The grueling adventure that is Sick Week as a Photographer

For more than a decade I have been a full-time motorsports photographer, with 99% of that being done within the drag racing world. A couple weeks ago I did my second Sick Week, which is also my first of event of the year. This event stands head and shoulders above everything else when it comes to how grueling it is.

I will say this before going into the discussion regarding Sick Week. The only other event that I’ve covered over the last decade that would be more grueling than Sick Week is Pikes Peak in Colorado. That event will test every aspect of your resilience. From the schedule, to the weather, to the altitude, it seemingly wants to kill you at every turn.

So what is it about Sick Week that makes it such a grueling and tasking event to do as a photographer? Maybe this will give you some perspective regarding it. Look at an Event like Lights Out, which I am headed to this weekend and will be there from Sunday to Sunday. That’s the key to it though. You are at the same track for 5, 6 even 7 days in a row. You become accustom to everything at the facility, you tend to sleep at the same hotel every night. You know where to eat, where not to eat, all those things contribute to consistency of covering an event.

When you are doing a drag and drive event, especially one the size and stature of Sick Week, you have to be ready to drive hours each day, sleep in a different hotel every night, and most importantly try to figure out what the best way to capture the event and convey that to your audience is going to be.

Trying to convey and capture an event that you are at the same track the entire time has become increasing easier for me over the years. I don’t need a bunch of people to help me capture content. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what the “book” will look like from beginning to end. The same can’t be said for a drag and drive, especially one of the magnitude that Sick Week has become.

Sick Week has quickly become the cream of the crop when we are talking about drag and drive events. Tom Bailey, Luke, and the rest of the staff involved with the Sick The Mag events seem to outdo themselves each and every time. 2025 Sick Week was no exception. From the route to the tracks, the run times, the organization, everything was spot on and the competition proved that.

Starting out at SGMP and then heading to Bradenton is a haul, and a boring one at that due to the fact that it’s mostly interest driving. While I did make an effort all week to take a lot of backroads and stay off the interstates, you can’t really do that from SGMP to Bradenton. Once you leave Bradenton and head over to Orlando, the drive becomes much more scenic, and honestly my favorite drive is from Gainesville back to SGMP for the final day. That’s a beautiful drive to do.

So imagine totting your gear and luggage each and every day into a new track, then back to the car, then drive hours to a hotel, lug all that shit into the hotel, and do that each day. Compared to an event that you are at the same track all week. Now with that said, it might be grueling, but it is also gratifying. The issue is less about the travel and all the shit involved with that as it is trying to figure out how to do it solo.

1320Video does an amazing job covering this event, but Kyle has an entire crew to be able to cover different aspects at all times. Unfortunately for E3xtreme, we don’t have those resources. I’d love to have 3-4 extra people on this journey at Sick Week, but let’s be honest, there isn’t a ton of money in motorsports media. So that means I have to decide if I am going to capture on track action or if I am going to hang out on the road and try to capture moments at the check points.

This year I decided to just focus on the track stuff and not worry about the check point stuff. If I’m being transparent with you about that, I regret that decision. While yes, I did capture some great track images, I really would have liked to capture more of the event outside of the race track. I have already decided that in 2026 I will focus more on the check points and on the road type of coverage from the event, versus just on track stuff when it comes to Sick Week.

Before I wrap up 2025 Sick Week I want to look back for a moment though. While I know it’s not the same, 20+ years ago we had classes called Wild Street and True Street depending on the event and organization. Never in my life did I expect to see street cars tiptoeing on the 5 second barrier, which yes Tom Bailey has gone in the 5’s, but I am talking about someone like Brett LaSala and Snot Rocket 3.0. Dropping a bottom six second pass at over 230 mph in the quarter mile had me absolutely floored.

I know throughout 2025 I will see amazing performances within the drag racing community, but you are going to be hard pressed to find anything more impressive in my mind than a bottom 6 second street car, or a street car that blows out a windshield at 200 mph gets it replaced and the track and races the next day again.

We have reached a new level within our sport when it comes to street cars, and Tom Bailey with his staff have really made it fun! I look forward to 2026 and doing this event all over again!! This is the future of our sport if we want to grow and bring in more people. People aren’t jumping into drag racing because of nitro or pro mod, they are jumping into drag racing because of drag and drive events. It’s something that anyone can get in on and it’s something that people can actually relate to. So a huge kudos to Tom, Luke, Wayne, and all the tracks, staff, media, fans, co-drivers, and drivers that make this event and others like it such a huge success!!