Groovy Hollow Recap
Groovy Hollow is an annual iRacing fundraiser event created by Out of the Groove and A.E. Engine to raise money for Victory Junction.
Join the conversation on socials
Tuesday night, October 28, 2025, the green flag dropped at the infamously haunted Groovy Hollow Raceway for Groovy Hollow 5. It was an exciting race with a lot of late-race drama. Here’s everything that happened in Groovy Hollow 5.
Keegan Sobilo put his No. 77 Chevrolet on the pole for the race during qualifying, with a wickedly fast lap time of 14.637. This was a great starting point for Sobilo, who was looking to be the hero and win back the Halloween candy for the Victory Junction Gang kids.
We got our first big incident on the third laps of the race. The incident in question triggered a caution, meaning that we were going to have our first Circle B Diecast Caution Flag Giveaway of the race. It happened when the No. 67 of Larry Pace got into the back of the No. 31 Aaron Smith II. This caused a stack-up and with several other cars involved, including NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, Dean Thompson.
This wasn’t the only incident that Larry Pace instigated early on. On Lap 11, he tagged the No. 44 of Ryan Vargas from behind, sending the No. 44 around. This was a two-car incident, triggering our second caution of the race and second Circle B Diecast Caution Flag Giveaway of the race.
At the 1/3rd mark of the grotesquely ghoulish Groovy Hollow 5, Keegan Sobilo, the polesitter, led. Since the drop of the green flag, he has led every lap up to this point. We found ourselves under yet another caution flag after a series of small incidents broke out throughout the field. The most recent one at this point was when John Burke got loose, triggering a caution. Burke was driving the No. 37 Skunk Butt Women’s Auxiliary Chevrolet. This car is featured in Cody Williams’ novel, The Legend of Groovy Hollow: Lost Boys, driven by the character of Leon Eric “The Turd” Brown III.
It’s not been a great night for Cody’s fictional cars tonight. Prior to this incident, Ricky Hardin, driving Tommie Jo Swanson’s True Terror Publications car from the first novel, The Legend of Groovy Hollow, went around, putting him back in traffic. He was involved in yet another incident on Lap 68 when a massive stack-up caused a huge collision in Turn 2.
By Lap 100, the field had suffered 12 cautions already. Lawless Alan, Larry Pace, and Christian Charbonneau were involved in several incidents in the first half of this race. Another caution came as the No. 31 of Aaron Smith III spun off the bumper of the No. 88 of Nathan Koester. Following the caution, we saw a split in strategy. For the first time tonight, Keegan Sobilo putted, surrendering the race lead. This put Finnegan Myers, Garrett Smithley in the Halloween Machine, and defending winner, Larry Pace in the No. 67 Chevrolet out front. Sobilo took 4 tires in the pits, costing him several spots in the running order. He restarted in the 20s.
Shortly thereafter, the haunted Halloween Machine of Garrett Smithley was given the black flag. That decision on behalf of iRacing will not be a popular one in the eyes of Bucky Blackwell and his band of ghouls in Groovy Hollow.
Finnegan Myers, John Burke, and Larry Pace lead with aging tires. There are only 25 laps to go. We got our 16th caution of the race, which saw the No. 92 of Kire Olofson spinning around. During this caution, a number of drivers came down pit road for the first time. However, the leaders remained out. It appeared like Finnegan Myers was looking to stretch his Goodyear rubber to the end of the race. He still had some pace, taking the green flag and being able to hold off the No. 37, at least for the time being.
As we prepared for the last 10 laps of the race, Larry Pace and David Schildhouse, who combined have won 4 out of the 5 Groovy Hollow iRacing Events, were within striking distance. The commentators reminded us that we do have 1 attempt of a Green-White-Checkered finish in our back pocket.
10 Laps to go! After a crazy race jam-packed full of cautions with 18 Circle B Diecast Giveaways, the last stretch went green to the end without incident. Finnegan Myers, on older tires, managed to hold off the defending winners of Larry Pace and David Schildhouse to win his first Groovy Hollow iRacing event! This was an insane feat as he was able to manage his tires through to the end, save himself a pit stop, and stay out in order to take the checkered flag. Yet again, the Halloween Machine has been vanquished!
John Burke came in second with defending winners Larry Pace and David Schildhouse finishing in 3rd and 4th, respectively. Polesitter, Keegan Soblio, after dominating the earlier stages of the race, finished 13th after coming down pit road for fresh Goodyear rubber. Tough break for him. Hopefully he can rebound next year.
