It's like the red Sox. Couldn't win forever. Breaks the curse, now he's unstoppable. Go Andy nelson!
For the second year in a row, Andrew Nelson reigns as our $2016 Challenge overall champion!
The wooden Porsche 917 replica built by Team T-Bone came in a very close second.
Steve Griffiths and the rest of the Razorback Racing crew returned after an off year to enjoy a third-place finish.
The breathtaking Justang, built by Circuit Motorsports, won the autocross portion of the event.
Love fast minivans? Sean Wagoner claimed top honors in the Soccer Mom Challenge class.
A wooden replica of Porsche’s iconic 917/10 Can-Am champion; a V8-powered hotrod that can gobble a quarter-mile in 10 seconds; a Subaru Justy that can beat most cars at your local autocross: They can be found together in only one place, the Grassroots Motorsports $2016 Challenge.
The event meets every year at Central Florida’s Gainesville Raceway and seeks the finest and fastest cars that can be built on a budget of just two grand and change. Challengers are judged based on their autocross performance, quarter-mile times and concours scores.
The Grassroots Motorsports $2016 Challenge Driven by General Tire and sponsored by CRC Industries and Miller Electric Welders kicked off on Friday, September 30, with the autocross portion of the competition. Circuit Motorsports claimed top honors with their Justang–a once-humble Subaru Justy subcompact mounted on a Mustang Cobra chassis.
As evening fell, the 40-plus Challenge entrants moved over to the Gainesville Raceway drag strip. Andrew Nelson, known for posting 10-second Challenge drag times, set a new event record with a 10.263-second run in a hot rod worthy of “American Graffiti.”
The last portion of the event was the concours competition, where Team T-Bone’s Porsche 917/10 replica stole the show. What started as a 1995 Chevy Camaro has been turned into a mid-engined, plywood-bodied replica of Porsche’s iconic racer.
Thanks to their strong scores in all three venues, Andrew Nelson and family took top honors for the second year in a row. That win also came with a free Miller Electric welder.
Click here for full results.. A photo album will be added to our Facebook page with more images from this year’s event.
As a special nod to some of the finest builders in the country, our friend Dean Case from Mazda awarded the Mazda’s Choice Award. The trophy went to the Cobra Kai Speed Shoppe and their first-generation Miata–done to emulate the famous Group 44 race cars of the ’60s and ’70s.
Ford also presented an award to their highest-finishing product. This award went to a truck–or half of one. Chris Bryant and his team, Procrastination Performance, stole the honors with a Ford F-350 crew cab and drivetrain mounted onto an all-wheel-drive chassis.
As a special sideshow, the General Tire Challenge again pitted 22 Challenge competitors against each other on the autocross course in identical cars fitted with General high-performance tires. This time the field ran both Mazda’s iconic MX-5 roadster and Mazda3 hatchback. Forty-four autocross runs later, Tod Byram claimed top honors and a free set of tires from General Tire.
Thank you to our partner, General Tire, and sponsors CRC Industries, and Miller Electric Welders for making this event possible.
Want to read all about each insane car at this year’s event? You can find it all in an upcoming issue of Grassroots Motorsports. Subscribe here.
It's like the red Sox. Couldn't win forever. Breaks the curse, now he's unstoppable. Go Andy nelson!
Ed, great job on all the coverage! Everyone at Grassroots Motorsports did a fine job hosting this signature event once again. Congrats to the winners and all the participants. What a wonderful group of wacky, creative and hard-working gearheads! 
Thanks for all of the live video and real time coverage. After reading about so many of these builds as they happen it's a relief not to have to wait out a results embargo. Don't worry, I'll still spend way too much time reading about every entry in the magazine, just like I always do.
I was able to watch the awards presentation last night- that was utterly awesome!
I could even connect some of the real people with their forum names. Somehow my living room got real dusty when hobiercr came up for his award...
Thank you guys for making the challenge accessible to those of us that couldn't make it!
Glad you all enjoyed it! Let's do it again next year.
mndsm wrote: It's like the red Sox. Couldn't win forever. Breaks the curse, now he's unstoppable. Go Andy nelson!
Totally. Can't wait to see what the Nelson family beings next year.
In reply to Ed Higginbotham:
Congrats again to the Nelson family on a close fought win and for Calvin for his Rookie of the Year award. Many thanks to all the competitors for just making this a great event. Most of all I would like to thank all our staff that attended the event for all their hard work.
Is there a dump of the slideshow pictures we can look at/steal from?
Stampie wrote: Is there a dump of the slideshow pictures we can look at/steal from?
Once we're in the office we'll post more pics.
Here's a shot for you, though.
Thanks for joining us.
When I get back into the office tomorrow I should have access to all the photos everyone took over the weekend. I'll make a nice BIG image gallery for the site and Facebook.
Edit: Dag. David beat me to the punch
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