Sick Week competitors complete five-day challenge
Sheldon Root, who lives in Lockport, and his 1962 Acadian placed second in his class “rowdy radials” in Sick Week, an annual “drag-and-drive” event in the United States.
Competitors ran quarter-mile time trials on dragstrips (straight raceways) every day for five days and would drive on public roadways to travel to the next dragstrip. Drivers started in Orlando, Florida, travelled to various stops in the state, and made their way to Georgia before going back to Orlando.
“With the safety rules involved, you don’t race on the street,” Root said. “The driving on the street is all within the legal [limits]. We’re not speeding down the highway.”
The total distance travelled was about 1,600 kilometres. Drivers had to take photos at check stops along the way to prove they took the designated route.
“Once you leave the first racetrack, basically everything that you need needs to be with you, as there are no support vehicles,” Root said. “It’s basically you need to have whatever you need in order to make the week.”
These are cars built to go fast, not far, so it’s a real endurance test, Root said.
“These are not just your normal cars,” Root said. “Some of them are making an excess of 3,000 horsepower. You need to build a car to survive the whole week.”
The cars pull trailers behind them with all the equipment they need for the five days. The drivers have to convert the car from race trim (version) for the dragstrip to street trim for the public road.
The drivers and their crew — someone in the car with them for the long-distance drives — change the car’s tires, shocks, spark plugs, and fuel to make it road versus race-ready. Root’s father joined him as his crew for this year’s Sick Week.
Root bought his Acadian for $300 about 30 years ago. In 2008, he started working on the car to make it race-ready, building it all himself. He’s been racing it on and off for about 15 years.
His Acadian makes about 2,500 horsepower. In Sick Week, the fastest he drove was 4.7 seconds at 160 miles.
Root has always been interested in cars, he said. In the late 1990s, he started drag racing at the track in Gimli. His interest influenced his career — he owns Motion Performance, a performance vehicle shop.
“It’s basically part of my life,” Root said. “It’s what I do all day long, but it’s also my hobby.”
He said the car community is supportive, and the camaraderie among racers is what makes the sport so fun.
For people interested in racing, he suggests going to the track in Gimli to see if you enjoy it, and if you do, then take part in a drag-and-drive event.
Root raced in Sick Week last year and also placed second in his class, but he thinks he has a championship race in him yet.
“It’s time to go back and try to get first,” he said.
