IF YOU’VE seen even a skerrick of Hot Rod Drag Week footage over the past decade, odds are you’ve witnessed Tom Bailey’s world-crushing Camaros doing battle on both street and strip.

Tom started campaigning his first ’69 Camaro back in 2007, and took on his first Drag Week in 2010. Three years later, he became the first competitor to run a six-second pass on each day of the event in his ‘Sick Seconds’ Camaro.

Since then, Tom’s taken the overall Drag Week victory four times (2013, 2015, 2018 and 2019), always in a ’69 Camaro. He made the first-ever five-second Drag Week pass in 2019, laying down a 5.996@250mph behind the wheel of the Pro Mod-style ‘Sick Seconds 2.0’.

In the following months, he bettered that ET to a 5.77@260mph in full Drag Week guise at the US Street Nationals. That makes Tom the proud owner of the world’s quickest street car.

But that wasn’t enough for Tom, so he’s now got a ’55 Chevy Nomad gasser on the way, courtesy of Dennis Taylor Hot Rods in Arkansas. Dennis is no stranger to this style of build, himself the owner of a tough ’55 Chev dubbed ‘Bad Rattitude’.

Tom says he’s been planning a new build for some time, and a chat with Dennis at SEMA got the creative juices flowing.

The Nomad’s powerplant is a screw-blown SMX donk, capable of running on three fuels: Unleaded will be used for street duties before switching to methanol for drag-strip passes, while Tom will have the option of nitro fuel for burnouts and cackling-pipe action. The supercharger is a point of difference for Tom, as Sick Seconds 2.0 (also SMX-powered) features a pair of 94mm Precision turbos.

The car will run a full tube chassis and a solid front axle set-up for proper gasser styling, as well as radial tyres. Just like Sick Seconds, it will be fully street-legal.

It’s not the only fresh project Tom’s working on, with another Drag Week build set to be unveiled by the end of May. Check out the video for more details!