NATA Round 5: Steve Luca’s Shelby GT500 wins at Gridlife Chicagoland

It wasn’t an easy weekend, but Steve Luca and his Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 took top spot at Gridlife Chicagoland, round 5 for the NATA Championship Presented by Grassroots Motorsports.

What’s the NATA Championship? It pits the best of the best in time attack across three sanctions–Global Time Attack, Gridlife and SCCA–among three classes of cars. Those classes are based solely on tire: Unlimited, Large 200tw and Small 200tw. Six NATA points-paying events, with the top three point showings counting toward the title. The rules are simple, but the competition is fierce.

Back to Steve’s run at Gridlife Chicagoland, held at the Autobahn Country Club. Going into the last session of the weekend, Steve said he was separated by about .03 seconds over second-place Ernestas Puzelis.

“I had been battling an overheating trans all weekend, which basically gave us one lap to get it done before things get too hot,” Steve said on Facebook. “This proved to be a real challenge all weekend since our tires don’t come in until lap two. On the last session, I gave it everything I had on the first lap and was able to find about 3 tenths.”

Now Steve was 7 tenths off the RWD track record and about 1.2 seconds off the overall record. He gave it another lap.

“I knew it was unlikely in the hottest part of the weekend the car had another lap in it without overheating, but I told myself I’d throw it into turn one and two, and if I find time, I’ll keep going,” continued Steve. “So, I pitched it in there, took a peek at my predictive, and saw I was up over two tenths. The tires were now in the sweet spot. By the time I made it out of patience (turn 9), I was up over 6 tenths and consistently gaining time in every corner! But now we have the long back straight to deal with. When I shifted to 4th, the car automatically shifted itself straight to 5th, and immediately flashed the trans over temp warning on the dash. In the red mist, I ignored it, made it through turn 11, but as soon as I went back to throttle it was basically in neutral. Thankfully I had enough momentum to roll my way back into pit lane where [the] car came about as close as a car can come to catching on fire without visible flames. She was HOT!!! Hot enough to start melting whatever seam sealer was left on the car!”

Kyle McKiou.

In Large 200tw action, Kyle McKiou claimed top spot. He broke the Gridlife Street Mod track record set by 2023 NATA champion Jackie Ding. Joe Mielke finished atop the time charts for the NATA Small 200tw class.

Joe Mielke.

What’s Next?

The NATA Championship Presented by Grassroots Motorsports concludes with its final round during the Tire Rack SCCA Time Trials Nationals Presented by Hagerty. It takes place on October 24-27 at NCM Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. For more information on NATA, visit natachampionship.com.

NATA Championship Presented by Grassroots Motorsports
Round 5
Gridlife
Autobahn Country Club
Joliet, Illinois
September 14-15

Unlimited
Pos. | Driver | Car | Time | NATA Points Earned
1. Steve Luca, Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, 1:24.265, 100.000
2. Ernestas Puzelis, Chevrolet Corvette, 1:24.511, 99.709
3. Kyle McKiou, Toyota GR Supra, 1:25.119, 98.997
4. Brandon Hodge, Toyota GR Supra, 1:26.854, 97.019
5. Jackie Ding, BMW M2, 1:27.087, 96.760
6. Michael Puglisi, Mitsubishi Lancer, 1:27.694, 96.090
7. Andrius Bertulis, Lexus RC-F, 1:28.119, 95.626
8. Andy Hsiao, Chevrolet Corvette, 1:28.563, 95.147
9. Chris Smith, BMW 1 Series, 1:30.206, 93.414
10. Aric Streeter, Mazda RX-7, 1:30.879, 92.722
11. Allen Ma, Mazda RX-7, 1:30.944, 92.656
11. Edvinas Cinga, BMW M3, 1:31.534, 92.059
12. Michael Young, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 1:31.823, 91.769
13. Alex Westergaard, Honda S2000, 1:35.839, 87.923
14. Mason McGavock, Mazda CX-50, 1:37.278, 86.623
15. John Farrow, Toyota Corolla, 1:42.024, 82.593

Large 200tw Tire
Pos. | Driver | Car | Time | NATA Points
1. Kyle McKiou, Toyota GR Supra, 1:25.816, 98.193
2. Alex Moss, Honda S2000, 1:28.391, 95.332
3. Ido Waksman, Corvette, 1:29.261, 94.403
4. Jaime Santos, Ford Focus, 1:29.918, 93.713
5. Team Mediocre-K, Scion FR-S, 1:30.114, 93.509
6. Nick Hendrix, Chevrolet Corvette, 1:30.628, 92.979
7. Team GT4 Gang, Porsche GT4 RS, 1:31.143, 92.454
8. Brian Van Orsdol, Toyota GR Supra, 1:31.351, 92.243
9. Keenan Prusank, Chevrolet Camaro, 1:31.524, 92.069
10. Sam Bosnian, Nissan 350Z, 1:31.799, 91.793
11. Jeremy Salenius, Chevrolet Corvette, 1:31.881, 91.711
12. Austin Hertel, BMW M2, 1:31.896, 91.696
13. Mike Janssen, Tesla Model 3, 1:32.078, 91.515
14. Brad Moore, Porsche Cayman, 1:32.228, 91.366
15. Luka Lumovic, BMW 1 Series, 1:32.418, 91.178
16. Dallas Reed, Chevrolet Corvette, 1:32.829, 90.774
17. Ben Bulthuis, Toyota GR Supra, 1:33.778, 89.856
18. Joel Phillips, Porsche 911, 1:33.959, 89.683
19. Aaron Rekkedahl, Honda Civic Type R, 1:34.303, 89.356
20. Ross Ligibel, BMW M3, 1:34.579, 89.095
21. Andy Hoist, BMW M3, 1:34.663, 89.016
22. Mitchell Hickling, BMW M4, 1:35.253, 88.464
23. Munzir Habibovic, Nissan 350Z, 1:36.335, 87.471
24. Ivan Onofriiciuc, Nissan 370Z, 1:36.884, 86.975
25. Jerome Cahuzac, BMW M2, 1:37.813, 86.149
26. Jerry Samountry, BMW M4, 1:38.112, 85.887
27. Cody Smith, Oldsmobile Cutlass, 1:38.321, 85.704
28. Andriiy Minenko, Honda S2000, 1:38.686, 85.387
29. Nehru Cheddie, Chevrolet Corvette, 1:39.490, 84.697
30. Aladin Klicic, Nissan 370Z, 1:39.931, 84.323
31. Ben Ciric, Nissan 370Z, 1:40.136, 84.151
32. Jonathan Denk, Honda Civic, 1:41.008, 83.424

