The start of NASCAR season is just three weeks away. There will be more than a few unhappy wives on Valentine’s Day when their husbands spend the whole afternoon glued to the TV watching the Daytona 500.
You don’t have to wait until the 14th, however, to get your NASCAR fix. On February 9th, NASCAR will begin a first of its kind racing experience known as iRacing. iRacing is a new service that will allow regular NASCAR fans to compete in online races against each other AND actual NASCAR pros, including no less than Dale Earnhardt, Jr. himself.
iRacing is relatively easy and inexpensive to join. According to the official site, www.iracing.com, all you need is a reasonably new PC, broadband Internet access, and a steering wheel/gas pedal kit that can be purchased online or in your local electronics store for “less than$100″. I’m guessing that means $99.99, but I don’t know.
Monthly membership in iRacing ranges from $14 a month for a month to month contract, to as low as $7.46 a month for a two year term. Regardless of which package you choose, your membership entitles you to unlimited use of the test track and entry into 18 NASCAR sanctioned races over a thirty-nine week period.
Unimaginatively dubbed the NASCAR iRacing.com, this is an official NASCAR series that will feature the top fifty professional drivers currently on the iRacing Pro Series plus thousands of amateurs wanting to experience the thrill of driving at 200 mph from the safety of their home office.
Imagine the bragging rights if some guy from Okaloosa somehow manages to beat Junior in one of these contests. Of course, computer simulations can go only so far. My nine year old son routinely beats me at Cars Race-O-Rama, and he’s never even sat behind the wheel of a real car. That said, the iRacing simulation is supposed to be pretty amazing. I’d say that finishing ahead of any of the pros in any race under any conditions would be something to write home about.
