2025 Fall Finale Summary

What a way to end the season. Wow.

I kind of don’t want to write about it. How to put into word the fun of seven track sessions in two days, plus an hour on Sunday of ride-along hot laps?

Let’s maybe start with the negative. I was planning to run ride-alongs on Saturday, too, but as I waited in line to go out the car stopped. As it turned out the battery was flat. Aiden the Investigator found that the nylock nut on the alternator wire was loose so the wire wasn’t making good contact. We double-nutted it and that was the end of the issues for me the entire rest of the weekend.

Well sort of…I dorked up the attempts to live-stream practice and qualifying and in the process ended up with no recordings of them. Alas, you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you I was *not* feeling connected to the car on Saturday morning and chose to just dial it back in both sessions.

But about Friday evening…an impromptu Spridget paddock cookout was a blast, with a bunch of us sitting around a propane heater after dark sipping good Scotch and English whisky and telling tall tales. Much laughter was had.

On Saturday morning, I manage a 2:01 in a short, ten minute practice, while following my trusty crew-member Sam around the track for a few laps during his first-ever race session. I run a few mid-1:42 laps in qualifying as I settle into the car, but I still don’t push harder than feels comfortable.

I derped the video for both, so nothing to show.

Using a finger-diagram to explain something very important about which I now have no recollection. Fall Finale 2025.

After qualifying, Stephen Newby asks if we’d be okay racing with the mid-bore group, which consisted of four cars, instead of our normal run group, which has thirty. “Sounds great to me.”

And it was. We ended up with what was five Spridget races, with a stray 240Z and a couple 2002s mixed in for spice.

After qualifying, Kurt comes in on flat-tow missing 1st and 2nd gear. I go scurrying around the paddock looking for an engine hoist while he and Tiffany run to my house to pick up my spare race transmission. Kurt misses the two afternoon sessions, but gets a crash-course in pulling the engine and trans and reinstalling.

My primary goal for the weekend, aside from the always #1 goal of having fun, is to have no spins and no offs. I’ve had at least one every weekend all season and I don’t like that record; I can drive better.

Right after qualifying is lunchtime ride-alongs. Unfortunately, the car quits while I’m in line with my first rider (so sorry, Chris!). It turned out to be a loose wire on the alternator causing a flat battery…thank you for that find, Aiden!!

Race 1 is after lunch, and we get gridded as we arrive, instead of by qualifying time. I’m sure this is a result of us switching run groups and it’s no big deal. I start in row 2 behind Stephen and Evan. I mostly follow them around, but make a run at Stephen toward the end.

After Race 1, Stephen discovers three of four hub/rotor bolts broken on the front right of his car and misses Race 2 while repairs are effected. Evan and I race hard and fun, and put on a good show for the spectators. I practice patience, biding my time for a good opportunity on Evan, who gets out in front at the start.

Saturday evening is the planned potluck dinner and we get a big crew of Spridget racers, family, crew, and folks from all over the paddock. The name of the game for us is “fun”, and nothing illustrates that better than Round 2 of the annual Fall Finale Whipped Cream Toss and Catch, paired with legit French champagne, of course. We tie out the evening with a bit more tasty whisky around a propane fire, telling lies and laughing. Lori Newby and I have great fun jibing one-another about her duty as roll-towel manager in my trailer. This instigates a series of pranks on Loren the rest of the weekend.

Sunday morning Stephen is back in business for Race 3 and flies up through the pack after starting near the back. He once again gets in front of me at 3a, but I work my advantage at 3b the next lap and am able to re-pass and build a bit of a lead. After that I manage to string together a nice set of 1:41 laps, and even one 1:40 (and all within 1.1 seconds), to hold the lead to the flag. It’s the practice I wanted for driving my laps with the lead.

Race 4, amid a season of remarkably fun and exciting races, is likely the best. I’m not going to describe it…just go watch the video.

Race 5 is the last of the season for me, and I’m now close to my “no offs, no spins” goal for the weekend. Despite getting passed over and over in the same two turns, I opt to not push out my brake point in them to close up the opportunities for Stephen and Evan. The last two laps are epic fun, and a mid-bore 2002 driver slows to let the three of us past in turn 8, and then effectively becomes a chase camera for us for two laps. Antony is an awesome dude, and sent me his in-car footage, to which I added my front and rear cameras in a short video posted below.