The founders of Gridlife, Chris Stewart and Adam Jabaay, recently sold their motorsports and music festival series to F=ma, a new company backed by Racer Magazine and the ID Agency. Despite the acquisition, Stewart insists the sale was motivated by finding partners who genuinely understand and share Gridlife’s core values: community, car culture, and live music.
From Parking Lot Meetup to Motorsports Empire
Stewart recalls meeting Jabaay at a concert over a decade ago, bonding over a shared passion for cars. This connection led to the West Michigan Honda Meet, which eventually evolved into Gridlife in 2014. The series began as a way to merge separate car communities at the racetrack, fueled by the founders’ love of both high-performance driving and music festivals (Stewart estimates over 200 Phish shows attended).
The first Gridlife event featured hundreds of drivers in HPDE and Time Attack competitions, plus drifting exhibitions, and live music. Now, Gridlife events run at iconic tracks such as Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, and Watkins Glen, all while maintaining the same core team that launched it.
Why This Matters: Preserving Grassroots Culture in Motorsports
The sale of Gridlife represents a shift in how grassroots motorsports series are valued. Traditionally, such events are either bought out by large corporations seeking profit or fade away due to resource constraints. In this case, the founders specifically sought an acquirer who understood the importance of maintaining the existing community and culture.
F=ma CEO James Schiefer’s long engagement with the founders at the Midwest Fest (staying until 2:00 a.m.) signals this intention. Unlike typical acquisitions focused on squeezing profits, F=ma appears to prioritize sustaining Gridlife’s identity.
Future Plans: Stability Before Expansion
Stewart emphasizes that Gridlife will not undergo radical expansion. The immediate goal is to solidify existing events and bring back HPDE programs, which were scaled back due to logistical pressures. Long-term expansion will focus on reaching underserved communities, potentially including tracks such as Circuit of the Americas in Texas.
“Our question at the end of the day is always, ‘What does the community need?’”
The founders’ priority is maintaining the series’ organic growth and ensuring accessibility for fans, rather than chasing rapid expansion at the expense of its core principles.
Ultimately, the sale of Gridlife appears to be a strategic move designed to secure the series’ future while preserving its unique identity. The new ownership promises not to exploit the format for maximum profits, but instead to nurture the community-driven ethos that made Gridlife successful in the first place.
