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If you’re keen to the fast car scene, then you’ve probably heard the name Tom Bailey. You’ve probably also heard of his two Camaros, each named Sick Seconds, 1.0 and 2.0, respectively. And, if you know this much about Bailey, you’re also likely in the know when it comes to Tom’s newest venture – a drag and drive racing event called Sick Week – and the launch of Sick the magazine.
We caught up with Tom Bailey at the 2021 PRI Show to learn more about his OG 1969 Camaro called Sick Seconds 1.0. He was hanging in the K&N Filters booth where the gold ’69 Camaro was prominently featured. The car’s hood was removed to showcase the billet bling of its Steve Morris Engines-built 615 cubic inch big block Chevy engine.
The car and engine combo were built specifically to compete in events like Drag Week. And, over the past decade it has certainly competed! Tom and Sick Seconds 1.0 have won Drag Week twice (2013 and 2018). In fact, in 2013, Sick Seconds was the first car that ever ran 6s every day of Drag Week, and the first car to average in the 6s for the event.
What’s even more impressive is that Tom can hit 200+ mph in the quarter mile, but also drive the car home afterward as it’s street legal.
“It can be a daily driver,” Bailey says. “As long as it’s not raining extremely hard. We take this out all the time on the street. This car has over 5,000 miles on it.”
That might not sound like a lot of miles to most of us, but for a 3,500 horsepower drag race car, the ability to run to the grocery store is super cool. The car’s ability to drag race and drive on the street is thanks to Holley EFI that offers Tom the ability to switch between different tunes and gas. It runs race fuel at the track, but 87 octane on the street.
Another impressive aspect of the car is how dominant it has remained while staying relatively the same under the hood for many years.
“Basically, this setup hasn’t changed in this car in eight years, as far as what we’ve done with it, and it’s still ranked as probably the fourth fastest street car in the world,” Bailey says. “This car has been 6.39 at 237 mph. The combo has stayed the same.”
That combo is a 615 cubic inch big block featuring twin 88mm Precision turbos, Carrillo rods, Diamond pistons, an Isky valvetrain, a Rossler 3-speed Turbo 400 transmission, a Gear Vendors overdrive, and 389 rear gears.
“We ran this thing at Woodward multiple times as well,” he says. “We will likely continue to run this car at Woodward. However, my other car, Sick Seconds 2.0 is the first street-legal car to ever run in the 5s. I run that at a lot of the events and there’s a little more still to prove with that car, so I’ll probably run 2.0 more and then come back to this one.
“When we do come back to this one, we may change and go with Steve’s SMX platform in it to see if we get this car in the 5s, but we’ll see.”
Tom says Sick Seconds 1.0 and its twin-turbo 615 big block Chevy will continue to race, but his Sick Seconds 2.0 is the Camaro folks will be seen at Sick Week in Florida from February 6-11. Stay tuned for much more “sick” content!
Engine of the Week is sponsored by PennGrade Motor Oil, Elring – Das Original, Scat Crankshafts and Engine & Performance Warehouse Inc./NPW Companies. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor Greg Jones at [email protected].
