Our last IROC championship was contested in a series back in 2023, in which George Peters (GP Designs) dominated a four race series. This year, the IROC champions were crowned after one day of four challenging IROC races on SR3’s Fast Esses course.
The Short Story
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 320 | 239 | 2559.583 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 316 | 227 | 2572.115 |
| 3 | George Peters | 261 | 185 | 2646.445 |
| 4 | Eric Lane | 282 | 157 | 2676.138 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 272 | 144 | 2682.804 |
| 6 | Jerry Pearson | 145 | 82 | 1060.941 |
Qualifying
| Track: SR3 Road Course Fast Esses (Chicane) | |||
| Date: Nov-02-2024 11:36 | |||
| Class: MegaG+ 1.7 Modified (i) | |||
| Descr: | |||
| Name | Lap Time | Speed (Mph) | Place |
| Steve Stewart | 5.907 | 557 | 1 |
| George Peters | 6.065 | 543 | 2 |
| Aaron Castro | 6.599 | 499 | 3 |
| Jerry Pearson | 6.894 | 477 | 4 |
| Eric Lane | 6.982 | 471 | 5 |
| Kevin Webster | 7.738 | 425 | 6 |
Race 1: Team Forza Viper V-SPEC “IROC” Lexan Camaros (15v)
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! Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 64 | 405.175 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 79 | 56 | 406.204 |
| 3 | George Peters | 80 | 50 | 411.984 |
| 4 | Jerry Pearson | 75 | 44 | 414.991 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 72 | 40 | 439.161 |
| 6 | Eric Lane | 70 | 28 | 429.451 |
Race 2: Viper-Jets V-SPEC L4 Can-Am Lexan (15v)
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. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Aaron Castro | 80 | 58 | 629.645 |
| 2 | George Peters | 79 | 58 | 601.541 |
| 3 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 56 | 633.531 |
| 4 | Eric Lane | 68 | 40 | 634.46 |
| 5 | Jerry Pearson | 70 | 38 | 645.95 |
| 6 | Kevin Webster | 68 | 32 | 619.642 |
Race 3: Retro Vipers “Maximum Leeway” Lexan
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! Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 61 | 847.047 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 78 | 55 | 847.81 |
| 3 | George Peters | 65 | 45 | 881.049 |
| 4 | Eric Lane | 70 | 42 | 889.339 |
| 5 | Kevin Webster | 66 | 32 | 907.174 |
Race 4: Fast Lane Racing’s MegaG+ 1.7 “Scooby Doo” Vans
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! Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 80 | 58 | 673.83 |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 79 | 58 | 688.456 |
| 3 | Eric Lane | 74 | 47 | 722.888 |
| 4 | Kevin Webster | 66 | 40 | 716.827 |
| 5 | George Peters | 37 | 32 | 751.871 |

Okay, the 2024 IROC Champs are crowned and on their way to the Stewart Raceway Wall of Fame.
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time | Category |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 320 | 239 | 2559.583 | Expert |
| 2 | Aaron Castro | 316 | 227 | 2572.115 | Expert |
| 3 | George Peters | 261 | 185 | 2646.445 | Expert |
| 1 | Eric Lane | 282 | 157 | 2676.138 | Sportsman |
| 4 | Kevin Webster | 272 | 144 | 2682.804 | Expert |
| 5 | Jerry Pearson | 145 | 82 | 1060.941 | Expert |
Stay tuned for videos of each race, including qualifying. Thanks to all of you who made the trek to this way fun event!
Okay, shut up and drive!


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
Continuing our new racing format in Round 3, we conducted a five-lap qualifying session that divided the field into two qualifying races. The winners of each qualifier race transferred directly to the main event. The rest of the field went on to the Last Chance Qualifier race, where two more drivers (1st and 2nd) transferred to the feature race. We had enough drivers to do a Consolation Race but opted not to.
Team Johnson’s Junior drivers didn’t stand much of a chance against two Expert drivers vying for that single transfer spot to the main event. Aaron won all four of the segments, Kevin came in second in four. Madeline Johnson found her groove in the final segment and put some serious pressure on Kevin Webster, finishing third but just one lap down and posting a slightly faster median lap time than Expert Kevin Webster.
This qualifier race pitted the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th fastest qualifiers against one another, with only one driver transferring to the main event. The two Expert drivers, George Peters and Home Cook’n, looked to be the favorites to win, but Sportsman Jerry Pearson (Pearson Racing) was having none of that. Jerry took second in three of the four segments and second overall against a hard-charging George Peters. Team Johnson’s Jared Johnson was introduced harshly to our fastest class of cars, the Viper V-SPEC chassis. Jared did amazingly well against two experts, including a seasoned and highly motivated sportsman, Jerry Pearson. Jared also found his groove in the final segment, posting his fastest race lap.
Sportsman driver, Jerry Pearson was on fire again in the Last Chance Qualifier. Only two drivers would transfer to the Main Event, and Jerry was determined to be one of them. Jerry won three of his four segments and bagged second in his final segment. Also vying for one of the two transfer spots, George Peters won three of his four segments and took a second in the other. In the end, George and Jerry tied in laps and total points, but Jerry took the top podium spot by just 1.18 seconds. This is competitive racing at its finest! This was Team Johnson’s first “official” race day with the more serious crowd, but they all finished every stage and segment of the event and recorded some impressive results.
After experiencing a hiccup with SlotTrak’s latest version (scoring and fuel management feature failures), we abandoned the planned fuel stop component of the main event. We continued with a straight-up sprint race with 30 lap segments and no fuel stops. This race was an adrenaline party. Team Forza’s Aaron Castro put the heat on Home Cook’n and everybody else with three 2nd place segments and just missing a 1st in the first segment by 4/10’s of a second. Pearson Racing’s Jerry Pearson and GP Design’s George Peters would prove to be spoilers in the last two segments: Jerry put in a fabulous effort in the third segment, taking 2nd place to Home Cook’n by just 2/10’s of a second; George bagged the win in the final segment with the fastest runtime of the segment at 145.139. Both driver’s late-race performances robbed Aaron of valuable points that could have put him on the top of the main event podium had Home Cook’n not won three of the four segments. What a blisteringly fast race!
Yeah, we were in the throws of the 2024 Summer 50/50 Series, but we couldn’t seem to get to round 2. Summer is challenging, with school out, then back in, vacations, and many other things to do.
The chosen platform for this Round was the venerable AFX/Racemasters MegaG+ 1.7 chassis with a taped-on paper body instead of a traditional plastic hardbody.
“B” Qualifier Race
Main (Feature) Event