Hot Rod Magazine’s Drag Weekend West is an annual competition for street legal cars running a three-quarter mile strip. The race is popular in the western American states such as California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. This year the competition was held in two different cities in Arizona. Drag Weekend West is a race for just about anybody who has a fast enough car and wants to put it to the test. Of course, there is a process to go through in order to qualify, but anyone interested in racing knows that all races have that requirement.

Hot Rod Drag Weekend West

The 2016 race took place over the course of the first weekend in April. On Thursday, March 31st, the competitors tested their vehicles and made sure that everything was in working order. Then, the first race took place in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday. On Saturday, racers were in Tucson for the second day of the race, and then they headed back to Phoenix for the final event.

One interesting thing about this race that sets it apart from some of the other popular events of its kind, is that the competitors are on the clock for the entire weekend. It is not enough for them to win at the track, but they must also document their travel between cities. This means that they must follow a prescribed route and adhere to a strict set of rules in order to remain in the competition. There are many rules, but some of the most notable are that the racers are not allowed to get help of any kind. There can be no chase vehicles present, their cars cannot be serviced or towed between cities, and they must pull their own equipment in trailers as they go from town to town. In a nutshell, this means that to win this race, competitors need the lowest accumulated time for 300 street miles, plus the combined times from the quarter-mile races that they take part in. This race is a test of perseverance as well as a test of raw speed.

Classes and Winners of the Hot Rod Drag Race Weekend

The Hot Rod Drag Race Weekend featured nine different class specifications in 2016. The classes were: Unlimited; Modified Big-Block Naturally Aspirated; Modified Small-Block Power Adder; Super Street Big-Block Power Adder; Super Street Big-Block Naturally Aspirated; Super Street Small-Block Power Adder; Super Street Small-Block Naturally Aspirated; Gasser; and Street Machine Eliminator. Each one of these classes has its own unique characteristics and challenges that must be overcome during different parts of the competition.

One interesting thing about the results of this year’s competition is that most of the winning cars came from the 1960s. Apart from the Modified Small-Block class, every winning car was from the mid to late 1960s. When it comes to powerful street legal cars, Corvettes and Camaros from that decade seem to be at the top of pretty much every racing class out there, and the Hot Rod Drag Race Weekend was the place to once again see them shine.