To put the cap on the night, we got back the Halloween Candy. Who was the culprit? None other than Eric Estepp! Feeling left out because he was racing instead of participating in the broadcast, Eric stole the candy, demanding that Groovy Hollow return for its fifth consecutive year. Appeased, Eric returned the Halloween candy to the Victory Junction Gang kiddos. And they all happily went Track or Treating.
Finishing Order will be updated as soon as results are finalized.
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, the prize went to the No. 01 UNOH University of Northwestern Ohio Chevrolet. UNOH is the leading technical school for NASCAR technicians, mechanics and crew members.
The Groovy Hollow Diecast giveaway returned this year, courtesy of our sponsor, Circle B Diecasts. You know the drill, for every caution flag flown, one fan won a Circle B diecast car! And, with 18 cautions on the night, there were a ton of opportunities for fans to win. Thanks to Circle B for their tremendous support.
But the biggest winner of all was Finnegan Myers, who dethroned the defending winners and the Halloween Machine in a thrilling race jam-packed with strategy.
This year, Groovy Hollow’s YouTube Stream broke new ground. It had over 5.1k concurrent viewers. This stat shows that this is the biggest Groovy Hollow ever, and for that, the fans are to be thanked for their time and viewership.
After a relatively mild race last year, Groovy Hollow Raceway awoke from the dead, bearing its razor-sharp teeth. We had an astounding 18 caution flags tonight with numerous multi-car pile-ups. It seemed like no one was safe from the wrath of Bucky Blackwell and his evil Groovy Hollow Raceway. But some drivers fell victim more often than others. For example, defending champion of the race, Larry Pace, was a menace early on in the night.
RaceSpot.TV returned to broadcast the Groovy Hollow 5 iRacing event. And, needless to say, 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 a realistic race day feel. Groovy Hollow takes pride in its high-value production, and this year was the best yet. It was polished and professional with excellent commentary and coverage of the actual race.
This may have been the single most competitive race in Groovy Hollow history. Groovy Hollow 5 featured:
Alongside these real-life pros, highly regarded sim drivers like Larry Pace and UNOH esports team driver Tyler Skoczen took part in the race.
While the No. 01 UNOH car won the paint scheme competition, there were a lot of great paint schemes competing tonight. Personally, I’m partial to the No. 37 Skunk Butt Women’s Auxiliary and the No. 28 True Terror Publications Gray Ghost schemes. These two paint schemes are featured in my novel, The Legend of Groovy Hollow: Lost Boys, and are driven by the character Leon Eric “The Turd” Brown III and the heroine of our saga, Tommie Jo Swanson. But there were many other great schemes tonight. Huge shout-out to Kyle Vaughters, who designed all of these frightfully fantastic schemes!
With Eric Estepp unmasked and caught as the fiend who stole the children’s candy, it has been returned. The kids of the Victory Junction Gang camp happily return to their Halloween festivities as our Track or Treat Groovy Hollow event concludes yet another year.
Groovy Hollow is a yearly Halloween-themed iRacing event hosted by Eric Estepp of the Out of The Groove YouTube Channel. Since its 2021 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 Kyle Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp.
Thank you for joining us tonight for the fifth annual Groovy Hollow iRacing event. I hope you grab copies of my novels in the Legend of Groovy Hollow series and maybe a couple of my other works. I’m also the author of Bunny Boy, a novel that follows David Peterson in the wake of a horrific tragedy. Soon thereafter, while visiting his departed son’s grave, he receives a visit from a man who is seemingly a gravedigger. But, in reality, he’s a minister of an ancient religion who has also suffered a similar tragedy…and he claims to be able to raise the dead.
And then there’s The Fifth Line. The Fifth Line follows a young man after his grandfather passes away from a painful, lingering illness. In the wake of his grandfather’s death, he’s tasked with one thing–to go to his cell phone provider and cancel his Papaw’s phone line. He does so and soon starts receiving strange phone calls from a dead number. Is he going insane, or is his departed grandfather calling with messages from beyond the grave?
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinions on Discord or X, and don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Join the conversation on socials
Daily Downforce writer Cody Williams penned a story inspired by Groovy Hollow Raceway and it is exclusively available as a podcast. Learn about Groovy Hollow and the Halloween Machine through the eyes of our newest Groovy Hollow heroine, Tommie Jo.
