A 2007 Corolla with a quiet past.

Betsy, our 2007 Toyota Corolla, spent most of her life in western Mass driven gently by Gerald, a college janitor, bookstore regular, and proud birdwatching club member. The car still wears two old college parking stickers and, as far as we can tell, had never once exceeded the speed limit in nearly 250,000 miles.

Frankly, we found that unfair.

Which is exactly why we chose Betsy: so she wouldn't miss her one chance to finally experience the full fury of her low-but-mighty 130 factory horsepower… especially now, after a quarter million miles and several suspicious noises.

Our team name, Nitwit Racing, comes from the fact that we are completely unqualified for this and know very little about fixing cars beyond oil changes and whatever YouTube tutorials we can binge the week before the race.

Rather than building something fast, cool, or even remotely competitive, we wanted to celebrate the glory of an ordinary grandpa car and prove that driving slow can still be fun… at least when you get to do it in circles 400 times over a weekend.

Gerald's legacy will continue to live on through Betsy, the team, and whatever questionable themes the car dreams up next.