost in early.
11:13And so we ended up rolling the tire on itself,
11:14which creates tire shape.
11:15So we rolled out and it shattered the tire.
11:18When it shattered, it broke the differential.
11:20Basically replaced the ring and pinion.
11:22Brand new, good to go.
11:23And now we've got our start and tune up from yesterday.
11:26And then the back half of the track,
11:27we're going to give it some more boost.
11:28So we're going for a good pass here,
11:29but it's not going to be as aggressive as this morning
11:31because we need a good pass.
11:32Ned Dunphy will come up to make his second attempt
11:35with a fresh ring and pinion.
11:37So Dunphy on a solo run here.
11:39628 is low ET of the event today so far.
11:42All right, Ned, let's see what you got.
11:44He's got it up.
11:48He's through the eighth mile.
11:50Dunphy at 191.
11:51Ned Dunphy goes 617 at 247 miles an hour.
11:56So Ned Dunphy, low ET of the race,
11:59and he now leads unlimited.
12:00That was our plan B tune up, but it did what we wanted,
12:02which was A to B.
12:03We had to get out of the hole.
12:04So that was the same one we talked about earlier,
12:06which was just out of this hole.
12:07And then we put a lot of boost in mid track.
12:08So if you'll see a camera angle from behind,
12:10it did a little bit of a wheel speed, but smooth, straight.
12:13We got a clean pass.
12:14We got a green light.
12:15So I can turn in a slip now and go to day two.
12:17Brian Goldstone.
12:18Brian Robbins out there in front of the car,
12:21his co-pilot, brilliant mechanic, brilliant tuner.
12:24A bold opportunity, a bold move here for Goldstone
12:27to effectively debut this car in competition at drag week.
12:31Here he goes.
12:32Nice move and made it through low gear, made it through mid course at 162.
12:44A little blow by goes 675 at only 194 miles an hour.
12:48And there were some big problems for everybody today.
12:52Yeah, it was really a come and go kind of day.
12:56Some real trouble with cars sitting out of here.
12:58Once we found out that we can make out drag week 2025,
13:01I was really excited and I instantly reached out to Mike and,
13:05you know, it was kind of iffy.
13:06We had some pretty tough luck here in the past couple of weeks.
13:11And it was looking dark, but we, you know, we knew the car was ready.
13:16Jeffrey and I wanted to do it.
13:18I wanted Jeffrey to ride with me.
13:19He hasn't ridden with me in 13 years.
13:21So the car's fast.
13:22We've been testing it, testing it, testing it.
13:24We had the rod problem figured out.
13:27And, you know, the first pass yesterday, everybody's seen it.
13:31I lifted early and I still went 591.
13:34So we was pretty excited about that.
13:37You know, today, unfortunately, we had something happen.
13:40I don't know what.
13:42And, yeah, I'm not going to be able to fix it here.
13:45The camshaft's not determined.
13:47So we did something horrifying to it.
13:50So we'll regroup.
13:51We'll come back.
13:52And, you know, that quest for the fives got to happen.
13:56You know, I've been doing this long time, real long time.
14:01You know, I've seen it evolve from, you know, seven second street cars
14:07to six second street cars to 200 mile an hour street cars to 250 mile an hour street cars.
14:13So I wanted to be the one to go in the fives all week.
14:17And I thought we had the car to do it this week, but it didn't happen.
14:22So I guess the door's still open.
14:25It was a wild day for the unlimited class.
14:27We had a lot of guys break, have bad runs.
14:31The favorite to win, Jeff Lutz.
14:33He's out.
14:34Heard the engine.
14:35We've seen Goldstone struggle a bit.
14:37Schroeder struggled a bit.
14:39The Nova that went 628, second quickest run of the day.
14:42He's putting a piston in there already.
14:44And the Dodge Viper went 617 to set low for the day.
14:49Good morning, world, and welcome to the Midia Dragway.
14:52It is day two of Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week 2025, presented by Gear Vendors Overdrives.
14:57Of all that are left, the quickest of all.
15:01Went 617 at 247 yesterday.
15:06So Ned Dunphy brings it into the beams.
15:10Can he get out of here with one pass?
15:12It took him a couple yesterday.
15:14He wants to be clean, mean, and out of the gate as quickly as possible for the drive today.
