2025 Top Dog Championship: Fast Cars, Fierce Teams, and a Dash of Rain

The 2025 Rally4Vets Top Dog Championship brought the heat (and a little drizzle) to Summit Point’s Shenandoah Circuit, and what a weekend it was!

After two days of pure track magic (October 11 and 12, 2025), Air Force driver Nicolas Gallo soared to victory in his Toyota Supra #24, claiming the Overall Top Dog title with a lightning-fast combined time of 115.425.  Just a blink (or 1.55 seconds) behind came Marine Benjamin Dao, wringing every ounce of speed from his #17 BMW M4 to clock in at 116.976.

But that’s not all.  This year introduced a brand-new Rally4Vets tradition: the “Red Dog” award.  Inspired by cycling’s Lanterne Rouge, the Rally4Vets Red Dog goes to the last-place finisher, because in this community, just making it to the grid is worth celebrating.  Every driver who shows up, straps in, and pushes their limits is a champion in our book.

This year’s Red Dog? Jennifer Denson, driving her #23,  2002 Porsche Boxster for the Army team, with an overall time of 150.158.  Congratulations, “Red Dog” Jennifer!

Both Nicolas and Jennifer will receive signed copies of Jack Carr’s New York Times Bestseller “Red Sky Morning.”  Complete with a 9 mm bullet hole in the flyleaf, fired on the range by Jack himself.

Finally, a shout-out to the collective volunteer team who drove the Rally4Vets car on a non-scoring basis.  The Rally4Vets volunteer team drove our 1997 NA Mazda Miata, sporting Falken 660 Azenis, StopTech Brakes, Hard Dog rollbar, Recaro race seats, Momo steering wheel with tilt hub, Racing Beat sway bars and control arm brace, Feal 441 Road Race coilovers, RoadsterSport 3 cat-back exhaust, and steel brake lines, to an incredible time of 156.207. Solidly in last place.  But they had a great time.

The Weekend Rundown

The Rally4Vets crew rolled into the paddock Friday night and worked until 1 a.m. (yes, you read that right), getting everything ready.  By sunrise Saturday, the Shenandoah Circuit looked like a postcard: blue skies, 70s, and perfect pavement.  Saturday was all about practice, with lots of laps, zero pressure, just good vibes and roaring engines.

Then Sunday came… and so did the rain. A light mist covered the track, but as every veteran knows: “If it ain’t raining, it ain’t trainin’.” The Navy team looked right at home early on (go figure, right?), but once the tires warmed and the skies cleared, the Marine Corps charged ahead to snag their second Top Dog victory.

That brings the lifetime tally to:

Army – 2 wins

Marine Corps – 2 wins

Air Force – 1 win

The Army tied the Air Force for second place on the track.  However, for the second year in a row, Army walked away with the team trivia win.  Someone’s been reading!

Fun Facts

  • Most popular car – Ford Mustang (9)
  • Second most popular car – Subaru (7)
  • Most exotic car – Maserati Mc20
  • Second most exotic – A Toyota Aristo
  • Most drivers – Army (16)
  • Most individual medals – Marine Corps (8)
  • Best performance during the rain – Navy

Sponsors and Key Event Team

A Big Thanks to Our Pit Crew of Sponsors and Supporters

The folks who keep the wheels turning—literally and figuratively:

  • Wegmans – for fueling our hospitality suite and our stomachs.
  • Silver Diner – for keeping our drivers powered up with breakfast.
  • Navy Federal Credit Union – Supporters of our service dog program since Year One.
  • Radial Tire (Silver Spring, MD) – for helping us mount fresh Falken RT660 Azenis on our NA Miata.
  • Behr Air – our aerial pros. Drone videos of every driver will be live (and free!) in two weeks.
  • Jon Felton and the Get Fast LLC crew – for flawless timing and track management.
  • Our volunteer crew and Rally4Vets staff – You make the impossible look easy.

Until Next Time…

What a weekend. What a community. What a cause.

Stay tuned at www.Rally4Vets.com and join our “we will never spam you or beers are on us” email list. You’ll get updates on all our events—including the VETTYS (Veterans Awards) at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC, January 18, 2026.

See you at the next grid!

We Drive. They Survive. 🇺🇸