Jon’s Race Notes 0002: 2025 SpeedTour at Road Atlanta

Don’t get me wrong, I was interested to see what present-day Trans Am was like, but the reason I jumped on this opportunity to go to a race by myself was to experience Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the first time as soon as possible.

I had watched the opening Trans Am weekend at Sebring, and it was a bit of a shit show, particularly the TA2 race, but I had liked the cars, I was intrigued by Andy Lally’s installation as president of the series, and, frankly, I was already pretty sure I was constitutionally incapable of having a bad time at a race track.

Attendance felt sparse — having only the absurdly packed 2025 Daytona 24 for comparison — but I actually quite enjoyed that. I could hear the cars from everywhere, get into any area that interested me, and when I wanted to meet somebody on the grid, I walked right up to them, and they gladly gave me a few minutes of their time.

I came prepared with a 2002 Indy 500 ticket I’d bought on eBay to get Paul Tracy to sign “I won.” I didn’t know how walking up to him and proposing that would go over, but he and the people around him found it hilarious. He was there demoing an Australian Innovation Race Cars machine in the Trans AM XGT class for a few races, and the car was indeed pretty sweet. Another notable figure on the grid was young NASCAR prospect Brent Crews, who put his #70 Camaro on pole in the top TA class with a 1:16.683, a new track record.

Near the end of the grid walk, I found President Lally and got him to sign my program. “I almost wrote my number on there,” he laughed. “I don’t have a number anymore!”

As one would expect, the Trans Am race was fast and loud and rumbly. Not the most competitively satisfying race I’ve ever watched, but among the most sensorily satisfying.

The weekend was a great, pure showcase of race cars qua race cars. I got to see inside of various ones in various ways.

On a technical note, this was the debut of the Toyota Camry body in the TA2 class. It’s the same car with a different shell on it, of course, but it was indeed very nice looking.

The great surprise (to me) of the weekend was getting to see a genuine Rusty Wallace Miller Genuine Draft #2 race on track in a short but incredible historic NASCAR race.

Other historic categories were awesomely diverse, and I got my first taste of open-wheel racing, too.

International GT raced, too, which allowed me to feel like an old head in sports cars already.

The racing highlight, for me, was the TA2 race. It was, shall we say, dramatic. I had met the entire field the day before and collected their autographs on an event poster, so this race meant a great deal to me from front to rear. I’ve become intensely interested in the category since, given its role in teaching NASCAR aspirants the art of racing stock cars on road courses, as well as its incredible popularity in Australia and New Zealand. I’m going to keep a close watch on TA2.

The most valuable intel gathered over this SpeedTour weekend is where I like to watch from at Road Atlanta. There are many amazing spots, but it’s hard to argue with the turn 10A-B complex.