All four official races ran last Saturday and a clip of the closest finish yet recorded on video have been posted on Rumble.
The closest finish clip is a segment finish between Aaron Castro and George Peters in the MegaG+ 1.7 Modified race. The gap at the end of the 20-lap segment was just three-hundredths of a second. It was not the closest ever witnessed at Stewart Raceway, but it was pretty close nonetheless.
Enjoy!
Wow, what a turnout! Our first “official” race of the 2025 season opened with a bang. We had 14 drivers in the mix: four Experts, five Juniors, and five Sportsman drivers, including two new drivers visiting Stewart Raceway for the first time!
Sportsman driver Jared Johnson 3rd overall, and first-time Stewart Raceway driver Dave Rowland finishes 4th overall. Expert driver George Peters leads the Expert points chase by 58 points.
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters* | 238 | 232 | 1645.44 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart* | 159 | 174 | 1158.701 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 169 | 142 | 1292.315 |
| 4 | Dave Rowland | 144 | 142 | 1291.611 |
| 5 | Aaron Castro* | 139 | 120 | 868.844 |
| 6 | Coe Rowland | 136 | 110 | 1353.497 |
| 7 | Arlo Roland | 132 | 106 | 1255.253 |
| 8 | Abe Maddox | 112 | 101 | 908.988 |
| 9 | Shaylin Maddox | 102 | 83 | 846.329 |
| 10 | Jerry Pearson* | 79 | 58 | 496.859 |
| 11 | Matthew Johnson | 67 | 42 | 518.012 |
| 12 | Eric Lane | 66 | 40 | 498.861 |
| 13 | Cameron Bill | 50 | 32 | 411.714 |
| 14 | Madeline Johnson | 54 | 28 | 507.557 |
* Expert driver
After about an hour of open practice, racing got underway at 12:15. The first race of the 2025 50/50 Racing Series was the increasingly popular MegaG+ 1.7 Modified class, a speedy and straightforward racing platform that anybody can be competitive with.
This race should have had nine drivers. However, the Race Director mistakenly dropped two drivers from the lineup: Cameron Bill and himself. Jerry Pearson very nearly bagged his first race win as an Expert driver in this one. Jerry won the first two segments and never finished worse than 2nd through his rotations. In the end, Aaron Castro knocked Jerry off the top podium spot by winning all four of his rotations. Team Johnson’s leader, Jared Johnson, drove well and took the runner-up position against three Expert drivers! Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 80 | 64 | 476.54 |
| 2 | Jerry Pearson | 79 | 58 | 496.859 |
| 3 | George Peters | 79 | 55 | 488.663 |
| 4 | Jared Johnson | 71 | 42 | 491.625 |
| 5 | Matthew Johnson | 67 | 42 | 518.012 |
| 6 | Eric Lane | 66 | 40 | 498.861 |
| 7 | Madeline Johnson | 54 | 28 | 507.557 |
This one was a dogfight between all categories of drivers. Team Maddox Junior driver Abe Maddox led this one through the first three segments, winning his first two rotations and demonstrating he’s an incredibly talented driver capable of running with both Sportsman and Expert drivers. This race was highly competitive at every level, with wins by Junior, Sportsman, and Expert drivers. In the end, GP Design’s George Peters edged out Aaron Castro for the top podium spot by just two points and one lap. Junior phenom Abe Maddox bumped Home Cook’n off the final podium step with a win in the final segment. Aaron Castro set a new lap record on the Fast Esses road course in his first rotation with a 5.397 lap in the White lane. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | George Peters* | 60 | 58 | 404.21 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro* | 59 | 56 | 392.304 |
| 3 | Abe Maddox | 56 | 55 | 412.669 |
| 4 | Steve Stewart* | 59 | 52 | 401.707 |
| 5 | Dave Rowland | 56 | 49 | 434.333 |
| 6 | Shaylin Maddox | 55 | 45 | 396.168 |
| 7 | Arlo Roland | 51 | 40 | 426.627 |
| 8 | Coe Rowland | 52 | 36 | 440.038 |
| 9 | Cameron Bill | 50 | 32 | 411.714 |
* Expert
This is a six-car set that Sportsman driver Eric Lane donated to our racing program. The big stories in this race were Jared Johnson making his first podium visit with 3rd place overall and one of our newest drivers, Dave Rowland, who pulled off a hard-fought 4th place overall. Actually, pretty impressive driving by everybody in this race. Jared Johnson won two segments, while Dave Rowland won one segment. While I didn’t feel like the cars were all that easy to drive, George and Home Cook’n set new lap records on each of the four active lanes. George clicked off a 5.505 lap record in the Green lane, and Home Cook’n managed a 5.486 lap record in the Blue lane. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart* | 60 | 61 | 436.907 |