15:22And he's looking like he's going to do it.
15:24Dunphy's 108 early through the eighth mile at 198 miles an hour.
15:28He goes 611 at 247.
15:31So Ned Dunphy scorches the racetrack.
15:34611, 247.
15:36Man, I thought we may see 250 there.
15:39That's going to be a one-shot deal.
15:41All right, one and done on that run.
15:43I had called a 610.
15:44We went a 611.
15:45So that was great.
15:46The tune-up matched the pass.
15:47This is one of those where we get the front of the track figured out.
15:49We're not going super hard at it.
15:50It was a 108, 60-foot, which is good.
15:52It was mid-track.
15:53We're still playing with where we locked the converter up.
15:55How much boost we put out the back.
15:57So this track was smooth, clean.
15:59The prep was awesome.
16:00It was just no drama right down the middle.
16:02Keep this average.
16:03Like, not get too greedy with it and hurt the car.
16:05And right now, one and done is great because we're going to get pulled out of here in about 10 minutes.
16:08If we get greedy and miss a pass, we have to go back later when it's worse.
16:11So I think our mindset is keep the average super low,
16:14and then on Friday show off a little bit and maybe do a couple hot passes.
16:20Two cars in ultimate iron.
16:22David Armantrout on the left.
16:24Will Fair in the red 56 Chevy.
16:27Will Fair, number two in class right now.
16:30Armantrout, four.
16:32Armantrout's inside, but man, Fair's locked in.
16:38Nice piece of driving by Armantrout.
16:40Fair throws the chutes out.
16:41Armantrout goes 685 at 195 miles an hour.
16:46Fair goes out of the throttle earlier, goes 702, 149.
16:50Got Bryant Goldstone's Corvette here, and they just arrived at the drag strip.
16:56And I understand, I was told by one of their friends that they had some type of a mechanical scene going on,
17:03I guess last night, and had to address it before they could get here.
17:08We got in late last night because we had somebody, I guess, died on the highway.
17:12So we sat there two hours, and then they said, no one's going through here for probably at least three hours.
17:17So we had to turn around and go back the other way through the detour.
17:20So we get to the hotel, we got our two and a half hours of sleep, woke up, got all loaded up,
17:25went to leave, and we heard a squeaky lifter.
17:28So then it's like, yeah, we're pretty sure what it was.
17:32So we pulled the intake, and sure enough, I had one that was starting to seize up.
17:37So it took us forever to get here and get it changed, and then, you know,
17:40we got all kinds of other problems when I got here.
17:42So I'm hoping it's one and done because there's not much time for two.
17:46So it'll either be one and done or I'm going to have to not be able to throw my chutes and pack them
17:50and fill it up and come right back.
17:52Goldstone in the Corvette, new car, new for this event.
17:58Goldstone has gone 666 at 229, and that was a not ideal pass for that thing yesterday.
18:06Big, big moment here.
18:08We'll find out if Goldstone can make a clean lick.
18:09He will have time to come back in if he wants.
18:19Looks good early.
18:20They start pouring the power to it, 180 in the eighth mile,
18:23and Goldstone goes 650, shutting it off at 197 miles an hour.
18:28Yeah, he was out of the throttle way before he got to the stripe at 197 miles an hour.
18:32It was making a 180 at the eighth, so it only picked up 17 mile an hour across the stripe.
18:36So there's plenty more where that came from.
18:38It cropped at the other end, and I kind of figured it out before we stopped that we probably should have refueled it all the way after we ran the car for a while because it choked on and it didn't have enough fuel in it.
18:50Yeah, but basically it let me off the throttle.
18:54Yeah, so we just filled it up, and we're going to come up and probably run the same tune-up, and it should go a couple tenths quicker.
19:00Lillibar height was set, and the last piece of the puzzle here is to bring him just to the edge of the pre-stage beam for him to spool the turbos up and bump the car into the fully staged spot.
19:14Nope.
19:16Was not making the wheel speed, went into tire shake, and he shut it off and pulled the motor way down off the starting line it sounded like.
19:23I think the track was just a little bit greasier.
19:26We didn't change the tune-up on the short side of it, and it just didn't go.
