AS the engines cooled and the checkered flag waved at the close of the 2025 season, Philippine motorsports stands at full throttle — no longer just revving up, but firmly in gear.

From thrilling local events to remarkable international wins, the year was filled with pivotal milestones that showcased the country’s growing presence in the global racing arena and the undeniable rise of Filipino driving talent.

Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Philippines led the charge with the biggest motorsports spectacle of the year — the second leg of the 2025 TGR Philippine Cup held in Villar City, Cavite. The two-day event drew thousands of motorsports enthusiasts and further cemented TGR’s commitment to growing the racing scene in the country.

In a major announcement, TGR confirmed that the 2026 season would introduce a Tamaraw One-Make Race (OMR) series, running alongside the long-standing Vios OMR championship, signaling broader participation and diversity in its racing portfolio.

Axel Nocom at the Champions of the Future Academy Series. PHOTO BY AXEL NOCOM

In the virtual world, the TGR Philippines Esports GT Championship concluded in October with Victor Ancheta crowned the 2025 champion, followed by Enzo Ison and Matthew Ang. The talented trio flew the Philippine flag in Thailand for the TGR Asia Esports GT Championship and brought home a solid fourth-place finish in the country standings — proof that Filipino excellence now extends beyond physical tracks and into the high-stakes world of sim racing.

Mazda Philippines also made headlines with the successful staging of the 2025 Mazda Fan Festa PH, a localized version of Japan’s famed Mazda gathering. The event featured adrenaline-pumping Miata OMR races, a track day experience for enthusiasts, and a grand parade that saw hundreds of Mazda vehicles creating a vibrant sea of motion. More than just a race day, the celebration embodied the brand’s dedication to performance and community.

The Philippine rally scene experienced a landmark moment with the AAP Rally of Lubang, organized by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) in partnership with the local government of Lubang, Occidental Mindoro and the Philippine National Rally Championship (PNRC). It marked the country’s first inter-island full tarmac rally and was the first motorsports event held in the island. The success of the rally, which also served as an official PNRC round, laid the foundation for more motorsport events in the region in the coming year.

On the international front, several young Filipino racers delivered stellar performances that brought honor to the country. Zach David, a standout talent in local and international karting, has set his sights on Japan’s Super Formula Lights after a strong stint in Formula 4 across Europe and Asia. Axel Nocom continued his ascent by representing the Philippines in the Champions of the Future Academy karting series, securing a 7th place overall finish in the OK-N Junior class and clinching his first series win in the UAE’s Al Forsan leg.

Inigo Anton, a dominant figure in local slalom and touring races, elevated his career further by competing in the 2025 Formula 4 Southeast Asia Championship, where he earned the title of F4 SEA Rookie Champion. Meanwhile, 14-year-old Bella Canete made a bold mark in drifting, winning the Women’s Drift Challenge Pro-Am title in the 2025 Indonesian Drift Series despite a controversial removal from the standings late in the season. She later bounced back with a second-place finish in the Pro 2 Class at the 2026 Southeast Asia Drift Series opener at Tarlac Circuit Hill.

In September, the Philippines showcased its motorsport might at the 2025 Asia Pacific Motorsports Championship (APMC) in Sri Lanka. AAP fielded a formidable lineup that included Iñigo Anton and Axel Nocom competing in auto gymkhana, karting slalom, and sprint events, alongside Richard Gallardo, Rain Acejas, Louie Camacho, Ricardo Dy-Liacco, Ricardo Montelibano, Ryan Sy, Martin Zaragoza, Luis Moreno, and Russel Reyes. The team’s efforts paid off, winning a total of two golds, two silvers, and three bronzes — enough to earn the Philippines the Overall Country Champion title at the APMC, besting host nation Sri Lanka and third-placer Hong Kong.

Notable contributions included Anton’s gold in karting slalom, Nocom’s gold in karting sprint, Montelibano’s silver in crosscar autocross, Moreno’s silver in esports GT3, Gallardo and Acejas’ bronzes in auto gymkhana, and Reyes’ bronze in esports F4.

Reflecting on the year’s success, AAP Motorsports Manager Rikki Dy-Liacco emphasized the organization’s unwavering commitment to nurturing homegrown talent and supporting opportunities for international competition. “What we can expect is that your AAP will continue to monitor talent and once such opportunities to represent the country arise, we will be there to support our very own,” he said.

As the checkered flag drops on 2025, one thing is clear: Philippine motorsports is no longer warming up. With a new generation of racers and organizers shifting gears into higher performance and global ambition, the race ahead is full of promise — and the finish line is nowhere in sight.

Paul Lee, President of Wharton Automotive Group, was inducted into the SEMA Motorsport’s Products & Media Council (MPMC) Hall of Fame during the 2025 PRI Show, honoring his exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial vision, and lasting impact on the automotive aftermarket industry.