| 2 | George Peters* | 60 | 58 | 447.943 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 60 | 56 | 461.831 |
| 4 | Dave Rowland | 54 | 51 | 497.803 |
| 5 | Abe Maddox | 56 | 46 | 496.319 |
| 6 | Shaylin Maddox | 47 | 38 | 450.161 |
| 7 | Arlo Roland | 49 | 34 | 493.029 |
| 8 | Coe Rowland | 48 | 32 | 508.47 |
Another IROC six-car set donated by Eric “Fast” Lane. Until Eric arrived on the scene, I’d never driven a Viper V-SPEC IROC set. The cars cost $50 each! Not my first choice for a new IROC set. This final race of the day was quite competitive also, with the two Experts just three points apart going into the final segment, and Sportsman driver, Jared Johnson landing yet another podium finish on the day. Another new Junior driver from the Team Rowland, Coe Rowland jumped from last place going into the final segment to 4th overall with a well-timed 3rd place finish. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 40 | 61 | 320.087 |
| 2 | George Peters | 39 | 61 | 304.624 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 38 | 44 | 338.859 |
| 4 | Coe Rowland | 36 | 42 | 404.989 |
| 5 | Dave Rowland | 34 | 42 | 359.475 |
| 6 | Arlo Roland | 32 | 32 | 335.597 |
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| Sportsman | ||||
| 1 | Jared Johnson | 169 | 142 | 1292.315 |
| 2 | Dave Rowland | 144 | 142 | 1291.611 |
| 3 | Shaylin Maddox | 102 | 83 | 846.329 |
| 4 | Eric Lane | 66 | 40 | 498.861 |
| 5 | Cameron Bill | 50 | 32 | 411.714 |
| Junior | ||||
| 1 | Coe Rowland | 136 | 110 | 1353.497 |
| 2 | Abe Maddox | 112 | 101 | 908.988 |
| 3 | Arlo Roland | 132 | 106 | 1255.253 |
| 4 | Matthew Johnson | 67 | 42 | 518.012 |
| 5 | Madeline Johnson | 54 | 28 | 507.557 |
| Expert | ||||
| 1 | George Peters | 238 | 232 | 1645.44 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 159 | 174 | 1158.701 |
| 3 | Aaron Castro | 139 | 120 | 868.844 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | 79 | 58 | 496.859 |
What a day of racing! I’ll try to get a video of a very close finish between George and Aaron in Race 2 (MG+ Modified IROC). Speaking of video, we have the whole day on video, so I’ll try to get the photo finish clip and the event video posted ASAP.
A big welcome to our newest racing team, Team Rowland! Hopefully, Dave, Arlo, and Coe will join us again soon. They jumped right in without practice and raced the last three races with great enthusiasm and sportsmanship–awesome! Thanks to everyone for showing up and making Round 1 a great event!
We’ll see what happens next weekend; it could be a track day or race day, depending on who’s available.
Okay, shut up and drive!
Thanks to everyone who participated in our 2024 end-of-year Bash!
We only did one race, but it took quite a while to complete. The potluck feast afterward was terrific. Thank you all for sharing a fantastic variety of food and drink!
Abe collecting his 2024 Junior Champion hardware.
Team Maddox leader, Shaylin Maddox accepting 2024 Most Improved Driver honors.
Team Johnson collecting the 2024 Team of the Year honors.
Aaron Castro collecting 2024 Expert Champion honors.
Team Johnson’s junior ace, Madaline Johnson.
Latest Stewart Raceway IROC set–Autoworld X-Traction cars.Eric Lane (center-right), 2024 Sportsman Champion.
If anybody has any shots of the food table, please share them so I can post them here.
| House Autoworld X-Traction IROC Set (Details) | ||||
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 80 | 64 | 807.899 |
| 2 | Jerry Pearson | 77 | 56 | 840.39 |
| 3 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 55 | 1030.92 |
| 4 | Shaylin Maddox | 77 | 53 | 1087.529 |
| 5 | Abe Maddox | 72 | 49 | 1057.029 |
| 6 | Jared Johnson | 75 | 48 | 868.813 |
| 7 | Eric Lane | 71 | 42 | 847.88 |
| 8 | Madeline Johnson | 57 | 28 | 888.976 |
| 9 | Matthew Johnson | 40 | 28 | 1029.32 |
Stay tuned for details on our 2025 season-opener event. Happy New Year!
The NAS Truck needs a bit more work, but expect to test drive soon. Need to get it a little less boxy looking.
The Winged Modified body is close to being available for use after a couple of design changes.
Our final “official” race day of the season ended with just three races but not the drama expected.
With the Junior and Sportsman categories pretty much settled going into the final race, the only points contest still up in the air was the Expert category. Aaron Castro and George Peters were just eight (8) points apart going into the final day of racing.
Unfortunately, George would come down with a cold after a grueling and crowded week at work and would make the right call to skip the final race. Of course, that left the Expert points leader, Aaron Castro, with a much less stressful day.
