This is an iRacing special event created by Out of the Groove and A.E. Engine to raise money for Extra Life, a program of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and Toys for Tots.
Tuesday night, Groovy Hollow 4 dropped the green flag at Groovy Hollow Raceway. It was an exciting race with lots of late-race drama. Here’s everything that happened at Groovy Hollow 4!
Aaron Smith II put his No. 48 Toyota Supra on the pole, posting a 23.331 qualifying lap. However, it would not be his day, as Smith led just two of the races 150-laps.
On lap three, race winner Larry Pace took the lead For the first time. This early move was all part of Pace’s plan to obtain and maintain track position. “I knew track position was going to be very important because it’s super hard to pass at Iowa as we get deep into the run,” Pace said after the race.
Pace lost the lead momentarily to Thomas Coonan until the first caution came out on lap 12. This wreck saw Tim Combs’ No. 17 spin off the nose of NASCAR driver Armani Williams. Williams would disconnect shortly after spelling the end of his day.
After the restart, Coonan pulled out in front again until another caution on lap 20, when Dale Tanhardt spun Alex Chilcutt, collecting Austin Call’s No. 73 entering turn three.
After Coonan pulled away again, Out of The Groove host and YouTuber Eric Estepp spun his No.4 Halloween Machine.
After the restart, Pace caught Coonan on lap 46. This felt like a turning point in the race, with Pace dominating after a lengthy battle with Adam Garza’s No. 74.
Dawson Cram had a tough crash on in turn two, bringing out a much-needed caution for drivers to pit.
Following this caution, all drivers pitted, with Daniel Mosteller leading off the pit road. Eric Estepp had a major rookie blunder when he missed his pit box during this caution, and the No. 4 had to go back down pit road.
It would not take long for Pace to find his way to the front again. While Pace led, Garza continued to catch up. That was until Nathan Lee and Avery Schwab came together on lap 86 for caution number five.
On the restart, Pace pulled away again. However, a tough battle would ensue throughout this green flag run between Pace’s No. 86 and Garza’s No. 74.
With 19 to go, Lawless Alan and Art Rymer got into each other in turn 2 for the eighth caution of the day. This set up an interesting scenario with those who still had fresh tires in the pits having a chance at short-run speed.
The following restart would not last long when Rymer got into another accident, this time with Dalton Kilroe. After this restart, a “medium-one” happened in turn three on lap 141, collecting seven cars, including Eric Estepp.
With three to go, a great restart helped Larry Pace pull off his dominant victory in Groovy Hollow 4. In the end, Pace led 103 of 150 laps and posted the fastest lap of the race, a 23.477.
| Fin. | No. | Driver | Int | Laps |
| 1 | 86 | Larry Pace | 150 | |
| 2 | 74 | Adam Garza | -0.447 | 150 |
| 3 | 95 | Nathan Koester | -0.535 | 150 |
| 4 | 48 | Aaron Smith II | -0.649 | 150 |
| 5 | 42 | Ryan Vargas | -0.885 | 150 |
| 6 | 28 | Brennan Poole | -1.013 | 150 |
| 7 | 25 | Lawless Alan | -1.328 | 150 |
| 8 | 88 | Craig Janczak | -1.347 | 150 |
| 9 | 60 | David Schildhouse | -1.419 | 150 |
| 10 | 6 | Nick Dwornik | -1.62 | 150 |
| 11 | 80 | Daniel M Mosteller | -1.785 | 150 |
| 12 | 13 | Dawson Cram | -1.94 | 150 |
| 13 | 98 | Presley Sorah | -1.99 | 150 |
| 14 | 7 | James Lauback | -2.221 | 150 |
| 15 | 0 | Ricky Hardin | -2.327 | 150 |
| 16 | 11 | Malachi Drake | -2.41 | 150 |
| 17 | 62 | Blake Lothian | -2.504 | 150 |
| 18 | 1 | Tyler Skoczen | -2.537 | 150 |
| 19 | 24 | Nathaniel Lee | -2.71 | 150 |
| 20 | 46 | Thad Moffitt | -5.182 | 150 |
| 21 | 4 | Eric Estepp | -6.734 | 150 |
| 22 | 31 | Kealoha Hankins | -8.499 | 150 |
| 23 | 63 | Dalton Kilroe | -9.053 | 150 |
| 24 | 17 | Tim Combs | -12.205 | 150 |
| 25 | 29 | Thomas Coonan | -13.77 | 150 |
| 26 | 66 | Dale Tanhardt | -1L | 149 |
| 27 | 92 | Avery Schwab | -3L | 147 |
| 28 | 73 | Austin Call | -6L | 144 |
| 29 | 5 | Alex Chilcutt | -6L | 144 |
| 30 | 91 | Art Rymer | -11L | 139 |
| 31 | 19 | Armani Williams | -128L | 22 |
One of the major awards every year at Groovy Hollow is the Grooviest Paint Scheme award. Leading up to the announcement, which is mid-race, fans get to vote for who has the best paint scheme. This year, Thad Moffitt, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular, won the prize with his flashy yellow and blue tastyduck.com Camaro.
