Allen Patten Earns Track Mod Championship in Swift Summer Stretch
GRIDLIFE’s Track Mod category has long been the place for extreme builds in TrackBattle - and in 2025, Allen Patten and Louis Gigliotti’s ground-pounding C7 Corvette looked right at home. Patten, relatively new to driving on track, is the 2024 Street Mod class champion, a title he won in a Toyota GR Supra. This year, alongside his efforts in GRIDLIFE TrackBattle, Patten campaigned in SRO’s GT4 America with Thunder Bunny Racing, driving a mix of Toyota GR Supra GT4 and BMW M4 GT4 machinery. His TrackBattle build, built by Louis Gigliotti, is a fierce C7-generation Chevrolet Corvette, complete with extensive engine and aero modifications. The supercharger whine gave the car a unique sound that was unmistakably Patten every time it thundered by the finish line.
Patten’s season began at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where he faced off against Jackie Ding’s BMW M2. With rain falling later in the weekend, Patten’s lap time of 1:22.706 from Heat 3 was enough to keep Ding at bay. However, the current configuration of the Track Mod ruleset didn’t have a standing record to beat, so while Patten set the record, he did not earn the point for resetting a standing record, and collected 25 points.
At GRIDLIFE Midwest Festival, Patten drove double-duty, campaigning his TrackBattle car alongside his Thunder Bunny Racing #606 Toyota GR Supra GT4 in the brand new GRIDLIFE GT category. The weekend at GingerMan Raceway was successful, as Patten picked up the 1st place trophy in GRIDLIFE GT with three wins and 26 points in TrackBattle, after resetting the track record to a 1:28.894 and winning in the Podium Sprint. Jackie Ding didn’t run this event in Track Mod, opting instead to race in Eibach GRIDLIFE Touring Cup in his AE86 Corolla.
Later in June, Patten defeated Ding at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course by 1.2 seconds, resetting the track record there, too, and stacking another 26 points on to his total. Now armed with 76 points, another event win and record would leave him with 103, one point shy of the maximum possible in the TrackBattle points structure. It didn’t take him long to earn that next win.
The next event on the calendar was GRIDLIFE: Summer Apex, a trip to America’s National Park of Speed, Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This four-mile course sports three long straightaways, perfect for Patten’s powerful C7 Z06. Both Jackie Ding and Patten broke the previous track record, but Patten led heading into the Podium Sprint. Defying expectation, Patten’s best lap was during the Podium Sprint, where he ran a blisteringly quick 2:08.669, just a few seconds off FIA GT3 car pace in a shop-built production car. He earned 26 points, leaving him with 103 total. This lead over Ding left him comfortable enough to end his season, but Jackie Ding started a run for the title to try to snag that last available point.
Ding’s attempt to steal the title required him to win four events, and earn four track records, at Lime Rock Park, Autobahn Country Club, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and Pitt Race. Ding won Lime Rock and Autobahn, and scored records, and as Ding shipped his car off to Laguna Seca, Patten began to research how he could run Pitt Race in defense while his car sat in the shop taken apart for 2026 upgrades. However, Ding’s run would end in California with an incident in the Corkscrew, damaging the right front corner of his BMW M2, allowing Patten to claim the title early and head to Pitt Race not to defend his title, but to challenge other categories, winning Unlimited in his GR Supra GT4.
Patten’s championship is his second in GRIDLIFE TrackBattle, Street Mod in 2024, Track Mod in 2025, and with upgrades coming for his Corvette, who knows what he, and Thunder Bunny Racing, are capable of next season.
