Category: Events

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2025 50/50 Series, Round 3 — Not Quite 50/50, But a Fast Day Anyway

A shortened schedule, but some good fast racing.

Team Rowland debuted its new stable of MegaG+ 1.7 “F1/Indy” and Viper V-SPEC “Porche 917” cars in this series round. Judging by the smiles on their faces all day, they are enjoying their racing and eager to return to racing as soon as possible.

Race 1: Viper-Jet NAStruck Lexan (IROC)

Dave Rowland bagged the top Sportsman podium with a good run of 75 laps and 48 points. Team Maddox bagged the last two Sportsman podium spots, just one point and a few laps behind, despite both Abe and Shaylin each winning a segment outright. Unfortunately, an avoidable software glitch caused Expert’s George Peters and Aaron Castro to sit this race out. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Steve Stewart* 80 64 726.397
2 Dave Rowland 75 48 826.388
3 Shaylin Maddox 71 47 824.679
4 Abe Maddox 70 47 842.062
5 Coe Rowland 73 44 823.209
6 Arlo Roland 63 32 772.229

* Expert

Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified

A very close race in this class with Aaron winning a very close battle with George in the Expert ranks. Local Junior driver, Abe Maddox drove masterfully, taking 3rd overall and 1st in the Sportsman ranks. Dave Rowland just edged out Shaylin Maddox with a 1st in his final segment. A very close race in this one, as always. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Aaron Castro* 79 59 488.43
2 George Peters* 78 56 500.083
3 Abe Maddox 78 55 527.692
4 Steve Stewart* 79 53 531.205
5 Dave Rowland 74 45 548.616
6 Shaylin Maddox 75 38 546.348
7 Arlo Roland 62 38 517.27
8 Coe Rowland 68 32 568.431

* Expert

Race 3: Viper V-SPEC SPEC STOCK Lexan

It’s another always-close race. The Experts duked it out in this one, with George Peters bagging the top Expert podium with three segment wins. Abe Maddox had another great race, winning one segment outright and steadily placing well in each rotation, finishing 4th overall and 1st in the Sportsman class. Teammate Shaylin Maddox edged out hard-charging Dave Rowland for the second Sportsman podium spot. Details

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 George Peters* 100 61 631.616
2 Steve Stewart* 99 59 579.94
3 Aaron Castro* 99 55 604.705
4 Abe Maddox 93 47 633.921
5 Shaylin Maddox 89 42 639.329
6 Dave Rowland 83 42 626.293
7 Coe Rowland 77 38 687.817
8 Arlo Roland 69 32 674.541

All in all, it was a good day of racing and a lot of fun. Thank you all for supporting our racing program and bringing some wonderful snacks to share with everyone. We’ll have to get Shaylin to bring some of her wonderful deviled eggs again, but this time, only share with Kathy if she does a race with us.

NOTE:
In Race 1's Viper-Jet NAStruck race, a new lap record was set in the White lane by Shaylin Maddox, with a blistering 5.626 lap and 2nd overall in the segment. Junior driver Coe Rowland clicked off a new lap record for this car in the Green lane with a 7.374 lap.
Series Points Standings after Round 3:
Place Name Laps Points Total Time
Sportsman
3 Abe Maddox 443 325 1335.726
4 Dave Rowland 410 299 NA
5 Coe Rowland 465 297 NA
6 Arlo Roland 432 275 NA
8 Shaylin Maddox 347 221 751.357
9 Jared Johnson 169 142 1292.315
11 Lucille Rowland 76 47 544.134
12 Matthew Johnson 67 42 518.012
13 Eric Lane 66 40 498.861
14 Cameron Bill 50 32 411.714
15 Madeline Johnson 54 28 507.557
Expert
1 Steve Stewart 427 366 1620.116
2 George Peters 416 349 2777.139
7 Aaron Castro 317 234 1961.979
10 Jerry Pearson 79 58 496.859

Hopefully, we can pull off Round 4 next weekend; we’ll see what happens. Round 5 will likely be an oval race on SR2 or SR3.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Canceled Race Results in a Lot of Racing

Wow! This event was canceled in the early AM but somehow ended with eight races being run and 10 drivers total.

