Drag Week 2018: The Adventure Continues

As we set out on our epic journey through the rolling hills and scenic roads, the crew of Hot Rod Magazine was filled with excitement and anticipation. Our mission was to capture every twist and turn of this year's Drag Week, and we were determined to make it happen. With cameras and microphones at the ready, we hit the road, eager to document the best of American muscle cars.

The first challenge of our journey was navigating through the treacherous mountain roads, where even the most experienced drivers can struggle to keep their cool. Our trusty ride, a shaggin' wagon with a big rig on the back, proved to be more than up to the task, despite its size and weight. We encountered some hairy moments, including a particularly tricky hairpin bend, but our driver handled it with ease.

As we made our way through the mountains, the rain began to pour down, making every turn into a slippery adventure. Our crew had to get creative, using makeshift solutions like headlights on the back of the trailer and wiring in the most unlikely places. But despite the challenges, we were determined to capture every moment of this thrilling journey.

One of the highlights of our trip was watching Pramod's fill up with a gas bomb - a hilarious sight that never fails to put a smile on our faces. We also had the chance to see Heidi on the road, who was navigating the treacherous terrain with ease. And as we made our way through the night, we caught glimpses of the stunning scenery around us, including beautiful drives through Creekside subs and breathtaking views of the mountains.

As the day wore on, we encountered some real challenges, including narrow two-lane roads that seemed to disappear into thin air. Our driver's skill and knowledge of these roads were put to the test as we navigated the twists and turns with ease. We also had the chance to see some amazing vehicles up close, including a first-gen Camaro that looked like it belonged on a movie set.

Despite the challenges, we were determined to make this journey one to remember. And what better way to cap off an epic adventure than with a visit to the iconic Atlanta Dragway? Here, we would witness the culmination of all our hard work and determination as the competitors took to the track for the final showdown of Drag Week.

As we watched in awe, Tom Bailey secured his spot as the overall winner, averaging an impressive six seconds around the track. It was a moment that had been building up all week, and it was clear that this driver was made for speed. But despite the excitement of the finish line, our crew couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness - after all, Drag Week is always a bittersweet event, as we bid farewell to our friends and competitors who won't be back next year.

And yet, even in the face of heartbreak, there was something special about this year's Drag Week. Maybe it was the camaraderie among the competitors, or the sheer determination that drove them to push their cars to the limit. Whatever it was, we knew that this was an event that would stay with us for a long time.