19:30It went 60 foot, it went slower to 60 foot, and then kind of kicked it sideways and shook him, and that was it.
19:37So yeah, quick little experiment, and it didn't work, so at least I got one to turn in.
19:43Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Maple Grove Raceway, the vaunted House of Chaos.
19:53It's been open since 1962.
19:56He told us he wants to go 6-0.
19:58He told us he wants to go 2-49.
20:09And he may do it.
20:10Dunphy is way clean through the eighth mile at 4-16.
20:13He's headed there, 6-16 at 200 and 45 miles an hour.
20:18Take it to the bank, put the parachute back in the pack, and take it on to Cecil County Dragway.
20:24And that still puts him on a path to potentially lay down the quickest average in the history of Drag Week.
20:30He's now run quicker than the former average record three times in a row.
20:36Coming in off the street after a long drive, you know, tune-ups change, all that stuff, and we just, the tip-in killed me, so I had to do it a couple times.
20:42So anyways, 6-16 though, we're thrilled, and 2-45, so we're off our mark.
20:46And I called the 6-08 on the camera with the 2-49, so we'll save that for tomorrow.
20:50Brian Goldstone has come through the water box in the Corvette.
20:56Goldstone.
20:57A disappointing day for him by his standards yesterday.
21:00Goldstone, a 6-66, a 2-29, and a 6-50 have been the two runs he has managed this week.
21:08He came up very late in the day yesterday for a kind of a last-shot attempt.
21:12Did not go well.
21:14Brian Robbins backs him up to the starting line, and it is a testament to the quality of Goldstone's build and the skills of these two guys.
21:21We virtually never see a new unlimited car that was finished very shortly before the event make it even this far.
21:27Nice, nice, nice.
21:35Eighth mile at 182.
21:37He's going to leg it through.
21:38It's missing a little bit.
21:39Goes 6-27 at 2-35.
21:41You heard the motor kind of missing in there.
21:44It was popping a little bit.
21:45It wasn't quite RPM like you'd expect, but still a 6-27, their best run of the week,
21:50with a speed of 2-35, their best speed of the week as well, and plenty more where that came from.
21:55We expected something like that earlier in the week, and we just, we had a really rough night,
22:00and honestly didn't think we were going to get to run today.
22:02We kind of caved together and made a decent run, so we got something to work with.
22:10We just got done running a 6-27, a 2-35, and we really just brought this car out to test it,
22:16because we haven't tested it yet, and we figured it can go faster than the Javelin, so we're just really here.
22:23We're not trying to compete. We're just trying to go as fast as we can go.
22:27It's kind of what we do all the time anyway. We're just here to do what we do.
22:31This is where we would have liked to have started on Monday, but we got behind the eight ball
22:36and just had to turn in what we had to turn in, and finally I'm happy, so, you know, but not for very long.
22:42We obviously want faster. We built the car to go fives.
22:48I'm standing right now in front of the current quickest car here, so far in three days.
22:54Ned Dunphy and his Viper. This thing's crazy. It's been running 6-15s, so he's on pace right now
23:01to have the highest average, quickest speed of the race, of the event so far.
23:07On top of that, we've got Bryant Goldstone, last year's overall winner.
23:11He's here in a brand new car, and he's having some breaking-in pains.
23:16Like, he was having some trouble getting down the track, but I talked to him yesterday afternoon.
23:20He said he's figured out the combination, and so he's currently in second place,
23:24but he's several tenths off the pace of Ned here in the Viper.
23:29But you never know. Something could happen to Ned, and it could fall down to Bryant.
23:34But Bryant's in Unlimited right now.
23:36It's Wednesday. We have two big drives under our belts, but there's two more to go.
23:40You may have a lot of confidence heading into today thinking like,
23:43oh, we got the drive. The car's running well.
23:45But we have rain coming. We've got more mountains and more miles to put on these race cars
23:50as they put more and more drag strip runs on them without being rebuilt.
23:53Drag racing is always very hard on cars, but if you add a road trip to it,
23:57you're asking the car to do something it wasn't meant to.
24:00So a drag race car like this Viper, like Ned Dunphy's Viper behind me,
24:04is made to go maybe five, six seconds full throttle, wide open, get there as quick as possible.
24:12And then you want it to drive 200, 300 miles down the road on the freeway, turning at like 2,000 RPM.
