#GRIDLIFE Midwest: Mud, Rust, and Racing

#GRIDLIFE Midwest 2018 was a great experience. I finally got to take another stab at road-tripping in my 1967 Chevy Caprice, which was, as always a successful failure.

The turnout for #GRIDLIFE Midwest this year was huge after skipping last year to only travel to #GRIDLIFE South for 2017. I had no idea what we were in for when we lined up to get into the track. After sitting in the line to get in for about one hour and forty-five minutes, my radiator cap finally blew. This left the three of us performing the “push of shame” for the last couple hundred feet to redeem our GA and Camping passes. A lot of people were starting, thinking that the car had finally given up after 50 years. We finally got settled in around noon, after getting in line at 10am.

We saw some great cars and got to watch Nikolai, one of the Chitown Bimmer guys, put down some great lap times in his primer colored, LS swapped, BMW 3 Series. He went on to win first place in the street modified class.

#GRIDLIFE offers some great classes for individuals wanting to get into racing. They have Street Class, which is exactly as it sounds. They allow no major aerodynamic modifications, engines must be available from the same chassis if swapped, no induction modifications, and the vehicle must be properly licensed to drive on the street. These vehicles would be very close to stock. The next class is Street Modified, where they allow engine swaps of up to an additional two cylinders or addition of forced induction, modification of the aerodynamics, etc. Even in this class the cars must remain mostly drive-able on the street and with a full interior. The last two classes are Track Modified and Unlimited. Track modified allows a wider range of engine swaps, no limits on tire size and full removal of interior and unused parts. Unlimited allows for a wider range of… everything. The biggest rule for this class appears to be that it must be based on a vehicle with a DOT Vin number, everything else is safety related. To see a full breakdown of each class check out Gridlife Trackbattle Rules.

Finally, the greatest part of #GRIDLIFE, watching Ryan Tuerck fly around in his Ferrari Powered GT86. When the drift drivers go out on the track it proves hard to find a spot to watch where you will see anything or get any good pictures. This is the event that really draws the crowd. Cars lined up door to door flying around corners, completing lap times sometimes faster than the track battle cars, just to fling the car sideways around the corner and make a bunch of smoke. Luckily, tire smoke smells good and a sideways car makes for a great photo op, granted, we didn’t have press passes, so my photos aren’t from optimal angles, but we tried.

Overall, #GRIDLIFE is a wonderful event, I didn’t stay for the music, so I can’t comment on that, but this as a whole brings the automotive community together. The entire weekend showcases what the automotive community is all about, whether you like rat rods, race cars, hotrods, muscle cars, imports, tuners, JDM, etc. We all drive different makes and models, but we all have 4 wheels, at least 1 seat, and something to make the tires spin. So be sure to check out #GRIDLIFE South and have a great time.

Later this week I’ll provide another write-up on some Rust Coast worthy cars we saw at #GRIDLIFE. Below are just a couple of pictures that show the “feel” of #GRIDLIFE.