No Longer Just a Legend: Dewey’s Boogeyman Strikes Twice
There was time that Dewey DeWitt’s 1995 Subaru Impreza L build was just imagination - or at least, its final form was. The car earned the name “Boogeyman” years ago, before it ever showed up in force to a racetrack in the GRIDLIFE Street Mod class. In a class that has long been one of GRIDLIFE’s fiercest sandboxes for time attack competition, Dewey promised that Subarus, and his car, would be a threat for championships against far newer and more conventional builds. In 2023, he proved the prophecy true - a perfect score in Street Mod under the then-new points system - 104 points. His wins came one after the other, New Jersey, Mid-Ohio, Lime Rock, and Heartland Park, each with a track record. Despite the dominant summer run, Dewey was determined to show the class, and the GRIDLIFE community, that summer stretch wasn’t a fluke.
Dewey’s 2025 season started off with a trip to Carolina Motorsports Park, where he placed second to the #121 Corvette in his #70 Impreza. Mathews, who was also campaigning a separate car in the Street GT class, was off to a strong start. Mathews claimed another win at the second round of the season at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, and scored a track record point. Dewey carried excitement into the Georgia event, armed with a new weapon - a sequential gearstack inside the OEM transmission housing. DeWitt, who has campaigned in Street Mod for years, has persistently been a competitor pushing the outer limits of the ruleset, and is passionate about how that boundary pushing is part of the sport. Often, he’ll say “Read the rulebook a few times to see what it says, do all those things, then read it again, and do all the things it doesn’t say.” He managed second at Road Atlanta, but with an AWD class record.
He carried momentum into GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival, faced against Kyle McKiou, a GR Supra competitor from last season. Though McKiou won the Podium Sprint, Dewey racked up another second with a record, but this was the last time he finished in second in 2025.
Beginning at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, DeWitt went on a tear, just like he did in 2023. In four straight events, Dewey won the class and scored track records. At Mid-Ohio, he defeated McKiou and Jaime Santos, at Road America, he knocked out Luca Barberis and Ryan Mathews. At Lime Rock Park in August, he took the fight to Alex Moss and the venerable SuperK, a turbocharged Honda S2000 from ASM. Then, at Autobahn Country Club, he scored another victory in the first-ever Podium Sprint at GRIDLIFE Chicagoland. Those four wins, and the track records they came with, tallied up to 104 points, the maximum possible in the GRIDLIFE Time Attack points system.
Dewey’s championship season in 2023 ended with a whimper at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, only scoring fourth, but 2025 ended in triumph - another win and track record at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. It wasn’t even really necessary, with no one even close to dethroning him for the title, but the victory lap wasn’t without its challenges. Last year’s champion, Allen Patten, came armed for the fight in McKiou’s GR Supra, outpacing Dewey on Friday and scoring the track record. But the engine didn’t last, and Patten switched to Unlimited in his Supra GT4 for the rest of the weekend, now ineligible for Street Mod. This left Dewey with a path for victory in the Podium Sprint, running an unbelievably fast 1:50.556 in heavy rain.
There was no doubt about which car, or which driver, won Street Mod in 2025. Dewey’s once mythical 600-horsepower Subaru is very, very real - and will send the competition back to the drawing board to figure out how to kill the Boogeyman.