24:21And race engines are really happy at lower speeds. They need a lot of oil pressure.
24:24They need a lot of oiling to keep the engines cool.
24:26Plus you need a huge cooling system, which is opposite of what you want to do on the racetrack.
24:32You want the car to be as light as possible.
24:34What you're doing is asking these cars to do things that they're not really meant to do
24:38and not very happy doing. You need to change tires. You need a good overdrive transmission.
24:42That's why Gear Vendors is a perennial sponsor of the race.
24:46You just need to do a lot of maintenance between track and street driving.
24:50So it's not as easy as it looks, I assure you.
24:53Good morning and welcome to day four of Hot Rod Drag Week 2025.
24:58Brian Goldstone will be coming up next.
25:05Goldstone has a brand new car here. This is the first time out for it.
25:09And he has had some shakedown difficulties, but yesterday ran his best number thus far.
25:15A 627 with a 7.
25:18Brian Goldstone, here we go.
25:21Oh, Goldstone, man, that thing got way sideways very early.
25:30I am going to be willing to bet you dollars or donuts some water came out of that thing on the launch.
25:35The water that was trapped in various crevices of the body and chassis.
25:40When a car turns like that, it is only because of one thing.
25:43There's liquid under one of the tires.
25:45So I got to believe that water came out of that thing, got under one of the slicks,
25:49and that's what pitched it sideways.
25:51Here comes Ned Dunphy, our current leader overall at Drag Week in the Blue Viper.
25:57SMX powered, twin turbo.
26:00Listen to the specs each day.
26:03617 on Monday, 611 on Tuesday, 616 on Wednesday.
26:10And today he's trying to lay down another six in the teens.
26:14Now, we keep talking about how he has the potential up to this point
26:19to be able to set the record for the quickest average five-day ET in the history of Drag Week,
26:25which is 619, I believe.
26:28And he has run quicker than that every day.
26:31The day's gotten on.
26:32It's hot.
26:33So I think we're going to go for anything better than 615 right now
26:35to keep our average where it's at or lower.
26:37We're not going to get greedy, though.
26:38Tomorrow's a whole different day, but we got to get a time slip.
26:41Oh, Dunphy's going to get out strong.
26:49He goes 111 to 60 feet.
26:51421 to the eighth mile at the back.
26:53621 with a six.
26:55247.66 miles per hour.
27:00This is not the heat of the day.
27:01This is the, oh my God, it went down the track.
27:03Thank goodness.
27:04We had not another chance to get back to the lanes.
27:06And so the fact that that went down,
27:08number one, brother.
27:11It was an absolute lifesaver.
27:12So we're in the game still.
27:13We have a slip that we can turn in.
27:15And it wasn't a great pass, but the track's hot.
27:17Everything is hot.
27:18So I'm pumped.
27:19We're going on to day five.
27:21Steve Spies, the 69 Nova.
27:24Ultimate Iron.
27:26Leader in that class.
27:27He's run 684.
27:28He's run 679.
27:29He's run 685.
27:31The past three days.
27:33And obviously having driven that car from track to track.
27:39All right.
27:40Spies is looking like he's got a hold of it.
27:41He goes down to the eighth and 445.
27:44And 683 with a two.
27:47205.
27:48Yeah.
27:49Good run.
27:50I feel good.
27:51Yes.
27:52And then it's over 200 also.
27:53Yeah.
27:54205.
27:55What's that, 68?
27:56Uh, 683.
27:58Okay.
27:59I don't believe I didn't hit the log.
28:01No, you didn't.
28:02I said, I thought for a minute I did.
28:04And I almost stopped just because I thought I did.
28:06And then I'm like, why didn't you hear nothing?
28:08They shook me so hard.
28:09I didn't my contact.
28:10His eyes like loose.
28:12I guess there was the water mostly got trapped in the car somewhere
28:16and got underneath the tires.
28:18This one had paddle marks.
28:19That one's gone.
28:20That's what it said.
28:22I haven't had that happen before.
28:24That was sketch.
28:25Well, basically what happened, it's got a 90,000s pan underneath the seat
28:29to be pro mod legal.
28:32And it's from the driving in the rain last night.