By Thursday afternoon, we hadn’t received enough RSVPs to confirm a go for Round 3 of our 50/50 Series. So, an Open Track Day was scheduled instead. However, in the early morning of Saturday, one of the catalysts driving the event bailed out due to illness, and the Race Director canceled via email.

So, long story short, I was going to work on a few of our house IROC sets anyway, and Team Maddox said they had an hour or so for track time. I invited them over, then told Team Johnson they were welcome to join in. It turned out that another neighbor, Team Rowland, was also interested in some track time.

By 11:30, we had eight drivers in the paddock and two more expected. We stuck to the plan and had a fantastic open track day, with a lot of practice, a few practice qualifying sessions, one full rotation race, and four Dash races!

Unsurprisingly, Junior ace Abe Maddox won the one full rotation race, but only had an hour or so to practice and do a couple of qualifying runs. Lucille Rowland placed second in the same race. Our junior ranks are getting faster and faster with each event.

After Team Maddox departed, Team Johnson showed up with two drivers. Team’s Johnson and Rowland cut a whole bunch of laps practicing, with the highlight being Coe Rowland clicking off a 4.452 lap in the green lane running a box-stock Lexan Viper.

Team Johnson completed their practice session with some very respectable lap times, also with a Lexan Viper, and departed before racing broke out.

With just Team Rowland remaining and seemingly bored with practice, some Dash racing broke out. As you can see, Coe Rowland dominated the Dash racing with two 1st and 2nd place finishes in the four Dash races.

Arlo Rowland would end up 2nd overall on the day but also has the distinction of being the only driver in history to drive every car in the Stewart Raceway stable on the same day. Arlo cut laps with every type of IROC and race car in the house!

Place Name Laps Points Total Time
1 Coe Rowland 149 104 NA
2 Arlo Roland 140 89 NA
3 Abe Maddox 90 75 NA
4 Dave Rowland 73 51 NA
5 Lucille Rowland 76 47 544.134
6 Steve Stewart 10 16 NA
7 Shaylin Maddox 10 11 NA

Overall, it was a pretty nice turnout, and everyone had a lot of fun.

A big thanks to Mrs. Stewart for arranging the delicious fresh bagels,  very tasty treats on a cool day. Oh, and thanks to Team Rowland for bringing the delicious tortilla chips and salsas.

Our video production staff muffed the setup today, so we don’t have anything to post other than audio and the race display to show for it. We’ll take disciplinary action against the staff to ensure that doesn’t happen again, sorry!

Okay, shut up and drive!

2025 Season Opener – Into the fire and onto the podium.

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!

 

The Short Story

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.

Race 1: MegaG+1.7 Modifieds

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
Race 2: MegaG+ 1.7 Modifieds (IROC)

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

Race 3: Viper Super 7 NASCAR “Fast” Lane Set (IROC)

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
Race 4: Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy 1.7 Lexan (Eric Lane Set) (IROC)

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

2025 50/50 Series Points Standings After Round 1:
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!

2024 End Of Season Bash

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.

 

Eric and Shaylin accepting awards.

If anybody has any shots of the food table, please share them so I can post them here.

Race Results
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!

2024 Racing Season Ends Without Drama

Happy Holidays!

Our final “official” race day of the season ended with just three races but not the drama expected.

Team Maddox: Abe and new Junior driver, Arlo Roland.

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.

Race 1: MegaG+ Modifieds

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

Jerry, Kevin, Abe, Arlo, and Eric.

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.

Race 2: Viper Super 7 GT40’s Team Forza IROC Set

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
Race 3: Viper V-SPEC “SPECSTOCK” Lexan

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.

2024 Final Points Standings

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!