Dateline: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Q: Is this newsletter going to age better than the last one?
A: What do you mean? We came into the weekend with a great shot at the GT4 America Championship, still within shouting distance of a few competitors but with our destiny fully in our own hands. It was simple: win both races and win the season! Certainly a “Where Else Would You Rather Be” moment. And despite a less-than-ideal result on Saturday, fortune smiled on James as he drove the red-and-black M4 across the finish line on Sunday, mere meters behind his closest rival in the points, but close enough to bring the championship trophy right back to the BimmerWorld garage where it belongs…
Wait. Sorry, that was the other guy. I apologize. Look, they’re both named James. It happens.
Your 2025 GT4 America Am class Champions. Huzzah!
Q: Whew, I was confused. But congratulations to our Am brothers.
A: Congratulations to Mr. Clay and Mr. Postins indeed. It was a weekend filled with wind and rain, so you knew it was going to be a good hour of driving for Charlie. He and James (Clay) have brought the Am class trophy back to southwestern Virginia for the third time in four years, having topped their rivals by a mere one point! Kudos to them for overcoming a difficult race on Saturday to claim the title on Sunday.
Shelby wishes it wasn’t so windy in Indy.
Q: How about the other James? The one who raised you?
A: Yes, apologies once again for any confusion between the Jameses. Got off to a rough start here. Now let’s get back on track.
Sorry, Dad. How about, “Now let’s start over.” Is that less triggering?
Q: Is this newsletter going to age better than the last one?
A: As you may recall, the last newsletter was centered around the following saying: “Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?” This, of course, was the rallying cry of the Buffalo Bills in the 1990s as they advanced to four straight Super Bowls. The concept is that when you are in a position to do something great, something you have long sought after, something you can brag about to your grandkids, you should relish the opportunity and dive into it with full enthusiasm, regardless of how challenging the task may be or how unlikely the desired outcome is. Regardless of what happened in the past, you must look forward.
While this was absolutely the right mindset going into the last GT4 America race weekend of 2025, we must quickly pivot to another saying that is all too familiar to us Bills fans: “Tough loss, but next year is our year!”
Where else would you rather be? Asphalt would be nice.
Q: So that’s where the Championship dreams came to rest?
A: No, because next year is our year. The dream lives on.
There they are, the famous bricks. Still have not kissed them.
Q: How does a BMW wind up in such a sandy position?
A: Generally, it has help. I recommend replaying the start of Saturday’s race at 0.25x speed to understand the cascading series of collisions that led to the Red Line Oil machine sitting way off track shortly past Turn 2. The shortened version is that “four-into-one doesn’t go.” Roughly the first half of the GT4 field made it past Turn 1 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield course, and my dad was unfortunately amidst the second half, as one of the only Am drivers to start Race 1, so he went bonk. [Dad edit: I didn’t go bonk, I was caused to go bonk. There is a meaningful difference.]
Did I mention this was on the first lap? Never has so much anticipation been so quickly squelched.
Q: What’s the long version? You know, for those of us who like details.
A: Ask and you shall receive. I suppose we may as well devote this part of the newsletter to some slow-motion in-depth crash analysis, since there wasn’t much else to analyze this weekend. If you’d like a live demonstration, you can ask Paul Sparta.
And then he went like this, and he went like this, and then BONK!
Q: Where did it start?
A: When the pack was coming down the pit straight on lap one, of course. The #12 Silver-class Porsche got a good jump at the start and was able to squeeze down the inside of the #26 Aston Martin going into the right-hander that is Turn 1. No contact was made there, but the #26 had to check up slightly and move to the left to let the Porsche through. This meant the #94 BMW (the Random Vandals, one of the three Pro-Am championship contenders) also had to move to the left, towards the #37 Mercedes. I’ve labeled them for your convenience. Notice how there are four cars side-by-side. This sometimes works out at this track – in IndyCar.
This is not IndyCar.
Here’s my attempt at those little NASCAR pointers.
All was well until all of these little movements resulted in the BMW making contact with the Mercedes to his left who, of course, was taking the normal three-wide first lap racing line on the outside of the Turn 1. The only problem was that he now had three cars between himself and the apex, instead of the expected two.
Here comes the squeeze. My dad is holding his breath.
The BMW tapped the right rear of the Mercedes as all four cars squeezed into the turn, and the Mercedes spun round, back into the center of the track. The other three previously-mentioned cars made it past him with no further contact. Oh, to be so lucky. I don’t think anyone is at fault here, except whoever decided not to include those turn-signal-blind-spot cameras on GT4 cars. This never would have happened in my mom’s minivan. But that is racing.