28:35Evidently, it's got rainwater that come through the top and got in between this pan
28:39and the chassis.
28:41And, uh, when he'd let go of the button, it would just, the water would just run out.
28:46And Bryant Goldstone comes right after him in that left-hand lane.
28:51We did get word from KJ Jones, who was inspecting the situation down in the Goldstone pits,
28:57that the two passes he's made thus far today, where he made a hard left trying to get into the wall,
29:02were indeed because there is a pocket up under the quarter panel in the back of this car
29:07that was holding water from the rain that we were driving in last night.
29:11Watch the back of the hood up the windshield as he brings up the RPM.
29:14You can see the exhaust there.
29:18Okay, he's going to get it out easy.
29:20A 1-1-2 60 foot time.
29:21He goes to the 8th, 4-52 with a 6.
29:23166 miles an hour and a 6-87 at 2-0-8 out the back.
29:29Gets another pass in the 6s.
29:31It is his slowest pass of the week.
29:33But man, have they been struggling.
29:35And I'm glad that they actually laid down a number after those two near wall smacks earlier in the day.
29:41Now they will hit the road and make it to Maryland International Raceway.
29:51Last day, just want to go out there and click off a good run.
29:54Finished the week.
29:56We got in the 200 Club.
29:58Our buddy Bryant, we finally outrun him for one day.
30:02He was behind us, I think, by two spots.
30:05Really surprised that he's here today since he said he would just pack up and go home if he had to turn in a 680 slip.
30:12My buddy Goldstone, the only reason I'm hanging around is so he may need to borrow my time slip.
30:18Right, because if I have to turn in a 680 time slip, I'm going home.
30:23687.
30:24It is his slowest pass of the week.
30:27There he is.
30:28Don't you have a car to make go down the track?
30:30I thought, well, I mean, well obviously we did it better than you did yesterday.
30:34I thought you were going to sell your shit and go back in Indiana.
30:38That you didn't want to run again when you obviously could have went faster if you were smarter.
30:43I didn't mean to.
30:44I still outran.
30:45I only ran once and didn't have an hour in you.
30:47You told me that you outrunned me one time.
30:49Three times and you didn't beat us.
30:51Three passes, you didn't beat us.
30:53Congratulations, Dave.
30:56You finally beat me at something once in your life.
30:59Well, I'm going to take it.
31:01I love it.
31:02Alright, here we are last day.
31:03We made it successfully to the track.
31:04So that's number one, an accomplishment.
31:06Number two, we want to go out today and try to get a pass somewhere below 628.4 or better.
31:10That'll put us on the best average in history on a drag week, which is great.
31:14However, we have our own goals.
31:15We'd love to run a five sometime today.
31:17Alright, and we'd like to keep the car intact.
31:21So we're here.
31:22This is a survival.
31:23This is a torture test.
31:24And we get those lanes.
31:25We're going to do our best to get ourselves a pass to 628.4 or less.
31:28If you hit your goal, how's it going to feel?
31:30Oh, amazing.
31:31It's a whole entire week coming to fruition.
31:33So this is like a five-day resume that we're building on.
31:35We're going to get the job I do today.
31:45Here is Ned Dunphy.
31:47This is going to be an epic pass.
31:51So what needs to happen here if he wants to set the record for the quickest average ET over five days in the history of Hot Rod Drag Week, he has got to run quicker than 6.284 seconds.
32:09The one who held the record?
32:11Jeff Lutz.
32:12Wow.
32:13And the record 6.19.18 is the record average.
32:16So the question is, does he want to go out here and hang it all out and try and run a five to be impressive?
32:21Or does he just want to lock down the win and perhaps lock down the record for the quickest average?
32:27I strategize with let's get the win secure.
32:31Right.
32:32Make it no question.
32:33I won this thing.
32:34Yep.
32:35We won this thing.
32:36But still, 6.284, if he does that, it would be the slowest pass that he's made all week currently.
32:436.21.6 is his worst.
32:55Tire shake last time, but he's got a hold of it this time.
32:59And 4.21 to the 8.
33:016.21 with a 7.
33:03Wow.
33:046.21 with a 7, 245.9 miles an hour.
33:08When that gets certified, that will end up with the quickest average time in the history of Hot Rod Drag Week.
33:16Wow.
