Nathan Levenhagen at 2025 Quincy Grand Prix – photo by Mark Schwigen
The Quincy Grand Prix is an event that has caught the attention of many within the midwestern karting community for a number of different reasons. Some know it for its near 50-year history, some know it for the prestige it holds and the glory that comes from winning, and everyone knows it for how dangerous of a race it is. Last year I got to experience this race for the first time as a driver in Ignite Senior, and I also experienced firsthand what a tiny mistake can cost you at this track. In the 2024 Ignite Senior Sunday Final, I had the worst crash in my career, destroying nearly half my kart, and somehow walking away unharmed. I spent the next 15 minutes sitting in the grass staring at my mangled kart, having no idea what it would take to get on track again. One thing I knew for certain, though, was I had to come back to the park and redeem myself.
Fast forward one year, and I came back to Quincy with the same kart and the same number as last year, seeking revenge for the incident that turned my entire 2024 season upside down. This time around, however, I wasn’t alone. Just like in the Ignite Challenge, I got to work with Bobby Krug Racing Services to help guide me through this event. Rolling into Saturday I felt super confident, having prior experience at this event and with Bobby’s expertise behind me. I was able to hit the ground running showing top 15 pace with room for improvement. Qualifying didn’t go exactly to plan, but I was still able to qualify 12th for the Saturday Sprints, setting myself up well for a possible top 10 finish.
The race-starting procedure for a street race operates a little bit different than the normal races I do. For starters, it’s a standing start instead of a rolling start, and they format it like a Le-Mans style start, where you are gridded diagonally at either end of the track and converge at the center once the race starts. Historically these starts have not gone great for me, whether it’s being pinched in the middle or choosing the wrong line. Starting from 12th, I was hoping I would be far enough up the order where this wouldn’t be a problem, but I was wrong once again. I got pinched in the middle without anywhere else to go and got sent back to almost 20th by the first turn. So much for that good qualifying effort. Nonetheless, I still knew I had top 10 pace, so my mission was now to carve through these cars and get as close to the top 10 as possible. I passed a few cars initially and found myself in about 17th, and at that point the pack ahead of me had already run away. A couple laps later I get passed by Ashton Wheeler, who had to start that race near the back. I decided to take a chance and work with him and attempt to make some ground up, and against all odds, it worked. Within about 5-6 laps we went from not even seeing anyone in front of us to closing right up to that pack we lost earlier and picking off a few more positions before the end of the race. After the checkered flag, I came home 14th place, with a lap time to place me tenth on the starting grid for Championship Sunday.
Fast forward to the next Morning, and it was looking to be a beautiful sunny Sunday greeting tens of thousands of spectators to South Park for the 2025 Championship races. I had one morning Warm-Up and a Final Race on my menu for the day, and I had a first ever podium finish at Quincy well within my sights. It felt like nothing could slow me down. Nothing could turn the day upside down. Morning warm-up ended up being very successful while trying something new, managing to place 4th on the time charts with only the final left. As I am under the BKRS tent preparing my kart for the final, I hear one of my teammates from across the tent say that there’s going to be heavy rain in 20 minutes. My race was supposed to start in 20 minutes. Now with weather pending, but not yet at the track, I had a decision to make. My decision ended up being to put on a wet setup with fresh wet tires, make whatever adjustments I could make in 10-15 minutes, and pray for rain. As I pushed out to the track ready to grid up for the final, my prayers were answered, and it started sprinkling. While everyone else was scrambling to put on wet tires, I was sitting on the grid more ready than ever to get the race going and make some magic happen in the rain. Unfortunately, that rain was soon met with lightning, and we were put on an indefinite hold for weather. Just when it seemed like luck had finally come my way, all of it was taken from me at once, and my statement from earlier had aged like milk. I then pushed back to the tent and settled in for what ended up being nearly three hours straight of thunderstorms.
Once the storm cleared and the track dried, it was finally time to go racing again almost 4 hours behind schedule, and with a few changes. First was that the races would be shortened to 8 laps from the original 12 laps. Second was that one of the straightaways would be a single-file no-passing zone due to some flooding on one side. Lastly, and worst of all, was that Ignite Senior was now going to be the very last run group of the day going out at almost 8pm, even though we were the next class in line before the storm. For context, after I finished with this race, I had to disassemble my kart, pack it in my van, eat, drive 4 hours back home, and then get whatever sleep I could before waking up early for work the next morning. So, a late departure was the last thing I wanted, but nonetheless that’s what I got, and I still had a race to do. After a few more hours of boredom, it was finally time to go out for our race, now an 8-lap sprint on a dry track. I was tired, wet, and ready to go home, but I still didn’t let it shake my confidence with a podium on the line. Finally, more than 7 hours later, the green flag flew for the Ignite Senior Sunday final. For once I actually had a good start, picking up a position and settling into 9th place with BKRS teammate and Saturday winner Avery Schwalm in front of me. I knew he was capable of driving up to the front, so I made it my goal to stick behind him and let him make the path for me. At this point the top 10 were all in one big train, and this was my first time running in a pack this size on this track, which I soon realized created some bottle-necking problems. In a draft that big you are carrying far more speed on the straights, and you have no downforce to help you under braking. What ended up happening in almost every braking zone was that even braking earlier than usual wasn’t enough, and I kept bumping the driver in front of me under braking, which helps no-one. It took me a few laps to adjust to this, which was a few laps too many, as I was only making the people around me angrier with me. At one point, Schwalm made a deep move on another driver that I followed, and I was alongside but ahead of that other driver crossing into the no-passing zone. I was told by the officials prior to the race that the car behind at the line had to concede, but instead they decided to stay alongside me and catch a draft off of Schwalm ahead. Worried about being penalized for going two-wide in the no-passing zone, I just gave the position to the other driver even though I was ahead. Moments later, still in the no-passing zone, two more cars behind me take the opportunity to blow past me as I try to get back in line. So much for a no-passing zone. Entering the closing stages of the race I’m still barely in the top 10, running out of time to get toward the front. Going into turn 7, a few karts ahead of me start jostling for position, and I’m just trying to follow the guy in front of me and leave everyone space. Then, someone I don’t even see behind me attempts making a super late move on the inside as I’m already turning in, and he clips my right rear and spins the both of us out. I rejoin the race well outside the top 20, and just like that my hopes of a good result at Quincy are taken from me again. two laps later I cross the line in 23rd, and the 2025 Quincy Grand Prix is done.
I have had a lot of bad weekends in my racing career. Some that have ended worse than this, whether it be from a results standpoint or from financial setbacks. I have never felt as upset and defeated with the way a weekend ended as this one did. It was looking so promising at the biggest race of the year, then my day was turned completely upside-down by the rain, and my race ended with yet another crash and with a lot of angry drivers. The only thing I can say is that I learned a lot that I can take into the future, and I at least proved I can be a threat at the biggest events on the calendar, even if I didn’t get the result to show for it. And my opinion about the Quincy Grand Prix as an event still has not changed, it is still one of the greatest tracks I’ve driven on and the greatest event in karting that I’ve been a part of, Lady Luck just dealt me a poor hand this year. Thank you to everyone from the Quincy Grand Prix who help make this awesome event happen, thank you to Bobby Krug Racing Services and CKT Racing Engines for keeping me running at the front, and hopefully this isn’t the end of the war between IndyNAL and the Streets of South Park.