Stewart Raceway II – Stewart Raceway

2026 Season Kicks Off With A Friday Night “Under The Lights” Event

We were shooting for a doubleheader (Friday night and Saturday), but we couldn’t field enough teams for Saturday. Probably a good thing, since Friday night’s event went well past 1:00 AM.

Short Story

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	312	178	3420.310
2	Dustin Jolley	303	157	3494.790
3	Dean Donaldson	274	131	3578.762
4	Mike Langell	262	98	3506.202

Race 1: Jag Hobbies PR-5 GT F1/Indy Hardbody (IROC)

The latest fleet addition to Stewart Raceway, these cars are very nearly as fast as a Viper V-SPEC L4 car, and they’re out of the box. I think with a paper Modified body, they’ll be as fast, or faster. Put some aftermarket silicon tires on them, and look out!

The new IROC set debuts on SR2’s straight road course in a 30-lap fuel race with no marshals and the Track Call FOB.

Dustin came off the starting line blazing in this one after only a few minutes of warm-up. Dustin won two segments, Home Cook’n won two. Dustin took the overall win with some superb driving and some good fortune in the final segment. Mike Langell (pronounced “Looungell”), had a significant first segment, besting Home Cook’n by 3 laps!

Going into the final segment, Home Cook’n had a very slim lead of just one point on Team Jolley, who managed a very nice 2nd place finish in the tricky Red lane in Segment 3. Home Cook’n managed to get a nice gap on everybody early on, but racing is never over until the checkers fly. In the last few laps, Home Cook’n got tangled up in a crash, and Dustin managed to get through the carnage and pulled ahead for the win. Never give up! Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Dustin Jolley	114	58	1743.112
2	Steve Stewart	113	56	1728.365
3	Mike Langell	97	42	1751.195
4	Dean Donaldson	88	32	1767.821

Race 2: Mega G+ 1.7 Corvette C8 (IROC)

Back to SR3’s Fast Esses road course… New Expert driver, Dean Donaldson, had a terrific run in this one with a 1st and two 2nd place segment finishes. Dean prefers Vipers, but this result shows that he’s more than capable of driving the “less-stuck” cars as well. Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	99	58	862.716
2	Dean Donaldson	96	53	859.096
3	Dustin Jolley	94	49	855.746
4	Mike Langell	86	28	864.304

Race 3: Jag Hobbies PR-5 GT F1 Hardbody (IROC)

Yep, we ran this awesome IROC set again on SR3. This time, Kathy handled the Race Director chores and flagged the race. This race was pretty competitive in the first segment, but not all that close in the end. Team Jolly and Team Full-Speed (Donaldson) remained very close throughout the battle, with Dustin placing 2nd in three segments and Dean placing 3rd in three. Team Langell had clearly over-hydrated before or during the final race and would finish well off the pace, though he did have a few blazing laps to his credit. He’s on target for “2026 Best Young Driver.” Details

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	100	64	829.229
2	Dustin Jolley	95	50	895.932
3	Dean Donaldson	90	46	951.845
4	Mike Langell	79	28	890.703

It’s a bit too early in the season to post points standings (See overall results above). However, Team Jolly obviously earned his 2025 Rookie of the Year honors, and Team Full-Speed continues to improve his driving skills.

So, how did the new Jag Hobbies PR-5 GT platform do? On SR2’s straight road course, Home Cook’n clicked off a 3.464 in the Blue lane. With Eric Lane’s Viper V-SPEC L4 F1/Indy set, Jordan Walker clicked off a 3.119 lap in the Blue lane back in July of 2024. On SR3, the fastest lap for Eric’s way cool Viper set is a 4.526 in the White lane. Dustin clicked off a blazing 3.695 lap Friday night in the Blue lane with the PR-5 GT. This is the fastest lap I know of on SR3!

We’re not going to be able to pull off an “Under The Lights” event this coming week, but Saturday or Saturday night are possibilities. Stay tuned for invites.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Dean Donaldson Dominates Second “Friday Night Lights” Event

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!

Friday Night Lights Event Videos Posted

While it wasn’t an official race, we did manage to get video of the three races last Friday night: two on SR2 and one on SR3. The two SR2 videos are mostly unedited because one of the cameras froze before the recording started and did not capture any action from that view. Editing those dead spots out is way too time-consuming, so it is what it is.

The SR3 video is fine, just not as edited as I would normally do.

https://rumble.com/c/c-3364960

Fast forward through the SR2 dead spots.

Hopefully, we’ll get it right next time.

Friday Night Lights Inaugural Event

What a great track night! Six drivers showed up for an evening of fun and speed on both Stewart Raceway tracks.

^{This is an older picture of SR2’s “straight” road course layout as a screen background on its RMS system.}

After an hour or so of hot laps on SR3’s oval course, we ran a fuel race using MegaG+ 1.7 F1/Indy “Lite” cars.^{Milo hanging out in the SR2 paddock.}

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	117	16	306.499
2	George Peters	113	15	313.98
3	Joe Vargas	110	13	315.069
4	Oxana Che	106	8	325.79
5	Dean Donaldson	105	8	309.884
6	Kevin Webster	102	6	331.667

^{Team Hummingbird’s Joe Vargas is on the podium on just his third visit to Stewart Raceway.}

We again ran Race 2 on SR2 with the MegaG+ “Lite” cars. Joe bagged another podium in this one, just one lap off the pace of Home Cook’n.