33:17Ned Dunphy and dudes.
33:19Right there.
33:20He needed to go quicker than 6.284.
33:22He went 6.21 with a 7 at 245.
33:26Wow.
33:27What a lot of work, huh?
33:28Yeah.
33:29What a lot of work.
33:30My goodness.
33:31There it is.
33:326.21.
33:33Takes our average into the right range.
33:35Fantastic.
33:36Fantastic.
33:37And Ned Dunphy has done it.
33:39He's completed the week.
33:40He turned in a time slip.
33:426.21 with a 7.
33:43It sets the overall record.
33:45Ned, it's been two years of heartbreak, of struggle.
33:49But you guys came back and put it all together this year.
33:52Tell us how that happened.
33:53Flatbed rides in the middle of the night.
33:54All kinds of good fun stuff.
33:55It's like R&D, right?
33:57One part fails, it doesn't work out.
33:58We go back after it.
33:59So I tell you, Ryan Rakstra, RK Racecraft, built this car from the ground up.
34:03We dropped off a stock Viper, right?
34:05They built themselves in absolute perfection.
34:08Just perfection.
34:09Everything on this car works, right?
34:10Headlights, blinkers, fans, horn.
34:12This is the guy that wires race cars.
34:13We got trail lights, trailer brakes, no AC.
34:16That's on my complaint list, but we'll talk about that another time.
34:18I got to say, my co-pilot and crew chief, Jay Clegg, that's with me, I couldn't do it
34:22without him.
34:23I'm a 20% good guy on the car.
34:25He's 120%.
34:26So between the two of us, we're 140.
34:28Also, all night, no sleep, no food.
34:30You cannot do it without a good co-pilot.
34:32And we have fun doing it, which is really important.
34:34And my wife, Stacy, she's at home watching with the kids.
34:36Jillian has a UGA, go dogs.
34:38And my daughter, Claire, who's a junior in high school.
34:41So everyone's watching.
34:42It's freaking awesome.
34:43My family lets me do it, supports me while I'm doing it.
34:45I'm having the time of my life.
34:46And of course, Hot Rod, hell here, making it happen.
34:49I'm just, I'm ecstatic.
34:56So it's a resume for the whole entire week here of survival, right?
34:59It's years of practicing, tuning, testing.
35:02So really, I think it's like this is an investment.
35:04Last couple of years, we invested our time, our blood, our sweat.
35:06We learned so much.
35:07Anything that was weak or needed to be duplicated, we fixed.
35:10We came out this year and that investment paid off.
35:12So we are the greatest drag week ever because of the sacrifice
35:14of the first two years.
35:15This is the year of reward.
35:17Next year is going to be the year of the challenge
35:18because now people know what it takes to be number one.
35:20That record is at risk starting right now.
35:23I'm telling you, right now, it's at risk.
35:24It's justification for all the hard work, for all the time off,
35:26sacrifice away from family, from job, you know, to go out here
35:29and both of us are spending time away from our family.
35:32They're like, what are you guys doing?
35:33So we actually bring back a win.
35:34They go, oh, okay, we get it.
35:35Now, granted, they get that we're having fun even if we lose.
35:37But to actually get a W up there and have this massive award
35:40on a national stage, international stage, that this was just,
35:43we showed up at the right time, the right week,
35:44and we proved that we can do it.
35:46Looking forward to next year already.
35:48In addition to the records that Ned sent, we had participation records.
35:51So we had a total, I believe, at the beginning of the week, 415 cars.
35:56And that's more than we've ever had in the past.
36:00The wait list was huge.
36:02The buzz online, the watchers on YouTube.
36:05This is an amazing event.
36:07It continues to grow bigger and bigger every year, and I love it.
36:10And I love it.
36:11That's it.
36:12There's a wrap.
36:132025 Hot Rod Drag Week.
36:14It was the biggest, it was the fastest, and it's finally over.
36:17Racers did awesome.
36:18They had some challenges, but everybody overcame it.
36:21And we're looking forward to next year.
36:22Now, those are two!
36:23There is still, too, because that's a great deal.
36:24Let's share, too, with your book here.
36:29Time to work!
36:30This is a very beautiful journey
36:38out of flight to Peace, no, where am I going to be here!
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