Edelbrock Sick 66: 8 Days of Legendary Route 66 Racing

Caecey Killian September 2, 2026 4 min read 0

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Sick The Magazine called the original Edelbrock Sick 66 a one-and-done when it wrapped in October 2024, a single 1,300-mile haul down Route 66 with no promise of a repeat. Then Route 66 turned 100 this year, and that promise didn’t hold. Edelbrock Sick 66: The 100th Anniversary Edition runs September 27 through October 3, with a Day Zero tech and testing session on September 26 at Mo-Kan Dragway to get everybody legal before the real racing starts. Six tracks. Eight days. One highway that earned every mile of this.

Racing First, Road Trip Second

Edelbrock Sick 66 is an eighth-mile drag-and-drive, not a car show with a parking lot full of folding chairs. Cars make real passes at the track, then drive themselves to the next one under their own power on public roads. Sick The Magazine runs it, Edelbrock backs it, and it’s built by the same team behind the Death Week series. The format hasn’t changed since 2024: race, drive, repeat, for eight days straight. Expect hundreds of the country’s fastest street cars in the field, plus a dedicated gasser class running right alongside them.

Sick The Magazine publisher Tom Bailey put it plainly when the first Sick 66 was announced: “Every real car guy or girl has always dreamed of cruising along Route 66. To be able to do that in cars with thousands of horsepower, capable of eight-second quarter-mile times, is going to be something else.” He wasn’t wrong the first time around. That 2024 run covered more than 1,300 miles and 30-plus checkpoints, so the 100th Anniversary Edition has real shoes to fill, not just a name to borrow.

The Route: Joplin to Joliet and Back

This year’s route runs from Joplin, Missouri to Joliet, Illinois and back, tracing original stretches of Route 66 the whole way there and back. Sick The Magazine hasn’t dropped the full turn-by-turn yet, but the confirmed stops already read like a Mother Road highlight reel: Gay Parita Gas Station, the Route 66 Museum in Lebanon, the Uranus Fudge Factory, the Chain of Rocks Bridge, the Pink Elephant Antique Mall, the Ariston Cafe, 66 Motorheads Bar and Grill, the Top Fuel Saloon, the old Joliet Prison, the American Giants Museum, Meramec Caverns, the World’s Largest Gift Store, the World’s Largest Covered Wagon, and the World’s Second Largest Rocker. Drag racers get their number. Road trippers get the neon. Nobody leaves this route disappointed.

Six Days, Six Track Stops

Track hours run 9am to 2pm on every race day. Day Zero lands September 26 at Mo-Kan Dragway in Missouri, tech at 8am and testing at 2pm (Day Zero tickets). Real racing opens the next morning at the same track for Day One (Day One tickets). From there, the field moves to Bonne Terre Drag Strip in Missouri for Day Two on September 28 (Day Two tickets), then east to Midstate Dragway in Illinois for Day Three on September 29 (Day Three tickets). September 30 is a Drive Day, no racing, just the highway. The back half retraces the front: Midstate again for Day Four on October 1 (Day Four tickets), Bonne Terre again for Day Five on October 2 (Day Five tickets), and Mo-Kan one last time for Day Six on October 3 (Day Six tickets). That’s the full Edelbrock Sick 66 schedule, six race days bookended by a tech day and a drive day.

How to Get Into Edelbrock Sick 66

You don’t need a race license for any of this. Single-day spectator tickets get you trackside for Edelbrock Sick 66 wherever the schedule takes you, but the Summit Racing Equipment Sick Ward, presented by PEAK Performance, is the smarter move if you’re following the whole thing. It covers all six race days plus a t-shirt and a window banner for your own ride. Grab Sick Ward tickets here.

Sick Ward holders can also apply for the Sick Spit Show & Shine, pit space reserved at every stop for modified, classic, or just plain unusual builds. Every application gets a real look.

A hundred years of Route 66 earns eight days of Edelbrock Sick 66 running it end to end. Get to the fence line early at Joplin, Bonne Terre, or Joliet between September 26 and October 3. Staging lanes on a highway this famous don’t stay empty long.

AboutCaecey Killian

Caecey Killian covers builds, installs, and product features for Car Junkie Magazine. He has spent years on the floor of the garage chasing horsepower across SBC, LS, and modern muscle platforms, and that shop time runs through every article he writes. His current CJM project is Project Street Reaper, a 1976 Camaro built around a fresh SBC 350. He is also known for Project Mighty Mouse, a 1977 Chevy Nova running a 1962 small-journal 327 SBC, with build coverage published across multiple online automotive magazines. His media background spans long-form build documentation, install coverage, and product features across the magazine and the Car Junkie Magazine YouTube channel. He writes the way he wrenches: specific, honest about the mistakes, and grounded in real garage work.

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