David Appelgate

David Appelgate was, arguably, the NWYRA's most famous and successful driver. During his career from 2009 through 2023, he won a league-record 67 races and 5 championships. He has refused to assume the title of "The King," which in NWYRA lore belongs to Steve Weatherly, from whom Appelgate took both those records. Instead, he is known simply as "Gator."

## Career

Appelgate's series debut came in the Chase race at Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2008, one of three starts he made that year along with starts at Bozeman, Montana and Walla Walla, Washington. He was signed by Langton Motorsports to drive the #67 Intel Inside Chevrolet Impala.

His first career win came in his twenty-third start, at Laramie, Wyoming, in 2009. On the restart with thirty laps to go, he was third behind young third-year driver Carson Mason and the eventual 2009 champion Frank Bannister. For 26 laps, he shadowed Mason in the #1 Chevy and Bannister in the #33 Chevy as they battled for the lead on the treacherously slippery Laramie track. With four to go, he drove around the outside of Bannister in Turn 4 for the second spot, then took the lead from Mason in Turn 1 on the bottom. He pulled away to a four-car-length win, the first of his career.

Frank Bannister is credited with making the "Gator" moniker official. Despite the fact that Appelgate's crew already referred to him as that (due to his name Appelgate), Bannister likened him to an alligator in his post-race interview, in that he "clamped on to my bumper and didn't let go for 25 laps... then when he was done messing with my mind, he just charged by."

Appelgate would score his first NWYRA series championship in 2011, just his third full season of racing. The following year, he changed his number from 67 to 23, which stuck until his retirement. His second championship came in 2016, and then his final three championships in his final three years: 2021, 2022 and 2023.

## Jessica Jennings

*Main article: Jessica Jennings*

Some of his greatest moments in racing revolved around his fellow racer and eventual wife, Jessica Jennings. Driving a spectacular defense from second position instead of going for the lead at Missoula in 2014 would give Jessica, driving in what was previously a start-and-park entry fielded by her father, her first career victory.

Many of his memorable races were defined by a 1-2 finish by the two drivers. In 2016, David took his second career championship as Jessica came home a close second. In 2017, the roles were reversed as Jessica took the championship by holding David off in the final race. In 2021, they shared two of the NWYRA's greatest photo finishes, with Jennings prevailing at Eugene and Appelgate at Olympia. In 2023, she pushed him to his first and only Coeur d'Alene 500 victory instead of going for the win herself. They would also finish 1-2 in both the race and the points in his final career start at Walla Walla that year as he took home his fifth championship.

After that race in which he broke three of Steve Weatherly's records (67 wins over 66, 5 championships over 4, 3 consecutive championships over 2) and made his retirement from the NWYRA official, Jennings broke the news to him that she was pregnant. He has since called the experience in Victory Lane at that race the highlight of his racing career.

## Forest Grove International

*Main article: Forest Grove International*

 Appelgate was one of four drivers (along with Frank Bannister, Jefferson Carter and Ollie Vernon) that the city of Forest Grove, Oregon approached in 2010 with plans for a road course. After surveying the land, all four drivers put in a rendition of their ideal track. A combination of Appelgate's and Carter's drawings ended up being implemented. Everything from the final 270-degree carousel through the Turn 8 hairpin is Appelgate's conception, and the esses, back straight, and the infamous Turn 16 are Carter's.

Their collaboration would prove to be ironic, as the two drivers ended up making national headlines with the closest three-way photo finish in racing history in 2013, even beating out IndyCar's Chicagoland finish. In 2011 and 2012, Appelgate beat Frank Bannister to the line by less than a tenth of a second, perpetuating the long-running friendly rivalry between the two. But in FGI's third race in 2013, Appelgate restarted sixth on the GWC and Carter fourth. An absolutely bizarre sequence of events followed as soon as the drivers took the white flag.

Race leader Martin Garcia was shoved into the dirt by second-running Eduardo Vasquez in Turn 1. Vasquez would be passed by James Carr in Turn 3. Vasquez shoved Carr out of the way in the Turn 5 hairpin. Carr spun Vasquez out of the lead in Turn 8, but slowed and Brian Everson took the lead. Everson's tire blew in the apex of Turn 16, sending him hard into the wall and giving the lead to Carr. Carr checked up to avoid wrecking, and Carter passed him in Turn 17. Carr fought back and the two went side-by-side into Turn 20, aka the Carousel. Appelgate, who had been lurking behind Carter ever since the white flag, went three-wide to the outside as they came out of the corner. Appelgate would steal the win by 0.001 seconds over James Carr and 0.003 over Jefferson Carter.

Appelgate wouldn't stop there. He would go on to register no less than FIVE straight photo finishes at FGI--beating Jostein Kierkegaard by 0.006 in 2014 and Kurt McDonald by 0.009 in 2015. Despite losing the 2016 race to Eduardo Vasquez, he would once again edge Tamara St. John in 2017 for his sixth FGI photo finish. He won five straight to open his career at FGI, won two in the middle, and then won five straight to close his career, never once finishing worse than fourth.

His success at the track was so legendary that it was joked that he owned the title to the place. In fact, the year after he retired, the track was sold to him. He would found the Gator Speedway Corporation with that acquisition.

## Gator Speedway Corporation

The Gator Speedway Corporation currently fields five racetracks, all owned at least partly by David Appelgate. All five have dates on the NWYRA Geico Cup schedule, and four of them are road courses. Forest Grove International was sold to Appelgate in 2024, with which he began his corporation. That same year, he purchased a plot of land in Astoria, Oregon, and began work on a second road course. Measuring 3.25 miles (the same as FGI), Road Astoria saw its inaugural event in the Geico Cup Series in 2026. In 2028, GSC acquired Madras Speedway after it began to fall into ruin, and soon brought the track back into its former glory.

In 2031, GSC began work on two new tracks. In conjunction with Las Vegas businessman and entrepreneur Reymond Walters, a Darlington-style egg-shaped oval was constructed in Reno, Nevada in an attempt to get the NWYRA to come to Nevada. The track hosted its first event in 2033. Also, with consulting help with many NASCAR, IndyCar and NWYRA stars, GSC constructed a road course in Evansville, Wyoming, called Casper-Evansville Sports Car Course. This track also saw its first event in 2033.

The GSC has attempted to acquire both Bend/Sunriver Raceway and Kalispell Speedway, but the owners of Bend/Sunriver backed out of negotiations and the owners of Kalispell ended up selling to developers, who demolished the track. Appelgate has indicated that there is one more racetrack in the works, but that after this he plans to keep the GSC at a steady state of operations for a considerable time.