GRIDLIFE Summer Apex 2025 Brings Record Crowds to Wisconsin’s Most Unique Festival

GRIDLIFE Summer Apex returned to Road America for its second edition in the final weekend of August. The three-day event wrapped up Sunday August 27th after another successful weekend of high-performance motorsports and electronic music.

Chicago-based GRIDLIFE, a motorsports sanctioning organization has spent over a decade perfecting the art of combining automotive culture with music festivals, and Summer Apex represents their most ambitious crossover.

Founded by Chris Stewart in 2013, GRIDLIFE has built a devoted following among car enthusiasts and music fans who might never cross paths at traditional events.

Last year the seed was planted to grow the GRIDLIFE family around Summer Apex, and this year that seed is starting to sprout. This year there were more cars and drivers, a 30% increase in attendance and camping selling out before gates even opened.

What makes Summer Apex special isn’t just the combination of racing and music, but how seamlessly the two worlds blend throughout the weekend. Attendees can spend their mornings watching drift events and competitive time attack sessions, then dance to electronic music just hours later on the same grounds where racing legends have competed since 1955.

Road America’s permanent road course serves as both the racing venue and festival backdrop, creating an atmosphere unlike any other music festival. The facility’s rich motorsports history, combined with its sprawling 640-acre grounds, provides the perfect canvas for GRIDLIFE’s unique vision.

“The venue is really the headliner of the festival,” Stewart has said about the event in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio. “It’s a really magical place just to spend a weekend, especially if you’re into cars.”

The motorsports action at Summer Apex 2025 was nothing short of spectacular, with more than 300 drivers competing across multiple racing and drifting classes – an all-time record for the series. – The weekend featured over 50 hours of on-track action split between Road America’s iconic road course and the adjacent Briggs & Stratton Motorplex karting facility.

More cars and more drivers mean higher speeds, twelve official lap records shattered across nine different classes during the event. 

Full-course drifting returned as one of the weekend’s major attractions. GRIDLIFE made history in 2024 as the first organization to bring full-course drifting to the legendary road course.

“We like GRIDLIFE a lot. It brings a lot of new and younger fans to Road America,” said Road America Communications Director John Ewert. “GRIDLIFE bringing drifting to Road America is incredibly positive,” Ewert added. “It’s great that drifting is still alive and well in the United States. It’s new and exciting. When people see it for the first time their minds are kind of blown. Full course drifting is awesome.”

Beyond the track action, another 200 cars were on display as part of the GRIDLIFE Motoring Meet presented by FCP Euro, along with specialized corrals including the Subimods Corral, Hyundai N Corral, and Lowend Garage corrals.

The music lineup at Summer Apex 2025 was expanded from the inaugural year’s more limited offerings. While 2024 featured mainly T-Pain hosting karaoke on Friday night with all musical acts compressed into Saturday, this year spread the entertainment across both Friday and Saturday.

For those wanting to extend the night even further, a smaller stage called “Laserwoods” kept the party going after the main stage concluded each evening.

The name perfectly captured the experience; over 20 high-powered lasers combined with theatrical fog and haze created a one-of-a-kind visual spectacle that was especially appealing to the laser-loving EDM crowd. Each night featured two DJs performing after the main stage wrapped up, providing an intimate late-night experience unlike anything else at the festival.

As Summer Apex wrapped up its second year, the event has established itself as more than just a novelty. The festival has created a community where automotive culture and the electronic music scene intersect.

With another successful edition in the books, GRIDLIFE Summer Apex continues to show that the most memorable festival experiences often come from the most unexpected combinations.