Wow! Another fantastic night under the lights. Dean prepared an amazingly delicious beef bourguignon that everybody raved about. Joe brought a fantastic chocolate cream pie (which I sadly had to share), Mike brought a couple of packages of frozen wild pig sausage that he and his Dad took recently. Mike also brought some brownies that disappeared quicker than a Viper overshooting Turn 1. Dustin brought a very cool IROC set of Porsche 935s.
It was just a blur at 600mph…
Short Story
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 347 | 225 | 3260.446 |
| 2 | Mike Langell | 323 | 146 | 3334.943 |
| 3 | Dustin Jolley | 243 | 121 | 2344.601 |
| 4 | Dean Donaldson | 230 | 118 | 2056.539 |
| 5 | Jeff Seltzer | 213 | 84 | 2035.342 |
| 6 | Joe Clarke | 212 | 79 | 2054.991 |
| 7 | Kathy Stewart | 77 | 28 | 1284.974 |
Expert Driver
Race 1: Tyco 440-X2 Narrow Lexan (i)
Kind of a hodge-podge set, but the racing was great. Jeff Seltzer came off the line ready to rumble after a five-month layoff from Stewart Raceway. Jeff handily won the first segment, not with the fastest lap times, but with a steady pace, a perfect 20-lap segment, and the win. Jeff looked to be poised for a podium visit.
Dean Donaldson (Full Speed Racing), however, had other plans. Dean wasn’t having a great race going into segment 4, sitting last on the leaderboard and 14 points behind 3rd place, Jeff Seltzer. Dean’s chances for a podium looked pretty slim. Dean’s situation changed dramatically in Segment 4 in the White lane. Dean would run a perfect 20-lap segment, set the fastest median lap time, and win by a whole lap. Dean repeated in the final segment, with another perfect 20-lap segment, set the fastest lap of the segment in the Green lane, and stole the third spot on the podium from a hard-charging Jeff Seltzer. Talk about comebacks!
While the Comeback Kid was working his magic, Mike Langell was masterfully running his own race for a podium spot, placing no worse than 3rd in each of his rotations. Mike ended up 2nd overall with steady but fast driving. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 97 | 71 | 959.929 |
| 2 | Mike Langell | 93 | 57 | 959.929 |
| 3 | Dean Donaldson | 91 | 55 | 959.929 |
| 4 | Jeff Seltzer | 87 | 49 | 959.929 |
| 5 | Joe Clarke | 83 | 33 | 959.929 |
Race 2: Viper V-SPEC F1/Indy 1.7 (i) Lexan Eric Lane Set
Going from fast to faster, we opted for the venerable Viper V-SPEC L4 “Eric Lane” way-fast-and-fun IROC set for Race 2. Our newest driver, Dustin Jolley, made his fourth appearance at Stewart Raceway for this special Saturday edition of our Under The Lights series.
Other than the first segment, this one didn’t have many lead changes; it pretty much finished the way it started, from 1st through 4th. Though the gaps in the battle for the podium spots were very narrow, the real battle was between Jeff Seltzer and Joe Clarke for 5th and 6th place. Both drivers had pretty good segment results, with Jeff bagging a 4th-place finish in segment 4, and Joe finishing 3rd in segment 5 and 2nd in the final segment. Joe also set the second fastest lap for the segment with a 5.097 in the Green lane.
Other drama in this one was Dean Donaldson and Dustin Jolley tied in laps, and Dean just two points down going into the final segment. To make it even more dramatic, both drivers would be in the gutter lanes: Dean in Yellow and Dustin in Red. Unfortunately for Dean, the Yellow lane hairpins bit him hard, and he would lose 7 laps. He would finish in 6th-place to Dustin’s 3rd-place, putting him well out of contention for the Sportsman win, but a nice podium finish and the second fastest lap of the race in the Blue lane to cap off his night. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 150 | 90 | 1071.076 |
| 2 | Dustin Jolley | 144 | 71 | 1091.028 |
| 3 | Dean Donaldson | 139 | 63 | 1096.610 |
| 4 | Mike Langell | 135 | 43 | 1099.802 |
| 5 | Joe Clarke | 129 | 46 | 1095.062 |
| 6 | Jeff Seltzer | 126 | 35 | 1075.413 |
Race 3: Tyco 440-X2 Wide-Pan Porche 935 Hardbody (i)
Dustin Jolley pulled out a set of Tyco 440-x2 widepan cars with Porsche 935 “Whale Tail” hardbodies for the final race of the night. These cars were amazingly smooth, very comparable in performance, and a hoot to drive.
Dustin set the fastest lap of this race with a 7.129 in the White lane. Dustin was on a mission in this one, with three Sportsman segment wins and the fastest lap. Young gun Mike Langell came out swinging with a Sportsman win in the first segment and a blistering pace in the final segment. Mike was 3 laps down but just 2 points behind going into the final segment and seemed to find his groove in the Orange lane, setting the fastest median lap time of the race.
Unfortunately, Dustin drove the wheels off his car in the White lane with a perfect 25 laps, very nearly winning the segment, but a crash in the final corners of the last lap of the race dashed an otherwise great run in just his fourth appearance. Details
| Place | Name | Laps | Points | Total Time |
| 1 | Steve Stewart | 100 | 64 | 1229.441 |
| 2 | Dustin Jolley | 99 | 50 | 1253.573 |
| 3 | Mike Langell | 95 | 46 | 1275.212 |
| 4 | Kathy Stewart | 77 | 28 | 1284.974 |
No need to tally points for this series since Dean has that in the bag already. I’ll post the final standings in December, and we’ll celebrate Dean’s departure from the Sportsman ranks to an Expert driver.
Thank you to all of you who attended our first Saturday night event, it was way fun, great food, and hydration products. The next Under The Lights event is this Wednesday. It could be a light turnout due to the Holiday, we’ll see.
Stay tuned for limited video coverage. Had some technical issues on that…again!
Okay, shut up and drive!