Lee is the owner of McLeod Racing, Silver Sport Transmissions, FTI Performance, Competition Clutch, and Independence Driveline. Through strategic leadership and a long-term commitment to innovation and performance, he has successfully assembled these respected brands under the Wharton Automotive Group umbrella, creating one of the most influential performance-drivetrain organizations in the industry.

The SEMA MPMC Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the growth and advancement of the automotive aftermarket. Lee’s career exemplifies this mission through his ability to preserve the heritage of iconic performance brands while driving modernization, expansion, and operational excellence.

Beyond his business leadership, Lee is also deeply involved in motorsports. He is an NHRA Nitro Funny Car team owner and driver, bringing real-world racing experience to his companies and reinforcing their commitment to performance at the highest level of competition.

“Paul Lee’s influence extends far beyond individual brands,” said Brian Bohlander, SEMA MPMC Chair. “His vision, leadership, and hands-on involvement in both manufacturing and motorsports have helped elevate the entire aftermarket industry.”

“I am truly honored to be inducted into the MPMC Hall of Fame,” said Lee. “This recognition reflects the hard work of the teams behind each of our brands, our partners throughout the industry, and a lifelong passion for performance and racing.”

The induction ceremony took place at the 2025 PRI Show, one of the industry’s premier annual gatherings of performance racing professionals, manufacturers, and innovators.

This story was originally published on December 29, 2025.

Two additional suspects have been arrested in connection with a 2023 burglary at a Macedon motorsports store that resulted in thousands of dollars in stolen dirt bikes, police said.

The Macedon Police Department announced that Mia Fernandez, a 26-year-old Florida woman, and Cordae Terry, a 28-year-old Rochester man, have been charged in the March 2023 “Smash-and-Grab” burglary at Filer’s PowerSports in Wayne County.

Police said the burglary involved suspects driving a vehicle into a garage door on the side of the building to gain entry. Once inside, investigators said the group stole multiple dirt bikes before leaving the scene and later returning to take additional bikes. Authorities have previously estimated the value of the stolen property at approximately $67,000.

Seven suspects were indicted in Wayne County Court in November 2025. Four of those individuals were taken into custody that month. An initial arrest tied to the burglary was made in March, when a Rochester man was charged with burglary and additional offenses related to the case. The seventh indicted suspect was determined to be deceased.

Fernandez, who had relocated to Bradenton, Florida, was taken into custody at her workplace with assistance from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, authorities said. She waived extradition and was returned to New York by Macedon police on Dec. 2. She was arraigned in Wayne County Court, released, and is scheduled to appear at a later date, according to police.

Terry was located while already in the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. He was ordered to appear in Wayne County Court on Dec. 18, where he was arraigned before being returned to state custody. Police said he is also scheduled to appear at a later date.

The investigation remains ongoing.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Have all the Finger Lakes news from Finger Lakes News Radio delivered to your email every morning for FREE!  Sign up by clicking here

Get the top stories on your radio 24/7 on Finger Lakes News Radio 96.3 and 1590, WAUB and 106.3 and 1240, WGVA, and on Finger Lakes Country, 96.1/96.9/101.9/1570 WFLR.

Two people have been hospitalized following a huge fire at a home in North Carolina, which is owned by NASCAR star Denny Hamlin.

On Sunday night, the Lucia-Riverbend Fire Department responded to the scene in Stanley, North Carolina, to extinguish a blaze that had broken out at a property owned by Hamlin’s real estate company, One Real Estate. The property, a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, sits on 1.76 acres of land and was built in 2015.

Shocking scenes show the house being ravaged by the inferno as firefighters attempted to put out the fire, which also led to two people needing to be taken to the hospital, with the pair unnamed. It comes following a recent announcement involving Jeff Gordon’s family.

“We are starting with some breaking news tonight where you can see some live images of a massive house fire in Gaston County, a house that is reportedly linked to NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin,” said a broadcast from NBC affiliate WCNC.

“We are told this fire started around 6 p.m. Sunday night. … Fire officials also confirming to us that Hamlin’s parents do live in the home … Gaston County officials say two people were taken to the hospital, officials did not share their condition, only to say one person at least had smoke inhalation.”

Sign up to our NASCAR newsletter here

The two individuals were, according to Lucia-Riverbend Fire Department chief David Toomey, outside the property when emergency services arrived to tackle the blaze. It took around five hours for the fire to be put out, with the final fire truck leaving the scene at around midnight on Sunday.

Posting an update on Facebook, the Lucia-Riverbend Fire Department wrote: “Multiple departments throughout Gaston and Lincoln Counties responded tonight to the 1100 block Blacksnake Road.

“Fully involved single family residential home. We are thankful for the multiple agency response and ask that the public be in prayer for the affected family and our first responders in fire, GEMs and police. This remains an active scene.”

