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.
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 |
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!
– November 2, 2024 –
The first race used Aaron’s newest IROC set of way-cool Camaros, which were fast and extremely capable cars. While Home Cook’n bagged the top podium spot, George and Aaron had a major battle throughout the entire race. At the end of five segments, Eric Lane was done with his rotations and sitting in second place but not enough points to seal the deal. Home Cook’n was also out with a perfect score of 80 laps and 64 points. The final segment was a dogfight for the second and third podium spots between Aaron Castro and George Peters. Both drivers finished on the same lap, with Aaron taking the win and points. However, because Aaron went into the final segment a lap down on George, George bagged the second podium spot with fewer points but just one more total lap than Aaron. Very close racing! 
Race 2 would utilize the venerable Viper-Jet platform, which would be a bit more challenging for the drivers since the downforce on these cars is considerably less than the previous Viper V-SPEC class with L4 traction magnets. This race saw a dogfight between the top three finishers and quite a battle between the 4th and 5th place finishers. The lone Sportsman driver, Eric Lane would best two Expert drivers with a nice 4th place finish. In the end, Aaron Castro took the win with one lap over George Peters in 2nd and two points over Home Cook’n in 3rd. Aaron clearly showed that he’s one of the top drivers at Stewart Raceway and won a great win with a reasonably loose platform. 
This one was everybody’s favorite race (NOT!). The Retro Viper platform was certainly the loosest car in the mix, and the runtimes clearly proved it. With almost no downforce and basically a L4 Viper V-SPEC chassis, this car is a handful to drive, especially on a road course. This one was a battle mostly between Home Cook’n and Aaron Castro, with the win going to Home Cook’n by just two laps. T-Jet ace George Peters was strangely not a big factor in this one as he struggled to dial in his setup while Eric Lane seemed to have a good handle on the tricky platform, finishing in 4th with more laps, but short just three points. Nice driving by the lone Sportsman driver! 
To cap off the challenging IROC championship, we decided to run Eric “Fast” Lane’s “Scooby Doo” vans for the final race of the day. Eric has been refining this set since first introducing them to us in 2023. With the high center of gravity and heavier resin-molded body, these cars are challenging but way fun to drive. Eric Lane came out swinging, winning the first segment with the fastest lap time over Home Cook’n in 2nd. With George still struggling, this one was a battle between Aaron Castro, Eric Lane, and Home Cook’n. Going into the final segment, Kevin Webster led the race but done with his rotation without enough points to maintain his position. In the end, Home Cook’n bagged the win by just one lap, tying with 2nd place, Aaron Castro on points. Eric “fast” Lane had a great final race, bagging the win in the first segment and finishing on the podium in 3rd. Great driving, Eric! 
In this one, Jared Johnson was on a terror, pressuring the second-fastest qualifier, Aaron Castro, early in the race and finishing on the same lap for two of the four segments. Jared had a rough time in the Blue lane and lost significant laps in that segment but put up a great fight against Eric Lane and eventual race winner, Expert Aaron Castro. 
Jerry Pearson was in the hunt in this race against the fastest qualifier, finishing second but losing four laps to Home Cook’n in the Orange lane. Matthew Johnson received excellent support from his team management and finished very well as a Junior driver against two of the fastest teams in the race. In the end, we didn’t have to do the Last Chance Qualifier due to no-shows and early departures , we just transferred all drivers to the Feature. 
The feature was a pretty chaotic event. I’m not going to cover it here but let’s say it had a lot of misc chaos and self-inflicted damage. In the end, Aaron Castro emerged as the winner by a lap. You’ll have to view the video of this one, it was wild. 
Round 4 Short Story
Race 1: Qualifier Race 2
Race 2: Qualifier Race 1
Race 3: Feature Event