What was expected to be a low-key test and tune event turned into a barn-burner racing night.
After the scheduled event was canceled due to low turnout, we opened up to allow local driver, Dean Donaldson to get his newly procured Viper V-SPEC car dialed-in. Dean had worked on the body but needed some help getting it trimmed and mounted. Dean brought along his neighbor, Bev Seltzer, who was curious to check out the Stewart Raceway action and cut a few laps with Dean.
While I worked on Dean’s Viper body, he and Bev had some fun cutting laps and dicing with each other with MegaG+ 1.7 cars. Once I got Dean’s Viper body installed and ready, Dean took it for a spin and immediately started clocking some speedy laps. Dean quickly realized he had a blazingly fast car and suggested we run a race or two to see what it could do.
Bev and Home Cook’n pulled out a couple of Fast Lane racing’s Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy Lexan IROC cars, and we lined up at the starting line for a 35-lap Dash fuel race.
As you can see, Dean was hooked up and smoking on SR2 with a fastest lap of 3.270, which is quite close to the lap record for this type of car on SR2’s straight road course.
| Track: Stewart Raceway II Straight Road Course | ||||||
| Date: Apr-11-2025 19:46 | ||||||
| Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan | ||||||
| Descr: Test | ||||||
| Name | Lane | Avg |
Fast |
Median |
Laps | Place |
| Dean Donaldson | Yellow | 11.978 | 3.270 | 3.629 | 35 | 1 |
| Steve Stewart | Red | 12.592 | 3.623 | 4.028 | 33 | 2 |
| Bev Seltzer | White | 16.983 | 4.037 | 7.606 | 25 | 3 |
After the first race, Kathy joined us, and we did three more Dash races but with 40 laps instead of 35. Dean didn’t win them all, but he clearly dominated the night and clicked off a 3.261 lap in the process.
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Dean Donaldson | 154 | 58 | 108.13 |
| 2 | Steve Stewart | 146 | 53 | 106.589 |
| 3 | Bev Seltzer | 118 | 36 | 101.94 |
| 4 | Kathy Stewart | 105 | 34 | 332.422 |
Kathy won the third race by a lap over Dean and a fastest lap of 3.351. Our newest competitor at Stewart Raceway, Bev Seltzer, had a fantastic first time, with a fastest lap of 3.666. Bev could be an up-and-coming driver for Team Donaldson Racing; we’ll see.
| Track: Stewart Raceway II Straight Road Course | ||||||
| Date: Apr-11-2025 22:00 | ||||||
| Class: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan | ||||||
| Descr: Test | ||||||
| Name | Lane | Avg | Fast |
Median |
Laps | Place |
| Kathy Stewart | Blue | 8.302 | 3.351 | 4.086 | 40 | 1 |
| Dean Donaldson | Yellow | 8.596 | 3.346 | 3.702 | 39 | 2 |
| Steve Stewart | Red | 9.557 | 3.539 | 3.910 | 36 | 3 |
| Bev Seltzer | White | 11.197 | 3.669 | 4.578 | 30 | 4 |
So, the bottom line is that Dean is pleased with his purchase of his first Viper V-SPEC chassis and is eager to see how it does in an “official” racing event. Not to mention that Dean is also a very capable magnet car driver. SR2 is a hard course for such powerful cars, and Dean proved he was up to the task, for sure.
Okay, maybe the next Friday Night Lights event will feature both a men’s and a women’s race. Or at least an “A” and “B” main.
Okay, shut up and drive!