Toomey also confirmed that the damage to the house was a total loss and that 40 to 45 percent of its structure was burning by the time they arrived on the scene.

Speaking to the Athletic, Toomey said: “They had some really expensive cars in the garage and some racing memorabilia and stuff, so all that was saved.

“We were able to save all that and get it out so it wasn’t damaged.”

A former NASCAR star once received a presidential pardon that he described as “a tremendous Christmas present.”

Junior Johnson, a NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee and renowned driver and team owner, once had a pardon signed by United States President Ronald Reagan that vindicated him of a crime he committed 30 years prior.

As a kid growing up in the foothills of western North Carolina, Johnson was born into a family involved in the whiskey business and known as bootleggers, a term used for those who illegally produce and transport alcohol where it is prohibited by law.

Johnson regularly partook in bootlegging as a child and young adult but was never caught or convicted, unlike his father, who spent nearly two decades in prison for his role in operating the family whiskey business.

A 25-year-old who was fresh off his first season as a NASCAR driver at the time of his arrest, Johnson spent one year in an Ohio prison for having an illegal still, an at-home production device for the popular spirit moonshine.

Over the next three decades, Johnson built a Hall of Fame-worthy career as a NASCAR driver and team owner. His resume includes 50 race wins and 148 top 10 finishes as a driver and six drivers’ championships and 132 race victories as team owner of Junior Johnson & Associates.

Johnson’s most decorated drivers include Carl Yarbrough and Darrell Waltrip, each of whom won three NASCAR drivers’ championships in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

All the while, Johnson was ineligible to vote in United States elections due to his status as a criminal. 

Reagan’s decision to pardon the NASCAR legend, who was 20 years retired from his driving career at the time, restored that right. Johnson “could not have imagined anything better,” he wrote on Motorsports Unplugged in 2012.

The pardon was signed on December 26, 1985, and was “a tremendous Christmas present for me,” Johnson wrote in 2012.

“Let me tell you that the loss of basic civil rights impacts you in a way you can’t imagine. You come to think of yourself somewhat less than an American citizen. It’s not a good feeling,” Johnson wrote on Motorsports Unplugged.

Johnson’s criminal status also kept him out of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame for 10 years, as the man in charge of the induction committee, Dick Herbert, refused to count votes cast for Johnson. 

In 1981, votes for Johnson were counted, and the North Carolina native was inducted into his home state’s sports hall of fame.

In 2010, Johnson was inducted into the inaugural class in the NASCAR Hall of Fame and was named one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers in 2023.

Johnson died on December 20, 2019, at the age of 88.

Before becoming an all-time great NASCAR driver and a team owner, Brad Keselowski began his career at the lowest level within his father’s racing organization.

Keselowski’s father, Bob, owned and operated the now-defunct K-Automotive Racing team during Brad’s childhood, and the former ARCA Series racer subjected his son to some less-than-desired manual labor duties around his operation.

In a 2015 interview for USA Today with motorsports journalist Jeff Gluck, Keselowski detailed the specifics of his day-to-day to-do list.

“They let me sweep floors, and I ended up mowing the grass a lot and mopping,” Keselowski said. “I think I made like $20 a day, which was a lot of money when I was 16. I had to work 8 to 5 every day in the summer.”

First as a star for Hendrick Motorsports and Penske Racing, and now the co-owner of his own racing team, RFK Racing, Keselowski, who recently broke his leg in a skiing accident, has been at the top of the totem pole ever since he burst onto the scene in 2009 when he won his first Cup Series race at Talladega. 

His foundation as a regular employee in his father’s business laid the groundwork for the success that would soon come for Keselowski, although it didn’t look at all like the path some sons of NASCAR stars, such as Keelan Harvick, are taking to prepare themselves for a career in professional racing.

During the interview with Gluck, Keselowski recalled a specific, objectively gross detail of the everyday grind he faced when working for his father’s team.

Responsible for taking out the trash every day, Keselowski noticed chewing tobacco, which most everyone in the race shop used, spat all alongside the trash can due to poor aim. 

He would be forced to touch the sides of the can covered in the substance, and because the trash was only picked up once a month, the dumpster would often overflow, and Keselowski would need to find a way to fit in every last spit-covered piece of trash.

That led him to ask his parents if the trash could be picked up more often, a plea they rejected due to the cost being too expensive.

Years later, as a racing team owner of his own, Keselowski discovered the cost of one more trash pickup per month to be an extra $18, to which the NASCAR star realized his parents were trying to teach him a lesson back in the day, rather than being cheap.

“Are you (freaking) kidding me? I jumped in trash and chewing tobacco and risked losing my foot for two whole summers for like $15?” Keselowski said. “I guess it was good for me. My parents must have known that.”