Despite the national Thanksgiving holiday on Thurs, we had an excellent turnout for this Under The Lights event. Kathy prepared some delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup and cornbread muffins. Team Clarke brought a home-baked peach pie (I didn’t try it, but everyone else loved it). Team Jolley brought delicious tortilla chips, guac dip, as well as great cookies. Of course, plenty of good hydration products were floating around the paddock, also.
We didn’t get racing until about 7:00 pm and had to interrupt that first race for dinner and dessert. Race 2 got underway around 9:30, and we wrapped up racing just before midnight.
Short Story
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 214 | 156 | 1963.184 |
| 2 | Dean Donaldson | 210 | 133 | 2005.881 |
| 3 | Dustin Jolley | 207 | 126 | 1962.609 |
| 4 | Joe Clarke | 85 | 51 | 991.220 |
| 5 | Harper Hutchinson | 99 | 46 | 1075.561 |
| 6 | Rylee Hutchinson | 90 | 34 | 1042.174 |
| 7 | Michael Hutchinson | 89 | 34 | 969.277 |
| 8 | Lisa Clarke | 74 | 33 | 1004.625 |
Race 1: Â Jag Hobbies NC-2 Lite BOX STOCK Mustangs (i)
The Jag NC-2 is a great magnet-car platform designed as an alternative to the AFX MegaG 1.5 platform. This IROC set utilizes out-of-the-box cars with paintable AutoWorld Mustang bodies. The AW hardbodies have a relatively high center of gravity, so they’re a bit tricky to drive on a road course.This race was very competitive, with nearly every driver bagging a segment win. Dustin Jolley would be the quickest Sportsman driver, with the fastest lap (6.272 on Orange) and the fastest median lap time in segment 4 (8.871). Team Clarke’s Joe Clarke won a segment overall and put down some impressive lap times, but came up a few laps and just 2 points short of the podium.
In the end, Dean Donaldson would take top Sportsman honors, besting the hard-charging Dustin Jolley for the overall win. They tied in total laps, and Dustin had the better runtime and won the last segment, but came up 7 points short of the overall win. (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 97 | 68 | 1008.684 |
| 2 | Dean Donaldson | 93 | 60 | 1021.363 |
| 3 | Dustin Jolley | 93 | 53 | 1004.292 |
| 4 | Joe Clarke | 85 | 51 | 991.220 |
| 5 | Lisa Clarke | 74 | 33 | 1004.625 |
Race 2: Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy 1.7 (i) Lexan Eric Lane Set
Team Hutchinson joined in the fun for Race 2 after Team Clarke had to head home to prepare for T-Day travels. Michael and his daughter, Harper, have raced at Stewart Raceway twice before, once on the SR3 oval, and once on SR3’s Fast Esses road course. Harper has a 4.0 average, and Michael has a 4.5 average. Daughter Rylee was driving for the first time. Obviously, the deck was stacked against Team Hutchinson in this one.After a brief warm-up, the race got underway with the stage being set quickly. The Sportsman battle was clearly going to be between Dustin Jolley and Dean Donaldson, while Team Hutchinson had their own heated battle going within the team. Dustin and Dean swapped segment wins from the start, and Dean ended Segment 5 in the lead by 3 laps and 5 points. Dean also had the fastest lap and median lap time.
To make things even more challenging for Dustin in the final segment, Harper and Rylee Hutchinson were posting increasingly faster lap times as the race progressed. Harper won the segment 4 Sportsman battle with a nice 2-place finish overall, completing all 20 laps, and posting the fastest Sportsman lap and median lap time in the Orange lane.
Unfortunately for Team Hutchinson, all three drivers would spend the final segment in “gutter” lanes. Rylee faired the best, completing 17 laps in the final segment, finishing 4th overall, and 3rd for the segment. Dustin Jolley drove the wheels off the White lane car, setting the fastest Sportsman lap and median lap time, completing all 20 laps, and winning the segment overall. But it just wasn’t quite enough to overtake Sportsman race-leader, Dean Donaldson. While they tied on points, Dean finished 3 laps ahead of Dustin for the coveted Sportsman win. (Details)
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 117 | 88 | 954.500 |
| 2 | Dean Donaldson | 117 | 73 | 984.518 |
| 3 | Dustin Jolley | 114 | 73 | 958.317 |
| 4 | Harper Hutchinson | 99 | 46 | 1075.561 |
| 5 | Rylee Hutchinson | 90 | 34 | 1042.174 |
| 6 | Michael Hutchinson | 89 | 34 | 969.277 |
It was great to see Team Hutchinson back at Stewart Raceway, enjoying the racing, and steadily improving their lap times. Congrats to Harper on her second podium appearance in just three visits to Stewart Raceway!
This likely marks the end of the points chase for the 2025 Under The Lights season. Below are the points standings for our inaugural season:
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Dean Donaldson | 3372 | 2915 | 38657.469 |
| 2 | Kathy Stewart | 710 | 878 | 7171.465 |
| 3 | Joe Clarke | 828 | 855 | 8419.542 |
| 4 | Dustin Jolley | 1193 | 568 | 10955.320 |
| 5 | Mike Langell | 630 | 467 | 6317.622 |
| 6 | Jeff Seltzer | 826 | 301 | 14673.877 |
| 7 | Tom Langell | 375 | 282 | 4622.009 |
| 8 | Frank Virgil | 107 | 244 | 1075.160 |
| 9 | Lisa Clarke | 255 | 230 | 3264.112 |
| 10 | Bill Shrum | 101 | 144 | 929.429 |
| 11 | Joey Vierra | 136 | 102 | 2145.284 |
| 12 | Joe Vargas | 215 | 99 | 2111.097 |
| 13 | Kevin Webster | 229 | 97 | 1795.770 |
| 14 | Ron Williams | 205 | 74 | 3324.955 |
| 15 | Mick Dudas | 94 | 63 | 2116.387 |
| 16 | Harper Hutchinson | 99 | 46 | 1075.561 |
| 17 | Rylee Hutchinson | 90 | 34 | 1042.174 |
| 18 | Michael Hutchinson | 89 | 34 | 969.277 |
| 19 | Bev Seltzer | 98 | 28 | 1186.187 |
| 0 | Steve Stewart | 3593 | 3431 | 39283.808 |
Dean Donaldson obviously won the Sportsman class points chase. Kathy and Joe are very close, with Kathy in 2nd place and Joe in third, 23 points behind. We could have a race-off between the two to see who comes out on top. Maybe we’ll get in one more race night before the end of the year; we’ll see. I think I’ve got some pretty solid video of both races. I’ll post those on Rumble soon.
I’ve still got some number crunching to do for the regular season (Saturday) points, but a couple of notable mentions for 2025 awards are Abe Maddox (3 race wins, 25 segment wins), Jared Johnson (Most Improved), and a decision on who earned Rookie of the Year honors.
I’ve got the 13th, 17th, 19th, and 20th available for an “End of Season” celebration event. If there’s enough interest, we’ll have lunch/dinner, present awards, recognize advancements, and maybe have a Race-Off between Joe and Kathy.
Okay, shut up and drive!