This year, Groovy Hollow 4 also offered fans a way to win. Thanks to the great folks at Lionel Racing, every time there was a caution, one lucky fan walked away with a 1:24-scale Lionel Racing diecast. Monday night, seven cars were given away to seven lucky winners, all thanks to Lionel Racing.
Once again thanks to Lionel Racing for sponsoring this giveaway!
Monday’s biggest winner has to be Larry Pace’s No. 86 NASCAR Mavericks Mustang.
Pace and his Mustang dominated the field all day, both on track and in the stat book.
This year, Groovy Hollow’s YouTube Stream broke new ground. It had over 2.2k concurrent viewers, and the video currently has 21,000 views and counting. These stats show that this is the biggest Groovy Hollow ever, and for that, the fans are to be thanked for their time and viewership.
This year, the Groovy Hollow team brought on RaceSpot.TV to produce this race broadcast on YouTube. The team at RaceSpot.TV did a stellar job with the broadcast, surely helping boost the numbers and give fans a pleasurable viewing experience.
Their clean production work, slick, accurate graphics, and attention to detail made for an easy watch and realistic race day feel. Groovy Hollow takes pride in its high-value production, and this year was the best yet.
This year, Groovy Hollow host and founder Eric Estepp stepped out from behind the microphone and, well, behind the microphone and steering wheel. While Eric was nervous, his training with DJ Yee-J seemed to pay off.
Before the final accident of the day, Eric ran as high as 12th. Given the high-quality field of pros, sim racers, and amateurs, this is a great rookie start at a difficult track for the rookie.
It’s easy to overthink the stat book when looking at the lineup for a race weekend. Whether that’s at a NASCAR race or an iRacing event, this sentiment rang true Monday night.
Many fans thought that Armani Williams or three-time Groovy Hollow Champion David Schildhouse would win. However, Larry Pace, the driver with the highest iRating, won Groovy Hollow 4.
This may have been the single most competitive race in Groovy Hollow history. Groovy Hollow 4 featured:
Alongside these real-life pros, highly regarded sim drivers like Adam Garza and UNOH esports team driver Tyler Skoczen took part in the race.
This year, Groovy Hollow raised money for Extra Life, a program of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and Toys for Tots. The community raised over $2000 for Extra Life and donated over 100 Halloween Machine diecasts to Toys for Tots.
This shows the strength and size of not only the NASCAR online community but also the iRacing community. While the viewership numbers were up, these donations made all the work that went into Groovy Hollow 4 well worth the while.
Groovy Hollow is a yearly Halloween-themed iRacing event hosted by Eric Estepp of the Out of The Groove YouTube Channel. Since its 2023 debut, Groovy Hollow has garnered a reputation as one of the best yearly iRacing events. This is due in part to its high-quality field of talented drivers and top-level broadcast production.
Groovy Hollow is a good time for a good cause. The race also acts as a donation drive for Extra Life, a program of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and Toys for Tots. For Toys for Tots, Groovy Hollow donated one diecast for each one sold under the $30 tier.
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