Elkhart Lake, WI - GRIDLIFE visited Road America for its Summer Apex Festival, the third stop on the 2024 Festival Tour of events spanning North America. The late-summer trip to Wisconsin featured GRIDLIFE Touring Cup, the NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship, the thrilling Rush SR Series, drifting on the full course and the Briggs & Stratton Motorplex, and HPDE. Off track, spectators were treated to a variety of experiences ranging from food trucks to disc golf, laser shows, karaoke with T-Pain and Hert, and performances from the likes of Liquid Stranger and deadmau5.

Mike Dusold Resets GRIDLIFE Overall Track Record

The GRIDLIFE NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship featured over 100 cars across 7 classes, including some of the fastest time attack cars in North America. While drivers chased Podium Sprint qualification on Saturday morning, Mike Dusold was pursuing a different goal - resetting Feras Qartoumy’s blistering 2:04.877 lap time from 2021 in the Unlimited category. Dusold’s Camaro reached north of 200 miles an hour on Road America’s straightaways, speeds higher than IMSA’s GTP class or even IndyCar’s open wheel machines. After four miles of pushing, Dusold tripped the scoring loop at a 2:04.583, three tenths quicker than the standing track record. Though Dusold’s time was in Qualifying 2, he was able to back it up in Podium Sprint with a 2:07.274 in warmer conditions, still clearing second place Nicholas Garndner by nine seconds.

Mike Dusold’s Camaro broke 200 MPH on the straightaways at Road America.

Records fell in four other classes, with Richard Sawicki and Sam Deuling snagging Falken Sundae Cup records in RWD and FWD divisions, respectively. Sawicki’s 2:53.847 in Podium Sprint won him the category. In Street GT, a fierce battle between 2023 champion Ido Waksman and current points leader Andy Voelkel broke out once again. Waksman’s C6 Corvette thus far had been outrun by Voelkel’s C8 Corvette, but the first laps of Qualifying 1 were a harbinger of the brawl that was to come, with Voelkel trailing Waksman by just .001 of a second around the 4.048-mile course. In the Podium Sprint, Waksman ran a 2:22.498, clearing Voelkel by over half a second and claiming his first victory of the year. The 2:21.293 he ran in Qualifying 2 resets the Street GT track record.

Sam Deuling earned his first GRIDLIFE Festival podium and reset the Sundae Cup FWD record.

Luca Barberis and Aaron Rekkedahl reset Street class records in the AWD and FWD divisions, with the former advancing and winning the Podium Sprint shootout over Brad Moore and Sam Bosnian. Kyle McKiou, Kal Fortner, and Dewey DeWitt shared the podium in Street Mod, while Brad Perkins edged out McKiou in his Track Mod trim and Jackie Ding to win the class.

Another surprising upset was the Falken ClubTR class, where James Houghton and Peter Granberg fought in the Podium Sprint for the top step, but Granberg just nipped Houghton by under two-tenths of a second, with a 2:31.266. Under the Podium Sprint format, it is rare to see a track record broken in that session, and it was the only lap that Granberg outperformed Houghton in the entire weekend. With his fast lap, Granberg surpasses James Houghton for the Falken ClubTR standings lead by just three points, with two seconds, a third, and a win, to Houghton’s one win, two seconds, and a fifth.

Peter Granberg is lifted high skyward by friends and competitors alike after nabbing his first GRIDLIFE Festival victory by 0.2 seconds over James Houghton.

GRIDLIFE Rush SR Series Puts on Wild Show

GRIDLIFE’s Rush SR Series rocketed into their third round of the season at Road America after competing at Carolina Motorsports Park and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The grid featured over 40 of the affordable sports racers, including notable entries like Team Rapscallion with driver Nate Hamilton, prototype driver James French, and newcomer Kaylee Countryman.

Team Rapscallion’s Nate Hamilton, adorned in a striking Sunoco livery, brakes for Road America’s turn 5.

During the first race of the weekend on Friday afternoon, a multi-car incident at Turn 5 prompted a full course yellow, but upon resuming the action, Ryan Leach, Alex Chang, Nico Bratz, Cole Gamma, and James Wheeler broke away into a 5-car fight for the lead. Leach snagged the first win of Summer Apex Festival, with Alex Chang and Nico Bratz finished 2nd and third. For fourth place, there was just a 0.004 margin between Cole Gamma’s #95 and James Wheeler’s #49. The second race of the weekend went green from flag to flag. On the final lap, Nico Bratz found a gap to the inside of leader Ryan Leach, and the pair went side by side into the infamous Road America “Kink”. The slightest of touches between the two sent both cars sliding all the way to the rumble strips at over 120 miles per hour - but they remained straight and continued to battle down towards Canada Corner. Ryan Leach muscled his way back by to win by three tenths of a second after a thrilling last-lap duel.

