The grand finale of my first season going racing was right here at home. It actually solved a great lifelong mystery of mine. One of the few non-NASCAR racing memes to penetrate my childhood bubble was a gravelly-voiced radio ad talking about something called “Petit Le Mans” that played constantly in the summertime on 99X, the alt rock radio station to which I listened exclusively. I had no idea what it meant. I didn’t even know it had anything to do with auto racing. But it impressed itself upon my preteen mind as something I needed to figure out someday.

It turns out to be one of the greatest sports car races in the world, and since it takes place at my home track, I had to be there for the whole thing to cap off my 2025 racing season. Naturally, I got there before the haulers were even parked. Luckily, after a little while, a sizable contingent of the Bluesky racing squad came in for it, so it was a party every day.

This was my first time seeing Road Atlanta packed with people, and it was an absolute blast. To begin with, one of my favorite race cars of all time was there, and not just for show; it turned laps!

End-of-season vibes were high, and many antics ensued. I got to hang out with James Hinchcliffe for a bit in the fan zone as part of a Pfaff Motorsports sponsor do. We were treated to a (foot) race between Pfaff’s dinosaur intern, Brachiobrian, and a sporting young man.

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We got to see our beloved Mazda MX-5 Cup’s season come down to the wire at one of the greatest tracks I could imagine them racing at.

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Race 1 was a damn shame for Tyler Gonzalez, who was caught up in funny business and wrecked out of championship contention. He got another car out for race 2, but I found his totaled ride in the paddock later, waiting to be put out to pasture.

I had various end-of-year missions to accomplish, such as getting my Eversley hat signed by Ryan Eversley and getting a grid shot with him, co-driver Celso Neto, and the Precision Racing LA squad on the Michelin Pilot Challenge grid.

We also found Nolan Siegel a little farther up the grid, and his team were good sports about letting us isolate him like probably everyone else at the race wanted to.

Naturally, Road Atlanta was a flattering venue for that series as well:

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Before the season ended, I had to bid au revoir to my beloved AWA Corvette, with whom I spent an inordinate amount of time.

I had a mission within that mission, though, which was to meet AWA’s legendary engineer, Jeff Braun (father of Colin, who was somehow even busier that weekend), who is a host of one of my favorite podcasts ever, It’s Not the Car. I talked to the whole AWA team at once at one point, and no one knew where he was. I came back very early on the morning of the race and loomed for many minutes, and the mission was accomplished.

Jeff gave me a ton of time and explained how the only goal for Petit was to beat the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari, which would secure AWA its second Bob Akin Award spot in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They would go on to do so, but not in the most delightful of circumstances; the #70 was involved in a horrible head-on crash on lap 1 of the 10-hour race. Fortunately, everyone was okay.

The WeatherTech paddock was an incredible place prior to the race. One of the most moving events was the ceremony marking the last race (for now?) of the Lamborghini SC63 prototype, where the whole team came out to sign the car and pose for pictures. It’s sad to lose a car from this amazing generation of prototypes, and the #63 had a great last race, too, finishing P4.

Not to be outdone in pomp and circumstance (though they were outdone in the race), Wayne Taylor Racing lined up in this very formal military-style formation.

Of course, it was the other Cadillac that won, and it was clearly the best all year. The #31 had just won at Indianapolis, and when I spoke to Jack Aitken before the finale, he called his shot. “Back to back, baby!” He was right.

I did make sure to tag the Acuras before they rolled out to the grid. Both cars raced with Turning Fortune affiliation.

The unambiguous star of the weekend for me, though, was the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH, which really is every bit as amazing as people say. It was cool enough standing still:

But — and I know everyone says this, but — you really have to hear it to believe it.

The pre-race grid ceremonies were absolutely packed and accompanied by live musicians. I cannot overstate how ready Georgia was to see 10 hours of sports car racing.

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And that we certainly did.

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I did not pay much attention to the racing at this race, to be honest. It was far more significant to me that this was the first time my wife allowed me to bring my children to the race track. They came directly from soccer, and they elected to stay in uniform the whole time. They also got to test out their new earmuffs, which they picked out for the occasion according to their personal fashion senses.

As they are bored by watching racing even on television, where the action is followed from turn to turn, I knew the entertainment value for them was not on track. I made sure they got a quick sense of just how fast race cars are — which is easy to do at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta — and then we headed for the garage area. Not only would this allow them to really see stuff and meet people, it would also provide shade, as it was quite warm, and we wouldn’t last long in the sun.

This plan paid off handsomely. They got to meet their first race car drivers, and — to my complete astonishment — they were allowed to sit in a contemporary Porsche Sprint Cup car.

We did not last very long, as expected, but the day was not without on-track thrills. The highlight was a multi-class historic NASCAR race with Cup, Busch (and maybe Nationwide) Series, and Trucks all on track together. I have no idea who won.

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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.

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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.

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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.