Somehow the #94 escaped this, most likely due to its non-homologated Improbability Drive.
Then the real fun began. [Dad edit: fun?]
Matt Travis (who picked a great weekend to return) smashed into the side of the skewed Mercedes, destroying the front end of his Porsche. My dad, at a slow speed but with nowhere to go, first hit the back of Matt’s car and then also went nose-to-nose with the Mercedes milliseconds later. As they say in the NFL, a bang-bang play. These two collisions promptly removed the #82’s ability to turn right. This would not have been a hindrance at some of the more famous events that take place in the Motor Racing Capital of the World, but I digress.
It’s all fun and games until you see little bits flying off.
Now, that wasn’t enough, so the #98 Am-class Random Vandals BMW was then launched up and over the curb by the stricken Porsche, now reduced to a bright yellow pinball. He spun round as well and came to rest. James Clay and the yellow tortilla car barely avoided my dad, so no further casualties were collected. [Dad edit: Clay actually whacked our rear fascia as he tried to avoid the fracas. Thankfully, it didn’t do any functional harm to his car.]
I made sure to take a screenshot at the exact instant the green BMW lifted off the ground, since I think it looks cool, and that’s really the main reason we all watch racing – it looks cool. Some things in life are simple like that.
Stellar [near] avoidance by the team owner. They call this a good business decision.
Q: Wait, didn’t your dad keep driving after the incident?
A: Initially, yes, he did. He made it through Turn 2, but as you can see in the in-car video (maybe he’ll put it on YouTube?), he did not make it to Turn 3. The car started violently shaking and slid all the way to the banks of the Ohio River before coming to rest. And thus, the race was over for the #82, #47, #98, and #37. Look at this nice little gallery of the damage.
First DNF of the year…really can’t complain too much, honestly.
Q: Where did you learn these sweet accident analysis skills?
A: Do you know what my father does for a living?
Charlie is practicing for his second career as a Halloween decoration.
Q: Well, that’s really too bad. Was your dad pissed?
A: No, he had the “it’s okay and I am grateful for the opportunity” text message copy-and-pasted in his phone, ready to go. I think he prepares a few stock messages in his notes before every race and sends them out depending on the outcome. You can actually hear him apologizing to the team on the in-car video before the car even stops moving. [Dad edit: true story.] As we often try to hammer home in newsletters after disappointing weekends (mixed in with pithy poetry), this is an incredible opportunity to have in the first place, and you can’t take it for granted. Even when the result sucks and you must rebuild the whole front end of your car for Sunday’s race…which could be compared to going out for a run the day after having both of your ankles replaced.
At least it was an early race, so the crew could have a decent bedtime.
Q: That’s right, I almost forgot to tune in early. How did you know?
A: I know a lot of things. The schedule was wonky this weekend due to the prestigious Intercontinental GT Challenge’s 8 Hours of Indy. A rainstorm blew in on Saturday afternoon, forcing red flag conditions for almost four of those hours, so if you were hoping to see world-famous racers like Valentino Rossi, Bill Auberlen, and Will Power fight it out for eight hours, you were probably disappointed. Will was also disappointed, to the tune of “Yeah, kinda sucked, with all the rain,” when I asked him how his weekend was. He also seemed annoyed that his flight home was delayed. Mine was too, as is standard for race weekends.
See, famous racecar drivers are just like you and me.
Look, I ran into Will Power at the airport. Pretty cool.
Q: Famous racecar drivers fly commercial?
A: I guess they do. Others in the audience may fly home periodically on their friend’s private jet. If Will Power wants to avoid delayed flights, he should try becoming an accountant. Or at least befriending a successful one.
The aforementioned accountant, wearing a shirt describing Saturday’s fiasco.
Q: How is Matt on the podium? Wasn’t his front bumper turned into a German fog machine?
A: This was after Sunday’s race. He and his (Gold-rated, that’s our excuse) co-driver achieved a podium finish on Sunday after their own rebuilding effort. [Dad edit: props to Nolasport for putting their Humpy Dumpty back together again.] My dad and Tyler drove valiantly, but with the Championship out of reach and no time to get used to the rebuilt M4, they finished P7 and said farewell to 2025.
It was a disappointing weekend for sure, but at least the Walkers and friends could celebrate with James and Charlie as they took the Am championship home. They finished mere yards (sorry for using European units in the intro, won’t happen again) behind their rival Supra, but having been up by eight points before Sunday, they snagged the year-end trophy by a single point. Congratulations to them again, they have had an excellent run of success.
Photo finish! A bit light on the spectator count, though.
Q: Who won the Pro-Am championship that you spent so many words analyzing?