We had also expected a fierce battle between Team Maddox driver, Shaylin Maddox and Team Fast Lane’s, Eric Lane. That battle seemed to get off to a roaring start in the day’s first race. Shaylin bested Eric by just four points in the MegaG+ Modified class, 40 points to Eric’s 36 points. Abe Maddox would finish the race with three 3rd place segment finishes and a win in the final segment, just ahead of a hard-charging Expert driver, Jerry Pearson. With that success, Team Maddox decided to pack in for the day and would not continue. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 80 | 61 | 607.119 |
| 2 | Jerry Pearson | 79 | 58 | 513.648 |
| 3 | Steve Stewart | 76 | 58 | 607.263 |
| 4 | Abe Maddox | 72 | 49 | 523.955 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 74 | 46 | 645.044 |
| 6 | Shaylin Maddox | 69 | 40 | 619.259 |
| 7 | Eric Lane | 61 | 36 | 530.198 |
| 8 | Arlo Roland | 58 | 28 | 534.319 |
Abe Maddox had a fantastic race, winning the final segment and placing 4th overall! Abe’s good friend, Arlo Roland, showed up with Team Maddox and got in an hour or so of practice just before the day’s first race. Arlo took to the various cars and racing quite quickly. Unfortunately, due to the rotation mix, Arlo only got to race directly against Abe in the final segment. Abe came in for his final rotation on the White lane and Arlo finished his rotation in the Blue lane. Arlo’s fastest lap was a 6.129 in the Orange lane. Based on his ear-to-ear grin during and after the race, we expect him to return to Stewart Raceway soon.
With Team Maddox accomplishing their team objectives and calling it a day, the rest of us continued the program and started Race 2.
With all the points chases settled, it was all about just 
having fun and enjoying the always competitive racing with pretty much out-of-the-box cars.
These particular cars are fascinating. They drive like an L4 Viper V-SPEC but have L10 traction magnets. Everything feels great until they release the rails and hit things very hard. You have to know your limits and not go too far over. The RaceMasters GT40 hardbodies are beautiful!
Eric Lane blew out of the starting grid, clicked off two 3rds and a 2nd place finish in this one, and was constantly in the rearview mirrors of all who led the race. Ultimately, the Experts were fortunate to stay ahead of the hard-charging Sportsman driver. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 61 | 520.077 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 80 | 53 | 522.537 |
| 3 | Jerry Pearson | 77 | 51 | 521.222 |
| 4 | Eric Lane | 71 | 42 | 530.944 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 67 | 28 | 527.117 |
The final race of the day! This one was quite the barnburner. Every driver moved into 2nd place during this one, and all set some very high-speed laps.
Home Cook’n clicked off the fastest lap of the race at 4.720 in the White lane, Aaron Castro clicked off the next fastest lap at 4.787 in the Blue lane, and speedster Jerry Pearson clicked off a 4.804 in the White lane. Amazingly, no new track records were set. I’m sure things would have been different if George Peters had been in the mix. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 64 | 476.556 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 78 | 53 | 482.049 |
| 3 | Jerry Pearson | 76 | 48 | 490.225 |
| 4 | Eric Lane | 68 | 38 | 476.035 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 67 | 32 | 487.768 |
Eric Lane hung in there against the Experts, finishing just off the podium in 4th against some seriously fast competition. Eric and Expert driver Kevin Webster were duking it out in the final segment for the 4th place position. Eric’s fastest lap was 5.277 to Kevin’s 5.252 fastest lap. Unfortunately, Kevin ran out of fuel, and Eric got enough points and laps to drop Kevin to the bottom of the leaderboard. Eric looks to be the dominate Sportsman driver going into the 2025 racing season.
Overall, it was a great day of racing and just hanging out. Thanks to everyone who brought things to share, especially Fast Lane Racing. The leaded and unleaded egg nog was excellent!
That’s it for the official 2024 racing season at Stewart Raceway. To close out the 2024 season (or open the 2025 season), we hope to open the tracks soon for a casual track day, a Potluck, and an end-of-season awards presentation. Stay tuned for a quick survey on the best Saturday to do it.
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| Junior | ||||
| 1 | Abe Maddox | 726 | 292 | 4941.803 |
| 2 | Matthew Johnson | 387 | 124 | 2051.404 |
| 3 | Madeline Johnson | 233 | 113 | 2139.46 |
| 4 | Arlo Roland | 58 | 28 | 534.319 |
| Sportsman | ||||
| 1 | Eric Lane | 1795 | 625 | 11500.96 |
| 2 | Shaylin Maddox | 610 | 237 | 3756.218 |
| 3 | Jared Johnson | 440 | 136 | 2057.271 |
| 4 | Olga Rossetta | 328 | 107 | 2805.608 |
| 5 | Dave Feber | 107 | 45 | 808.723 |
| 6 | William Mansfield | 112 | 42 | 830.412 |
| 7 | Pam Ebert | 77 | 32 | 695.404 |
| Expert | ||||
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 4109 | 1868 | 26048.36 |
| 2 | George Peters | 3345 | 1581 | 23406.74 |
| 3 | Kevin Webster | 2778 | 1184 | 21778.82 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | 2466 | 1052 | 15666.05 |
| 5 | Jordan Walker | 1242 | 415 | 8073.09 |
| Steve Stewart | 4384 | 2137 | 27791.13 | |
As always, thank you for supporting our racing program and being such a great group to race with and hang out with.
If I don’t see you again in 2024, Happy Holidays and New Year!
Okay, shut up and drive!
