Despite its critical acclaim and soaring popularity, The Messenger has never published an article about GASCAR. That changes today.
The Garfield Association for Stock Auto Car Racing, or GASCAR, for short, was not an idea of Garfield itself. The idea of high school motorsports was conjured by former Superintendent Denise Juneau as morale insurance to survive the pandemic. “Nothing would bring us together better than the all-American motorsport,” Juneau said. This initiative was for all SPS schools, but few stuck, especially Nova’s NASCAR.
GASCAR had a rough start.. The decision to renovate the track & field into a racetrack was met with schoolwide protest. In addition to the track & field, multiple blocks of homes between 24th and Spruce to 26th and Jefferson would be demolished to create the fully-sized racetrack, Garfadega Speedway. Multiple walk-outs occurred during the 2021-2022 school year but once the track was completed everyone fell head over heels. While originally disgruntled with losing their entire home, a resident exclaimed excitement after the GASCAR team held their first race. “Looking back, I was just being a total NIMBY. The pleasure of having motor engines roar for four hours straight is some of the sickest stuff I’ve seen and to be frank the smell of gas ain’t always that bad.” The need for hundreds of mechanics and crew coordinators exploded the budget and abilities of The Skills Center, powering it through COVID-19 much stronger than any of Garfield’s other institutions. Unfortunately, pleasure came with pain. The popularity of GASCAR led to an influx of student transfers as far as Bellevue just to get a shot at the team. When asked, junior Oliver Rowe-Bardeen stated that when kids from Nova and elsewhere started attending Garfield, he “started tweaking.” Similarly, geometry teacher Issac Miller was not a fan when his classroom size grew from about 20 to 50 students.
The 2022-2023 Cup season burst with a strong start as sponsors from Amazon, Nordstrom, Nintendo, and Costco were secured and to make the team more equitable to those without licenses were allowed to compete. After mounting pressure from Starbucks and Amazon sponsorships, however, GASCAR decided to prohibit the display of the flag of the Soviet Union at GASCAR games due to political tensions among fans. The move was criticized as an attack on freedom of expression while supporters maintain GASCAR as an apolitical safe space. The cup season ended with an undisputed GOAT: Then freshman Ace Hoyt. Though Hoyt wasn’t always a winner, they showed immense tenacity and were consistently if not always the fastest on the track. Champion of the GASCAR Cup Series, Hoyt, credited all their success to team manager Daniel Young and their No. 12 Toyota Camry XSE.
As of now, conversations are being had to renovate Memorial Stadium into a speedway named D. Juneau Memorial Speedway in honor of architect Denise Juneau. It is planned for it to host a GASCAR homecoming race instead of the traditional football game.