As we packed up our gear and said goodbye to the Atlanta Dragway, our crew couldn't help but feel grateful for the experience we had just shared. It had been a week of adventure, excitement, and even a little bit of heartbreak - but above all, it was a celebration of American muscle cars and the people who drive them with passion and dedication.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfrankly 2018 is about to come to an end all the competitors you see behind me have just completed a 800 plus mile drive through the mountains through the rain crazy conditions we're gonna go back to the road last night and show you what the competitors had to go through to make it back here for the last competition day a very 2018 get over in there so here's the hot rod round and things get a little confusing as you can see sometimes registers well we're driving race cars and trying to navigate the same time this is what what he does to get those shots here's all you have except the trailer loaded her own sister oh I got stuck behind some old lady we're building that like I got a speed-up start ass around a turn and the trailer start getting crazy like yeah that's yeah not got enough camera time yet broke bolt on the way nobody's driving and it just start missin pulled over and here we are it was a lot easier the track yeah we're fixing it now so we're out together about 10 minutes perfect he's taking on this whatever put in video Oh Mahanta guy oh they're just having a nice little photo shoot I was really hoping the most reliable car on Drag Week would have broken down but it wasn't just started throwing smoke you see all the transmission pushed out it's not looking good it happens it's a person one but they're gonna come back so they just offering it there yeah that we're all caravanning together they stop you what we built the Navajo you built the Nova crap say you've seen a lot of carnage along the way yeah I mean there's been like every two three miles there's been cars on the side of the road so far yeah the mountains aren't helping anybody well the third gen lives on go pick up that banana in case you see a bunch of bananas spooge on our windshield in our videos it's because of this whole for the record freaking the man on our windshield earlier unfortunately that's the way the road goes sometimes we got another competitor waiting for a flatbed to get back to Atlanta transmission blew out there's no cars along the road pretty much every three to five miles here it's been pretty brutal at this mountain run well we're about to go downhill so hopefully I'll get better for oh look at that she just Eddie Miller's here it smells hot over here nice yeah you got the shade yeah he just let me cool down perfect actually going to mountain is doing pretty good so far really good have to worry about Steve way to get your sponsor going on Eddie nickname this is the orca whale I like it 46 71 yeah that's about as heavy as oil going well so so yeah but you're smiling every time I see this uh can't be that bad this is a fun thing to do no matter how good you run I already know I ain't winning nothing if I get this thing home in one piece i won yep first up so during each of these travel days there's checkpoints along the way between one and three different checkpoints so the racers have to stop at and take a photo of their car in front of that checkpoint and then turn it in the next day when they turn the time slip from that day to prove that they went on the route it doesn't really prove but they took every single turn but at least they know that they went to every checkpoint so today's checkpoint is Creekside subs here very fast now that unions I don't think you can even see us so one of the struggles of our job on drag week is we'd like to get up next to cars and get some old video on photos of them and then we get blue-balled when we're following the leader on the very last day you can't find a two-lane road to save our lives we've done it on one lane roads before but it's not very safe the struggle continues beautiful drive so far so far so good awesome better than this morning's trash I hid much of that rain on the way here through monsoons about 50 miles back or so yeah look though calling for rain how's your gas mileage going that's not about at all granted a screw blog has like five ten gallon limit you must Oh it's actually not a bad idea just kind of sucks it right now how BIG's your cell 15:15 problem ricer so yet another hilarious part about Drag Week is seeing pramod's filling up with a gas bomb cool there's the last exerts the blast we just beautiful drive yeah most of it during the day yeah exactly we got up in the mountains last night and dark relax we'll just take the interstate snow pit stop for some Maui 85 you got to bring it with you this week when we we love to track 120 minutes north I filled up like 5500 30-something sweet I'm in the room all right yeah we're getting ready to also cool rainy racecars part two these Eastcote brainstorm the notes of a big rig so the biggest problem with driving in the rain like this is these guys have sometimes thousands of pounds on they hit the brakes too hard and they have like really riddles but clearly shredder slicks it just pushes them down the hill however they want to I haven't had a chance to come see Heidi on the road get out of here yeah not a bad light sad bad place lose it later no headlights no wipers rain looking around we just fix a headlight of the shaggin wagon cruising yeah using all your wiring in the very back of a trailer uh-huh all the lines on the very back of the trailer but everything we'll see you guys tomorrow we just reached the last checkpoint of hotrod magazines great week 2018 we're here at a flea market in South Carolina about 40 50 miles outside of the track so we're almost done with the route on the cars here in the parking lot have almost completed Drag Week except for those miles and one more pass down the quarter-mile drag strip that's it from the road here come back yeah the super made it oh yeah that first gen tourist though that sounds weird good morning once again from Atlanta Georgia we're here in Atlanta Dragway for the last day of great week all of the competitors you see and the pitch here have just completed the hardest part of great week and I have one more small piece to go one more quarter mile pass down to 1320 to consider being a drag week survivor it has been one hell of a week is the shortest drive ever under Aiguille because of the weather the shorten things up but it has been very very difficult a lot of competitors so we're gonna go see who's made it see who hasn't you'll see trailers with cars on flat beds around here then sadly this is the end of it you'll start seeing the trailers pulling the lanes loading cars up and heading out is there gonna be good yes master much more than that what's that couldn't ask for much better than oh no let's tackle Oh need it I told that's we're gonna run to secures it with a 990 million mark fisher and that other truck can have to come back and run again 7:41 so Tom Bailey has just locked it in he is the overall winner directly 2018 that's awesome averaging six is all we get one seven but for good reason they they were exhausted after no sleep putting a piston in the car they just wanted to get to the next track drag-week and fellow at the a so I didn't know what it was a fella to 690 appellative 676 ft saying I think that should lock it in congratulation good the easiest week ever