Arguably the fastest street car in America, the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro of Tom Bailey managed to hit 250 miles per hour on the quarter-mile in 5.994 seconds. That’s the quickest pass in Drag Week history, and enough to secure his fourth title thanks to an average of 6.299 seconds.
Day 1 saw Bailey set the pace in his Chevy at 228 miles per hour in 6.21 seconds, then managed 205 miles per hour in 6.83 seconds. Following the two runs in Cecil County, the SMX billet cylinder heads were pulled off the engine to discover a problem with the exhaust valve guides.
Following the simple fix, Bailey and co-driver Steve Morris traveled almost 230 miles to the next venue of the competition. It should be mentioned the car was driven there, not trailered. Getting back in business, the race-converted Camaro passed the quarter-mile line at 239 and 219 miles per hour in 6.18 and 6.27 seconds, respectively. This pushed the average to 6.374 seconds, but the final day of competition proved to be his luckiest yet.
As the Unlimited Class and Overall winner of the 2019 Hot Rod Drag Week, there’s no denying that Tom Bailey has all the reasons in the world to celebrate. Engine builder Steve Morris was certain the ‘Maro could run into the 5s as long as the perfect conditions were met, and he was right.
Bailey currently runs two ’69 Camaro drag racers, and the first hasn’t been used for this edition of the Hot Rod Drag Week. The white-painted car in the main photo and two videos is Sick Seconds 2.0, which features a tube chassis and carbon-fiber bodywork. More or less an evolution of Sick Seconds 1.0, the second Camaro wears a Michigan license plate that reads “SICKEST” to bring the point home.
Under the hood, you’ll find a Steve Morris Racing Engines 526-cu.in. SMX billet-aluminum V8 and two 88-millimeter turbochargers. Based on the wedge-head 481x architecture, the engine's water-cooling passages make it driveable on public roads. A Rossler TH400 transmission with Gear Vendors overdrive is also featured, along with a 9.0-inch Strange Engineering rear axle with 4.11 gears and spool.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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