So… You Think You Can Race?

January 13, Chico, CA--- You are getting ready to take the green flag, there are 2 laps left and you are running 2^nd, your car is on old tires, and the guy behind you is hungry for that win.  As the green flag drops, you race for the turn, the driver behind you hits your rear bumper and you spin, hitting the wall, HARD! Your car is done… So you turn off your computer and wait for the next race.  That’s right--- you're SIM RACING! 

Sim Racing is growing ever so much with more and more people having better access to the internet, and with games getting better and better. If you are like me, there is no where else you would like to be but in a race car at your local track, but things stand in your way; money, time, money, the know how, money, a wife that wont let you, oh and MONEY!!! Racing for real is not cheap; ask any racer out there, but there is a way. 

With the games out there, you can race anything from local Late Models on the shorts tracks of America, to Sports Cars at tracks all around the world, and even Nextel Cup cars at Talladega.

As Sim racing becomes more and more popular, leagues are all around the internet looking for racers. Some are for fun, and others take it very seriously, so much so that they give out prize money and drivers and teams have sponsors like Coke, and Dupont. Me I do it for fun, for that dream that is just out of reach, but I can do the next best thing, Sim Racing. 

Now there are many games out there, some of the older ones are NASCAR Legends, and NASCAR  Racing 2 and 3, all are very good games to race in and even being older games, if you look hard enough you can find Leagues that still run these game, and have downloads and add-ons, for the games. Leagues like Thunder Racing (thunderracingseries.homestead.com/HOME.html) where they race during the normal season, with different team drivers helping each other find that perfect setup for the race each and every week. Another is M & M (www.mmracing.net)   with tight clean racing every week; they even race during the winter, something that you won’t find at your local track. Now when it comes to the more popular games, you can go with NASCAR Sim Racing and the NASCAR Thunder 2004 series, all games have tracks that you can add-on to the games, and updates of new cars, that change year to year, making these games never ending! All Stars of Racing League (www.allstarracingleague.com) is a great place for those games and has very helpful people for the old or new Sim Racer, with programs like “Team Speak” you are able to talk to your fellow racers as you race, this is very useful for letting others know where on the track you are and for sharing setups and ways to get around the track. 

A game that has lived on, even being over 3 years old is NASCAR Racing Season 2003, now this game is used by real NASCAR drivers, remember Danny Hamlin winning at Pocono last year? Well that was not his first time at that track,  he really had never stepped foot there, but he turned many laps there, using NASCAR Racing 2003. This game is packed with many “mods” as they are called. “Mods” let you add different cars, tracks and series like, Nextel Cup, Busch Series, NASCAR Trucks, Late Models, Indy Cars, Sport Cars, and a few more. With tons of tracks to download from the many track makers on the web, this game is big bucks to buy online. With copies of it being $150 to $300 on places like E-Bay, this game will be around for years to come, as the leagues that run this game are far and wide. Sites like Real Racing Online (www.realracingonline.com) have divisions that pay drivers to race and have races shown on web TV for others to watch, but if you want to have fun racing with a clean and competitive league, check out PCRACERS.net (www.pcracers.net) with races all through the week, these guys run Trucks, Cup, Late Models, and they have Dash for Cash races, where the winner gets real money for a win. The chance to sponsor a race is also there, to let others know about your business or product.  

Now I sat down with the one of the administrators of PC RACER.NET, Stefan Weihermueller.   

Don: So tell me how long has PC RACERs.net  been racing? 

Stefan: PCRACERS opened its doors on May 1st 2006, so we are only 8 months old. I'm the owner of PCRACERS.NET and Glen "Fireball" Burdett is co-founder of PCRACERS. We both came from a big league where I was doing admin work for the truck series. 

Don: So why did you choose to start this league, what are you trying to bring to the Sim drivers out there? 

Stefan: When we started PCRACERS we wanted to try something different.  Fireball and I come from totally different backgrounds.  Fireball is from the US and has a huge NASCAR knowledge. He knows pretty much everything about the point system and so on. I'm from Germany and I did my first online league race 2 years ago and I had no clue about NASCAR. 6 months later I was an admin running the truck series.  I also do all the managing for the league, talk to sponsors,  promote, and co-host the countdown to green show that we have before each race. 

Don: …so you put your heads together and came up with some new ideas? 

Stefan:  We thought we can make a difference in online racing. We came up with a very realistic Sim money system we use. We did research the craftsman truck series for 2 month to get all the costs right.

(Money Rules www.fireballsfantasynascar.com/moneyrules.htm). We also added real cash prizes to the series. But we make the drivers earn the money. Every race we set a caution goal, if we meet the goal the race winner will get $20 in cash and what we call the Mr. Clean award, where the driver gets $10 (highest finisher without damage or fines) so far we paid out almost $150 in 2006. 

Don: Sounds like fun, making some money playing a game, but this is really more then a game to a lot of these guys, right? 

Stefan: Yes, we added Sponsorship to the series, where normal drivers or members of the league can buy sponsorship ($15.00) and pick race name and logo for the race. Once we got all this stuff running we saw more and more people coming into the league. So we added RFACTOR (www.rfactor.net) and GTR 2 (www.10tacle.com/gtr-game) racing to the schedule. Just to offer road racing fans a place to race as well. 

Don: I know Rfactor is a great game, I have yet to get it myself but I hear cool things. So what are some things to expect in the future? 

Stefan: Right now we are adding more and more to the league. We just started a super speedway series and got 20 drivers in the 1st and 2nd race. A late model series is in the planning stage and will go online in Feb 2007. Both short track and super speedway fans will have a place to race here at PC RACERS. We also run special events where you can win up to $60.00 on cash if you win the race, we also run an all stars race where we pass out prizes. In 2006 we gave away I think 8-9 prizes through out the event. Our series champions walk away with big trophies. Truck series champion Justin Roberts got a 24 inch trophy last year! I just got an order of T-shirts in, that we will be selling...we will make profit off those shirts and also we get donations to pay our servers.  From the income that the league makes we buy trophies and gift cards for race winners.  Every dollar that comes in will get back to the drivers in some way. 

Don:  Well I am myself planning on racing in the short tracks series so all I have to do is get the games and get on the track, this sounds like a great way to have fun, thanks for your time Stefan. 

Stefan: No problem, overall we want all members to feel like they are a big part of the league. 

For any info on this online league visit PCRACERS.NET  or for info on any other leagues read about here, check out their sites or email Don Runkle at RUNKSIX3@gmail.com.

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 Runkle has worked for Causey Motorsports in Hampton, Va. for 4 years, was a part-time Crew Chief for Rette Causey,  driver of #33 INEX/Legends car in 2005 at Langley Speedway in Virginia, as well as being a crew member for Brad Causey in Grand Stock division at Langley Speedway.  He's currently the webmaster of CauseyRacing.com.

Runkle has been racing "online" for about 5 years, served in the US Navy as a Gunners Mate in the Navy Seabees and is currently living in Chico, Ca. in the beautiful North Valley of California, with his wife Kristina. God Bless all of the troops serving around the world!

For any question, comments, complaints, or just to say “Hi” please feel free to email him at Runksix3@gmail.com. Don welcomes anything you have to say and he will get back to you. If you have something you would like for Don to cover, let him know.  And as always, thanks for reading his column.

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