it shouldn't be this way but hey we'll take it coming that's what you had average down there literally gonna be a happy day when he gets that time flip 85 over the one is exactly what I do like thatfrankly 2018 is about to come to an end all the competitors you see behind me have just completed a 800 plus mile drive through the mountains through the rain crazy conditions we're gonna go back to the road last night and show you what the competitors had to go through to make it back here for the last competition day a very 2018 get over in there so here's the hot rod round and things get a little confusing as you can see sometimes registers well we're driving race cars and trying to navigate the same time this is what what he does to get those shots here's all you have except the trailer loaded her own sister oh I got stuck behind some old lady we're building that like I got a speed-up start ass around a turn and the trailer start getting crazy like yeah that's yeah not got enough camera time yet broke bolt on the way nobody's driving and it just start missin pulled over and here we are it was a lot easier the track yeah we're fixing it now so we're out together about 10 minutes perfect he's taking on this whatever put in video Oh Mahanta guy oh they're just having a nice little photo shoot I was really hoping the most reliable car on Drag Week would have broken down but it wasn't just started throwing smoke you see all the transmission pushed out it's not looking good it happens it's a person one but they're gonna come back so they just offering it there yeah that we're all caravanning together they stop you what we built the Navajo you built the Nova crap say you've seen a lot of carnage along the way yeah I mean there's been like every two three miles there's been cars on the side of the road so far yeah the mountains aren't helping anybody well the third gen lives on go pick up that banana in case you see a bunch of bananas spooge on our windshield in our videos it's because of this whole for the record freaking the man on our windshield earlier unfortunately that's the way the road goes sometimes we got another competitor waiting for a flatbed to get back to Atlanta transmission blew out there's no cars along the road pretty much every three to five miles here it's been pretty brutal at this mountain run well we're about to go downhill so hopefully I'll get better for oh look at that she just Eddie Miller's here it smells hot over here nice yeah you got the shade yeah he just let me cool down perfect actually going to mountain is doing pretty good so far really good have to worry about Steve way to get your sponsor going on Eddie nickname this is the orca whale I like it 46 71 yeah that's about as heavy as oil going well so so yeah but you're smiling every time I see this uh can't be that bad this is a fun thing to do no matter how good you run I already know I ain't winning nothing if I get this thing home in one piece i won yep first up so during each of these travel days there's checkpoints along the way between one and three different checkpoints so the racers have to stop at and take a photo of their car in front of that checkpoint and then turn it in the next day when they turn the time slip from that day to prove that they went on the route it doesn't really prove but they took every single turn but at least they know that they went to every checkpoint so today's checkpoint is Creekside subs here very fast now that unions I don't think you can even see us so one of the struggles of our job on drag week is we'd like to get up next to cars and get some old video on photos of them and then we get blue-balled when we're following the leader on the very last day you can't find a two-lane road to save our lives we've done it on one lane roads before but it's not very safe the struggle continues beautiful drive so far so far so good awesome better than this morning's trash I hid much of that rain on the way here through monsoons about 50 miles back or so yeah look though calling for rain how's your gas mileage going that's not about at all granted a screw blog has like five ten gallon limit you must Oh it's actually not a bad idea just kind of sucks it right now how BIG's your cell 15:15 problem ricer so yet another hilarious part about Drag Week is seeing pramod's filling up with a gas bomb cool there's the last exerts the blast we just beautiful drive yeah most of it during the day yeah exactly we got up in the mountains last night and dark relax we'll just take the interstate snow pit stop for some Maui 85 you got to bring it with you this week when we we love to track 120 minutes north I filled up like 5500 30-something sweet I'm in the room all right yeah we're getting ready to also cool rainy racecars part two these Eastcote brainstorm the notes of a big rig so the biggest problem with driving in the rain like this is these guys have sometimes thousands of pounds on they hit the brakes too hard and they have like really riddles but clearly shredder slicks it just pushes them down the hill however they want to I haven't had a chance to come see Heidi on the road get out of here yeah not a bad light sad bad place lose it later no headlights no wipers rain looking around we just fix a headlight of the shaggin wagon cruising yeah using all your wiring in the very back of a trailer uh-huh all the lines on the very back of the trailer but everything we'll see you guys tomorrow we just reached the last checkpoint of hotrod magazines great week 2018 we're here at a flea market in South Carolina about 40 50 miles outside of the track so we're almost done with the route on the cars here in the parking lot have almost completed Drag Week except for those miles and one more pass down the quarter-mile drag strip that's it from the road here come back yeah the super made it oh yeah that first gen tourist though that sounds weird good morning once again from Atlanta Georgia we're here in Atlanta Dragway for the last day of great week all of the competitors you see and the pitch here have just completed the hardest part of great week and I have one more small piece to go one more quarter mile pass down to 1320 to consider being a drag week survivor it has been one hell of a week is the shortest drive ever under Aiguille because of the weather the shorten things up but it has been very very difficult a lot of competitors so we're gonna go see who's made it see who hasn't you'll see trailers with cars on flat beds around here then sadly this is the end of it you'll start seeing the trailers pulling the lanes loading cars up and heading out is there gonna be good yes master much more than that what's that couldn't ask for much better than oh no let's tackle Oh need it I told that's we're gonna run to secures it with a 990 million mark fisher and that other truck can have to come back and run again 7:41 so Tom Bailey has just locked it in he is the overall winner directly 2018 that's awesome averaging six is all we get one seven but for good reason they they were exhausted after no sleep putting a piston in the car they just wanted to get to the next track drag-week and fellow at the a so I didn't know what it was a fella to 690 appellative 676 ft saying I think that should lock it in congratulation good the easiest week ever it shouldn't be this way but hey we'll take it coming that's what you had average down there literally gonna be a happy day when he gets that time flip 85 over the one is exactly what I do like that\n"