Day 2 of Hot Rod Magazine’s Drag Week, sponsored by Gear Vendors, is done. There are three days of racing left for the competitors in this wild event that has cars racing at five drag strips in five days, and driving track to track on public roads, to try and get the best average elapsed time of the week.

BangShift.com has been there since the start. See our Day 1 coverage from Muncie, Indiana, here. Also cruise our blogs to see even more Drag Week videos and links.

Jump here to see our huge photo gallery of Day 2 in Martin, Michigan.

Tuesday, September  15, was a wild day at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan. Larry Larson’s turbo, Moran-motored Nova in the Unlimited class ran the fastest pass of the week so far, with a 7.51 at 196 mph. Larson had the car setup way soft in the first half of the track with only a 1.26 60-foot (his normal is 1.22ish). The eight-mile time was also slow by more than a tenth. He set it up soft because he knew he only had one more pass and needed it to run all the way down the track to stay in the hunt. Larson’s tune included pulling out a bunch of boost and timing early in the run and then llaying down the power at the top end. Do the math, and that means the thing was making over 2,000 horsepower for the last 660 feet. Larry feels that a 200-mph pass is coming at Norwalk, Ohio, tomorrow.

The car that’s currently in the lead is the ’57 Chevy of Jeff Lutz. He ran a 7.64 today to back up his 7.63 from yesterday. Remember this car is certified to 6.00 just like Larson’s, and only has about 10 passes on it since going together. Lutz is playing it safe and working out the bugs. He wants to thank Ayres Engines in Muncie, and Precision Turbos for all their support in getting this car done in time for Drag Week ’09.

With only two cars left in Unlimited, it’s as much an endurance game as it is a drag race. Will Larson’s experience as a past winner of Drag Week be the determining factor? Or will being the top dog dominate both team’s motivations and bring one fo them down before it’s all over?

Eric Yost’s white Firebird became the first Pro Street car in the 7s at Drag Week, running 7.92 today, and he has more left in it. This car may run a mid 7 before the week is out. All this from 400ci of turbocharged power made mostly with used Nascar junk. There’s a video of this car on an 8.20 pass here.

Mike Thompson’s little yellow S10 is out. It was a Pro Street winner in past years. After blowing a quart of oil out of the breathers on a 9.52 second pass, his week is over. Apparently the nitrous wanted to become familiar with the crank case, and the pistons were standing in the way. They aren’t anymore.

The next drag strip on the list is Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. The Hot Rod plan was to only drive halfway on Tuesday night, then keep driving in the morning and race tomorrow afternoon. Several cars drove ahead to Norwalk tonight instead of staying to party halfway. They are going to get some sleep, do some tuning, and be fresh as daisies when racing starts at noon. Notable cars that made the long drive tonight include Larry Larson’s Nova, Jim McEntire’s “Seered” Camaro (below), Rick “Doc” Fox’s ’67 Corvette, and Mike Crow’s ’73 Barracuda (shown in the small photo). All are 1st or 2nd in their classes.

Come back to BangShift.com tomorrow for more updates as Drag Week 2009 continues. You can also watch the live feed here at HotRod.com.