Race three of the weekend featured a fight primarily between Nico Bratz and Alex Chang for second, allowing Leach to escape to win his third race of the weekend. For 7th place, a margin of just .002 seconds separated Nick Billingsley from Michale Schneider, and just .075 between Schneider and Rob Radmann, with James French just behind. The weekend’s final race on Saturday afternoon again split the front three from the rest of the field, with Leach, Alex Chang, and Nico Bratz trading spots. This time, Bratz made his move on leader Ryan Leach in the sweeping Carousel, stealing the lead away on the final lap. The two follow each other nose to tail through Canada Corner and Bill Mitchell Bend, before a lunge from Leach placed the two side by side in the final corner.

Sheldon Rosenbaum leads a pack of Rush SR sports racers up through Bill Mitchell Bend.

Like something out of a video game, Bratz went wide onto the curbing, dropping a tire in the dirt, before swinging back to the right to defend from a charging Alex Chang. Chang, trying to sneak up a narrow path to the right side of Bratz’ car and the pit lane wall, made contact with Bratz’ right rear corner, causing the bodywork to rub the tire. Leach swung to the left, and the three cars crossed the finish line nearly three wide. Despite Chang’s best efforts to sneak past both cars, Ryan Leach was again the prevailing driver, by just 0.027 seconds. Nico Bratz finished the race with smoke trailing the rear of his car, but it was a thrilling finish that demonstrated the extreme maneuverability and fun stuffed into a small package in the Rush SR.

Nico Bratz, Ryan Leach, and Alex Chang were the stars of the thrilling Rush SR races at Road America.

McGrew and Leichty Battle Magnussen, Meadows, at Road America

GRIDLIFE Touring Cup featured a grid over 50 cars deep, with all of the championship front runners present at America’s National Park of Speed. Scott Heckert made his GLTC return for the first time since Watkins Glen in 2023, driving the #72 Chevrolet Corvette. After blistering times in practice, Eric Kutil and Emile Tabb started deeper in the field than their pace, with minor mechanical issues plaguing the #82 Honda Civic. On the first lap of race 1, contact between two drivers caused a track blockage at turn 7, causing a stack-up that led to significant damage for Austin Hertel, Eric Kutil, and Tyler Pappas. Kutil and Pappas were able to repair their cars enough to continue for the rest of the weekend; Hertel’s damage will take longer to repair. Luke McGrew, Eric Magnussen, and Aaron Leichty finished on the podium after a lengthy yellow flag.

Race 2 on Saturday morning was similarly short, this time the stoppage being for a mechanical issue and fire in Jake Joraanstad’s #32 S2000. Joraanstad was able to get out of the car and to a corner station safely and was checked and released from the Road America medical center. The race ended prematurely after a red flag and subsequent yellow to address the fire, which was quickly extinguished by Road America’s safety team. With only a lap and a half of racing, McGrew, Magnussen, and Leichty again landed on the podium.

GLTC’s third race of the weekend was back to form, with a full length race uninterrupted by incidents. At the front of the field, Luke McGrew distanced himself from the battle for second, where Aaron Leichty, Erik Meadows, and Eric Magnussen fought for the duration of the race. James Houghton, Andy Smedegard, Bana Basinski, and Matt Waldbaum followed inside the top 10, with Brian Tyson scoring his first ever top 10 with a ninth place result. Scott Heckert finished 10th, while Eric Kutil climbed from the rear of the field to 18th place.

Eric Magnussen briefly led Luke McGrew at Road America, shown here under the SPEEDVILLE bridge near turn 8.

After a delay from preceding on-track events, GLTC Race 4 went green with just minutes left in the day on Saturday afternoon. With the 11-car invert, Scott Heckert and Tony Marchev shared the front row, remaining side-by-side for most of the first lap. Marchev slipped at the Carousel, allowing Heckert through, and kicking up a huge cloud of dust. James Houghton and Dana Basinski fought door-to-door in a similar fashion, with Basinski surging ahead before sliding wide and nearly tangling with the #41 Acura. Both went wide at the Carousel but were able to coax their cars safely back onto track, albeit with issues from the off-track excursion that would have to be dealt with on pit lane.

Road America was the fourth of six events in 2024 to top a 45-car entry list.

Scott Heckert held on to win his first ever GLTC race, becoming the 8th unique race winner in 2024. The most unique wins in a GLTC season is 10 (2021). Tony Marchev finished 2nd, with Aaron Leichty, Eric Magnussen, Luke McGrew, Eric Kutil, Matt Walbaum, Carlos Mendez, Andrew Rains, and Andy Smedegard rounding out the top 10. McGrew, Aaron Leichty, and Eric Magnussen topped the weekend points.

GRIDLIFE’s competition season is in full swing, with rounds at Lime Rock Park, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Autobahn Country Club, and Pittsburgh International Race Complex upcoming in the next two months. The NOS Energy TrackBattle Championship, GRIDLIFE Touring Cup, and Rush SR Series visit Lime Rock Park next week, August 16-18, for the third Circuit Legends Festival. Circuit Legends is a celebration of automotive culture from the 1980s to now, with emphasis on the legendary vehicles that shaped car culture and road racing at one of the most historic tracks in America. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube and Twitch. Tickets are on sale now at circuitlegends.com

GRIDLIFE Road America Overall Record Broken, Rush SR Puts on Thrillers at Summer Apex Festival