Taxman Race Report—2025 Weathertech International Challenge With Brian Redman
It had been three long months since my last race, so the Taxman Group Racing Team was ready for a trip to our favorite race track, Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and our favorite event, the International Challenge with Brian Redman. My crew consisted this time of four couples. Floyd and Rita Allyn drove up with Lupe and me, while Mark and Renee Shapman flew in from Omaha and Dana and Bo Bohanski drove in from Stevens Point Wisconsin. We left St. Louis early Thursday morning and arrived at Road America about 2:00 pm. I quickly got the XKE through Tech inspection, while the crew prepared our paddock.
The WeatherTech® International Challenge with Brian Redman at Road America is one of the largest vintage racing events in the United States with over 400 race cars and more than 75,000 fans in attendance. This year featured an exclusive United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) invitational. The USRRC was a sports car racing series organized by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) from 1963 to 1968, featuring iconic American and European sports cars competing on challenging road courses across the country. Renowned for its high-speed battles and legendary drivers, the USRRC laid the groundwork for future endurance racing events in the United States. The WeatherTech International Challenge is a premier vintage gathering featuring everything from a special Concours d’Elegance on Friday and Saturday along the streets of Elkhart Lake, where over 40,000 fans come to see the parade of race cars.
Thursday night was a grand welcoming cocktail and dinner party for all the drivers. They had 3 pace cars giving rides around the track and Lupe jumped in for a ride and loved it. We had a good food, cigars, cocktails, and a great time and then got to bed early at our VRBO home not far away in Waldo.
The weather was great on Friday and after the drivers meeting, where you receive a helmet sticker, we were ready to get our first practice session on the track. In my race group were there were 46 cars, including many Corvettes, Shelby’s, Cheetahs, Porsches, Dodge Challengers, Ford Fairlanes, Galaxies, Mustangs and Falcons, BMWs, Panteras, and Datsun 240Zs. Quite a large race group with 9 difference classes, all out on the track at the same time. My first Practice run was at 8 am and it was cool. tires weren’t heating up much. I wasn’t happy with how the Goodyear Blue Streak tires felt and desided to just take it easy and get comfortable with the track. The 2nd practice at 1 pm was better as the track heated up, but still the tires didn’t feel quite right. My time for the first practice was 3:23 and the 2nd 3:16. There were a couple of crashes during both practices which limited the time and speed as the yellow flags were out quite a bit. The Race Car Parade into town on Friday Night was a blast. 165 Race Cars paraded into the town of Elkhart Lake, with and estimated 45,000 people lining the roads and the streets. It’s a sea of people when the cars are finally parked in the streets and they drop the ropes. What fun! They had the cars divided up into 10 classes and judged them. We won 1st place in our class. The crew enjoyed dinner at the VIP tent and at 8 pm, the race cars were escorted back to the track.
On Saturday, we had two qualifying runs. The first at 10:20 was sort of a waste. While I was in the false grid waiting to go out, it started to rain. So, my time wasn’t so good, but I worked on my turns, which helped out later. It only rained for a short time and the track dried out quickly. My 2nd qualifying race was a 1:20 pm and my time was down to 3:01. We had changed the tires to our Hoosier TDRs and the car felt much better.
Road America is so large, 660 acres, that even with that 75,000 people in attendance, wasn’t crowded.
On Sunday, the weather was sunny and hot for Wisconsin. It was a perfect day for racing. The USRRC race was at 1 pm. There were 58 cars in the race and I was gridded 31st due to my qualifying time. This was to be a 40 minute race. We got the green flag and I decided to hold back a bit, which turned out wise, as there was an 8 car pile up at turn three of the first lap. We were all brought back to the grid for 10 minutes, while they cleaned up the mess. They restarted the race and I settled in. I ended up 19th overall and 3rd in my class. Our feature race was at 2:30 pm. 42 cars were in this race and I was gridded 38th. I finished 24th overall and 2nd in class, with a time fs 2:56. I could have done better as I was chasing down to Porsches, however, a Camaro when into the wall at turn 13 and the last two laps were done under yellow. I was really pleased with the improved time. Out of over 400 race cars at the track, there were only 2 Jaguars. My XKE coupe and a XJS Tribute car. Comedian Adam Carolla was in attendance. Jim Atkinson stopped buy with his son and grandson to say hello, as did many other fans and friends from all over the United States.
What a day! What a weekend. Great Fun!