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	99	61	506.044
2	Joe Vargas	98	56	491.132
3	George Peters	98	53	494.965
4	Dean Donaldson	86	42	498.826
5	Oxana Che	91	36	511.277
6	Kevin Webster	83	34	532.675

Race 3 was on SR2 again, but this time with Viper-built Super 7 cars with Tyco NASCAR hardbodies. Joe bagged yet another podium finish with these fine IROC cars donated by Eric’s Fast Lane Racing fame. Another new driver, Dean Donaldson was sitting in 2nd place after completing his rotations with 91 laps at the start of the final segment. Joe Vargas would end his rotation on the Red Lane but just slightly behind Dean in points. In the end, Joe knocked Dean off the last podium spot with a nice 3rd place in the final segment and 3rd overall.

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	George Peters	100	61	470.639
2	Steve Stewart	98	55	459.415
3	Joe Vargas	92	49	474.536
4	Dean Donaldson	91	42	491.275
5	Kevin Webster	81	28	477.341

^{George Peters, Home Cook’n, and Joe Vargas}

Overall Results of Three Fuel Races On Two Different Tracks

Place	Name	Laps	Points	Total Time
1	Steve Stewart	314	132	1271.958
2	George Peters	311	129	1279.584
3	Joe Vargas	300	118	1280.737
4	Dean Donaldson	282	92	1299.985
5	Kevin Webster	266	68	1341.683
6^*	Oxana Che	197	44	837.067

^{* Oxana did not participate in the final race but did a great job marshaling.}

Overall, it was a great night of racing, and the new drivers all did well. Oxana did a fantastic job adjusting to the different cars and tracks, but running on an oval for the first time and then switching to the smaller but very fast SR2 road course was just too stressful after a long work week, so Oxana decided to skip the final race with even faster cars.

Dean Donaldson had a great night, with one segment win in the oval race and at least two second-place segments in the last two races on the SR2 road course.

Joe Vargas had a phenomenal night, with three segment wins, several second-place segment finishes, a second overall, and two third-place podium visits.

Of course, these were all “unofficial” race results, but our newest drivers showed they can best these results and win races as they progress.

While not an “official” race event, SR2 saw a couple of notable track record benchmarks set in Race 2: George Peters set the bar for the MegaG+ 1.7 Lites with a 3.910 in the White Lane, and Joe Vargas set the bar for the Blue Lane with a 3.927 lap.

George and Dean Donaldson also set new benchmarks for the Eric “Fast” Lane Super 7 NASCAR IROC set in Race 3: George clicked off a 3.745 in the Blue Lane, and Dean clicked off a 3.753 in the Yellow Lane.

^{GP Designs latest IROC set, AFX Magna-Traction IMSA Sedans}

It was a fun night of racing and good exercise to run on two different tracks for an event. It’s challenging to go from one road course to another, but going from an oval to a road course is way more challenging. I did get video action on both tracks and will post that ASAP.

Thanks to everyone who showed up for our first-ever Friday Night event! I hope everyone enjoyed it; I know I did.

Okay, shut up and drive!

Interesting Open Track Day

This one started as a small group of four and nearly doubled at Go time! Nine drivers showed up Sunday around noon for some track time.

It was unique because four juniors and five seniors showed up: one new driver to Stewart Raceway and two returning drivers.

Participating Teams:

- - Team Maddox
  - Donaldson Racing
  - Che-Vargas Racing
  - Team Johnson
  - Stewart Racing

The juniors quickly overtook SR3 and began hotlapping on four of the six lanes, leaving the rest of us with limited lane access. We could have set up a rotation, but we opted to fire up SR2 instead.

Jared took over Race Director duties on SR3 and ran a couple of Dash races with the juniors while the rest of us cleaned off SR2 and started to cut laps there. I think Jared might be Deputy Race Director soon.

SR2 was remarkably clean indoors and didn’t take many laps to clean off. We need to do more racing on SR2; it’s a bit hectic with Vipers and other magnet cars, but it’s a fun and challenging track.

So, what was expected to be a small group of drivers getting track time on the SR3 oval turned out to be quite a multifaceted track day.

Our newest driver, Dean Donaldson, once again brought out some engaging vintage HO-scale platforms to try out today. This rig is a Tyco Truck platform that ran well after some oiling and greasing. We need to get three more of these rigs for some IROC fun. Dean and Eric “Fast” Lane are definitely “Pickers.” They’ll get along very well.

We didn’t do much racing, but it was a fun Open Track day. The juniors cut a few laps, Donaldson Racing broke in his new MegaG+ 1.7 Alpha-Romeo F1 car, and Che-Vargas Racing cut some fast laps with Viper V-SPEC L4 cars on SR2.

There’s a back story with Che-Vargas Racing. Joe Vargas has procured the remnants of an SR2 clone track. The copy was created shortly after I designed the layout and had the original SR2 built by Viperscaleracing.com back in July 2018. Joe found the whole track and table somewhere in Sacramento, but they only wanted to sell the track pieces, not the whole table. Anyway, a longer story to tell here, but the bottom line is Joe is working on getting “SR2.2” operational again.

Aaron is also very near to procuring another cool 4-lane routed track. He’ll be driving down to the LA area later this month to check it out. There could be a nice revival of HO-scale racing in the Bay Area soon!

Okay, stay tuned for an email about resuming racing and completing the final round of our 50/50 series. It’ll be an oval event on SR3.

Okay, shut up and drive!