A: All those words for nothing. Pretty sure it was the Vandals, as they finished ahead of the green Porsche that was closest behind in the standings. The Vandals also won the Silver class championship, though the margin there was not as tight. Good season, gentlemen, and we will see you again next year. Hopefully more frequently in the rearview mirror, though.
Very muddy and dirty weekend in Indiana. Nice job, Vandals.
Q: Any cool season-ending photos of the BimmerWorld team cars?
A: No, we chopped those up and gave them to my friends to take home as souvenirs. Never give a couple of engineers anything you wouldn’t give to a four-year-old. This includes but is not limited to wire cutters, scissors, shovels, rakes, and other implements of destruction.
The time-honored tradition of turning dead racecar parts into souvenirs.
Q: Will it be GT4 again next season?
A: I’m not sure, but there will probably be an scR motorsports press release early next year either confirming or denying that. Like me, you will have to wait.
That said, could it be lucky year seven in GT4 America? Has it really been seven years? It seems like just yesterday that we were breaking lap records, CV joints, and collarbones in a Giulietta. Time flies.
Speaking of waiting, if you go to a McDonald’s in Indianapolis at 12:30 A.M., you might have to wait behind a human being in the drive-thru lane.
Q: Can we have any hints?
A: I just told you, I’m not sure. Actually, I pretty much know the answer, but all will be revealed in the proper time. We will see where next season takes team scR, but right now we should take a minute to look fondly upon another completed racing season and offer some gratitude (Happy Thanksgiving!) to those who deserve it most…
A huge THANK YOU to all the fans, family, and friends who came to the track, watched on YouTube, or sent quick-witted responses to the newsletters. An underrated part of racing is its ability to bring people together and it is always good to see both old and new faces around the paddock, as well as experienced faces who don’t like being called old (you know who you are).
A huge THANK YOU to the entire BimmerWorld team and organization for their hard work this year to put my dad, Tyler, James, and Charlie into a position to contend for the title week in and week out, regardless of that silly concept known as racing luck. To steal a line from one of my school’s many chants and cheers: “I’ve seen them win and I’ve seen them lose, but I’ve never seen them quit.”
They make the best-looking car on the grid, too.
A huge THANK YOU to the rest of the GT4 field for getting along reasonably well on track for most of the year (nobody’s perfect) and for being pretty cool guys and gals off track too. And to Matt Travis for showing up at least once per year to keep my dad humble.
A huge THANK YOU – well, actually a huge WHAT’S THE DEAL? to the sky for all the rainy races this season. For a series with only seven weekends, you wouldn’t think so many of them would be impacted by weather, but maybe next year will be better in that regard.
How gloomy. At least Saturday morning was nice and crisp.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone at SRO for putting these race weekends together so we can see our favorite racecar driver do his thing. And a shoutout to the broadcast team and announcers for streaming the races for free on YouTube, and for giving the #82 a decent amount of airtime so that I can get blurry screenshots to put in my editorials.
A huge THANK YOU to my mom for letting my dad drive fast, expensive racecars and fly all over the country for his hobby – I think she has gotten used to it by now, but she still deserves her flowers. Her birthday is coming up in case anyone needs a reminder. [Dad edit: that wasn’t lost on me, boy. Thank you.]
You thought I forgot a dog picture? Good boys.
And finally, last but not least, a huge THANK YOU to my dad for always being so welcoming and hospitable to his many racing fans, friends, and family at the track each weekend and in-between. I am sure it isn’t easy to smash up your racecar and then have to answer the same questions from fifty people, but he always does it with a smile and does his best to stay humble no matter what happens on track. scR motorsports (and its most recent subsidiary, BimmerWorld Racing) has included many, many people over the years, but he is the one that makes it go and I, for one, thoroughly enjoy getting to be a small piece of the puzzle. Thanks, Dad! We love you and we can’t wait until next year. [Dad edit: well, good job. You finally made me tear up reading one of your newsletters.]
The friends and family racecar tour has become a weekend staple.
Q: Am I a small piece of the puzzle too?
A: If you’re reading this, I guess you are. Congratulations. Now go brush up on your racing history on teamscr.com so you don’t miss a single reference in any future newsletters! And if there happens to be a GT4 America (or otherwise) event in your state in 2026, come out to the track!
(Side note: Word gave me a grammar suggestion right there to rewrite “to” as “onto”. Please do not come out onto the track. That would be dangerous).
The scR motorsports family is large, but there is always room for more to squeeze in. And it won’t end as badly as four-into-one at IMS, I can promise you that.
The wounded warrior is laid to rest. It was a great ride.
See you next season!
ZJW