American Iron Extreme has changed in the last 10 years. A decade or so ago, when horsepower in AIX was limited only by the size of one’s imagination — and wallet — it was largely a matter of which car stayed running the longest that won the Championship. Now that power is limited to 5:1, which is still more powerful than anything allowed in Super Touring 1 and its 6:1 weight to power ratio, competition on track at this year’s NASA Championships was tight and great fun to watch.
In fact, this year’s NASA Championships was the first to feature Cal Lemp/MAP Motorsports and Derric Carter/Carter Racing in stock modern GT500s going door to door contesting for the win. NASA is the only sanctioning body that has a class — American Iron Extreme — for these 800-whp monsters with a stock drivetrain, body panels, and engine/suspension mounting points. These two GT500s are set up differently, but they both use only bolt-on aftermarket performance parts.
The pass in this installment of the NASA Racing Gear Store Move of the Month is a great example of the close competition at the 2024 NASA Championships. NASA Great Lakes AIX driver Cal Lemp takes nearly a whole lap to set up a pass on Derric Carter. When Carter takes it in shallow to protect the inside in Turn 13, Lemp goes around the outside and makes Carter a deal he cannot refuse going into 14.
Ultimately, Carter gets back around Lemp to take the win and the 2024 AIX Championship, but it’s becoming clear that AIX Championship racing has changed — for the better.
