PERRIS – San Jacinto driver Lane Hoffarth won the 2025 Trailer Figure 8 season championship at Perris Auto Speedway while finishing second in the overall Night of Destruction points standings.
Hoffarth also drove in the regular Figure 8 races and in the Demo Cross class. He finished the season sixth in the Demo Cross standings and had the seventh-most regular Figure 8 points.
The Night of Destruction season as well as the overall Perris Auto Speedway season was supposed to conclude November 22, although rain earlier in the week made the track unsuitable for the final scheduled night. The Night of Destruction season thus concluded October 25 after eight racenights.
Hoffarth had 516 Trailer Figure 8 points. Orange resident Rob Multhaupt had the second-place total of 408 points.
“I’m pretty surprised I beat those guys in a minivan,” Hoffarth said. “I guess consistency is key.”
After having occasional Night of Destruction races at the track Perris Auto Speedway implemented season points in 2015. The 2025 season was Hoffarth’s first in the Trailer Figure 8 class but his third in Night of Destruction races.
“The fun of it is just meeting all of the people and having a good time,” Hoffarth said.
Being able to crash into someone with no legal consequences is a contrast from the freeway driving Hoffarth often endures. “At least you get to go and take it out on other people,” he said.
Cooperstown, North Dakota, is about 75 miles west of the Minnesota border. The 49-year-old Hoffarth spent his early childhood there after being born in Fargo. The family moved to California in 1987, initially living in Fountain Valley before moving to Wildomar in 1989. Hoffarth attended Elsinore Middle School and Elsinore High School after the family moved to Wildomar. About 20 years ago he moved to San Jacinto.
Professionally Hoffarth owns So Cal Junk Car Removal. “I got a car that was made for Perris, and my son wanted to race it,” he said.
Hoffarth has three sons. Lane Hoffarth Jr. is now 29, Kyle Hoffarth is 26, and Nick Hoffarth is 23. Nick Hoffarth began driving in the Demo Cross class in 2022. “My middle son, he started driving it, too,” Lane Hoffarth Sr. said.
Hoffarth, who had previously ridden dirt motorcycles but had not raced, began Perris Auto Speedway racing the following year. “We used to do just the Demo Cross one,” he said.
When his business resulted in Hoffarth picking up several minivans in Arizona, approximately half a dozen were converted into Night of Destruction vehicles. The group is now called the “Minivan Mafia”.
The minivan Hoffarth uses for Trailer Figure 8 races is a 2000 Toyota Sienna. For regular Figure 8 races he drives a former Street Stock vehicle he calls a custom built car. “None of it’s factory any more,” he said.
In this year’s final Trailer Figure 8 standings Kyle Hoffarth accumulated 372 position points to share third place with Whittier driver Michael Schattilly. Nick Hoffarth placed seventh with 204 points while Lane Hoffarth Jr. had the eighth-place total of 162 points.
“I hope somebody in the family wins, but I’m not slowing down for them,” Lane Hoffarth Sr. said. “We obviously care about each other, but when it’s racing there’s no rules.”
In one race Hoffarth hit one of his sons in the intersection. A more pleasant 2025 memory was the August 9 Trailer Figure 8 race in which Lane Hoffarth Sr. won, Lane Hoffarth Jr. finished second, and Kyle Hoffarth took third.
“It’s pretty cool. That doesn’t happen every day,” Lane Hoffarth Sr. said.
Hoffarth also won the May 3, June 14, and September 20 Trailer Figure 8 races.
Multhaupt won the overall Night of Destruction championship with 1,122 points. Hoffarth was second with 1,065 points. “I didn’t even know I was that close,” Hoffarth said.
Riverside driver Austin Kinnane was third in the overall standings with 789 points.
“It’s pretty wild,” Hoffarth said of driving three different classes in one night. “I’m trying to get four classes next year if I can get a Mini Stock.”
The Mini Stocks were added to the Night of Destruction in 2018. Drivers are also allowed to spin, push, hit, and block competitors in the Mini Stock class which utilizes the road course rather than a Figure 8 course or the oval and a red flag may be thrown for safety purposes but the yellow flag is not used. Any 1970 or newer American or foreign two-door or four-door hardtop car with a four-cylinder engine can be driven in the Mini Stock class provided that it also meets Perris Auto Speedway safety and stock specification standards; sport utility vehicles and high-performance cars are not allowed.
Perris Auto Speedway opened in 1996. “I don’t think anyone else has won a championship with a minivan,” Hoffarth said.
Winning the overall Night of Destruction championship next year would thus have additional significance. “That would be cool to win the championship in the 30th year,” Hoffarth said.
(Perris had one racenight in 2020 before the coronavirus outbreak canceled the rest of the season. The track opted not to have an official championship for the 2020 season.)
Hemet resident Larry Wells was Hoffarth’s crew chief this year and also set up the car. Hoffarth’s sons also assisted with some of the work. Hoffarth is engaged to Sylvia Estrada.
Long-time friends resulted in several of Hoffarth’s sponsors being in Georgia. Auto Extremes, Bobby James Voodoo Lounge, and Robert Robinson are Hoffarth’s Georgia sponsors. In addition to So Cal Junk Car Removal his California sponsors are Maximum Diesels of San Jacinto and Tremrr Wheels of Riverside.
“I’d just like to thank the people who helped me out this year,” Hoffarth said.