Small 200tw Tire
Pos. | Driver | Car | Time | NATA Points
1. Joe Mielke, Subaru WRX STI, 1:31.419, 92.174
2. Peter Granberg, Subaru BRZ, 1:32.078, 91.515
3. Stan Fayngold, Toyota 86, 1:32.168, 91.425
4. Derek Linderholm, Mitsubishi Lancer, 1:32.475, 91.122
5. Evan Weider, Honda Civic, 1:32.658, 90.942
6. Christopher Heideman, Honda S2000, 1:32.706, 90.895
7. Fez Babar, Toyota GR86, 1:32.954, 90.652
8. Anthony Leclerc, Alfa Romeo 4C, 1:33.219, 90.395
9. Mike Bryant, Mazda MX-5, 1:33.510, 90.113
10. Ian Flavin, Subaru BRZ, 1:33.720, 89.911
11. Jerami Bailey, Scion FR-S, 1:33.899, 89.740
12. Whiskey Danger Racing, Honda S2000, 1:34.121, 89.528
13. Arthur Dvortsen, Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1:34.566, 89.107
14. Jacob Abbott, Subaru BRZ, 1:36.503, 87.319
15. Jake Rawson, BMW 3 Series, 1:36.566, 87.262
16. Dariush Lotfi, Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1:37.183, 86.708
17. Garrett Gioceri, Mazda RX-8, 1:37.252, 86.646
18. Dan Mai, BMW 325i, 1:37.705, 86.244
19. Matthew Morehouse, Subaru Forester, 1:38.226, 85.787
20. Malindima Sampa, Nissan 350Z, 1:40.334, 83.984
21. Richard Sawicki, Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1:42.552, 82.168
22. Team WendtSpeed, Honda CR-X, 1:43.427, 81.473
23. Sam Deuling, Honda Fit, 1:43.839, 81.150
24. Lennon Radcliffe, Toyota Corolla, 1:43.872, 81.124
25. Nickolas Berg, Honda Civic, 1:43.990, 81.032
26. Ryan Mukherjee, Honda Fit, 1:44.184, 80.881
27. Piotr Boczek, Honda Fit, 1:45.347, 79.988
28. Matt Dietlin, Honda Fit, 1:45.602, 79.795
29. Jason Davidson, Honda Fit, 1:45.754, 79.680
30. Nathan Schlawin, Honda Fit, 1:46.640, 79.018
31. Noah Masse, Honda Fit, 1:47.141, 78.649
32. Jim Frohwirth, Honda Fit, 1:47.271, 78.553
33. Robert Miller, Kia Rio, 1:49.216, 77.154
34. Team SundaeFunday, Honda Fit, 1:52.510, 74.896
35. Samuel Miller, Mazda MX-5 Miata, 1:57.530, 71.697

2024 Point Standings: Top 10

Unlimited
1. Feras Quartoumy, 200.000
1. Steve Luca, 200.000
3. Kyle McKiou, 191.911
4. Brandon Hodge, 189.234
5. Michael Puglisi, 186.232
6. Andrius Bertulis, 185.473
7. Ernestas Puzelis, 182.772
8. Chris Smith, 181.888
9. Ray Guerrero, 180.441
10. Michael Simms, 179.859

Large 200tw Tire
1. Nick Hendrix, 279.304
2. Kyle McKiou, 278.037
3. Keenan Prusank, 277.198
4. Allen Patten, 188.569
5. Dallas Reed, 184.732
6. Ido Waksman, 184.596
7. Anthony Pearson, 182.743
8. Brian Van Orsdol, 181.092
9. Paul Ough, 179.395
10. Brad Moore, 176.430

Small 200tw Tire
1. Anthony Leclerc, 184.450
2. Peter Granberg, 177.303
3. Christopher Heideman, 175.961
4. Fez Babar, 175.844
5. Evan Weider, 175.714
6. Jerami Bailey, 174.748
7. Ian Flavin, 174.187
8. Arthur Dvortsen, 167.415
9. Jacob Abbott, 162.478
10. Richard Sawicki, 158.453