IndyCar Racing in December

by David Phillips on December 23rd, 2009

The December weather at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway may be frightful, but that’s not preventing a delightfully enthusiastic band of iRacers from racing their Dallara Indy cars.   Did we say enthusiastic?  Add illustrious, at least in some cases.

Thanks to the 16th Street Racing League (and iRacing.com), Indy car racing is a year-round sport.

With names like Power, Wilson and Scheckter, Bettenhausen, George and Krisiloff the entry list reads like a Who’s Who of Indy car racing, past, present and yet to come.  Some are active Indy car drivers, others the sons and grandsons of some of the sport’s most legendary and influential figures, still others are rank ‘n file members of iRacing.com with names like Simpson, Doyle and Cress.

Call them what you want, they call themselves the 16th Street Racing League.   Thanks to iRacing.com, they get together every Wednesday evening from as far away as the United Kingdom to race their virtual Dallaras on many of the same tracks that will be visited by the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series.

The league was founded by Brian Simpson in the wake of two developments at iRacing.com for 2009 Season 4: the release of the virtual Dallara and the inauguration of privately-hosted races, aka leagues.  Simpson’s unofficial partner in the league is a high school and college chum by the name of Tony George, Jr. – as in the son of the founder of the IZOD IndyCar Series.

“Tony and I had sim-raced each other for years, first on rFactor and then on iRacing,” says Simpson.  “When iRacing came out with the private leagues, I mentioned starting a league with Tony and he said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

George had been a vocal and influential supporter of iRacing.com from the moment iRacing’s Steve Myers and Divina Galica approached Dallara Automobili, the Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about building millimeter-precise virtual versions of the Dallara and the Brickyard.

I’ve played every single racing video game and service,” George says.  “iRacing is by far the best out there.  The detail, the racing is the best, plus iRacing is doing a great job of building the sim racing community through its presence on the web.  It’s just the perfect way to operate.”

George sees iRacing’s partnership with the IndyCar Series and the Speedway as mutually beneficial.

“iRacing gets quality content with the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” he says, “and they’ll be adding the Firestone Indy Lights Series (FILC) in the future.

“A lot of Indy car fans are really into sim racing, so it’s a good deal to put our product in the hands of those fans who can compare the Dallara to the (NASCAR) Car of Tomorrow and some sports cars and see how much fun our car is to drive.”

Many of members of the 16th Street Racing League already knew — from personal experience — how much fun the Dallara is to drive.  Take Tomas Scheckter, for example.  Another of Simpson’s long-time sim-racing buddies, he was one of the first people invited to join the league.  Another early invitee was George’s friend Justin Wilson and from there the 16th Street Racing League took on a life of its own, as word spread through the racing community in Indianapolis car.

Tony George, Jr. (#1) runs wheel-to-wheel with Justin Wilson (#5) at Chicagoland.

Todd and Cary Bettenhausen (the twin sons of Gary Bettenhausen and grandsons of two-time national champion Tony Bettenhausen), Kyle Krisiloff (son of Steve Krisiloff and an SCCA national champion and former Nationwide Series competitor in his own right) were quick to join, together with Firestone Indy Lights drivers Martin Plowman, Will Davison and Stefan Wilson (Justin’s younger brother).   As well, Simpson and George extended invitations to others in the sim-racing community, including Jeff Bye, Jr., a perennial fixture atop the points standings in a multitude of iRacing series.

“We took a look at the top levels of iRacing and invited some of the top drivers to join,” says Simpson.  “Some accepted, some didn’t, but we’ve wound-up with a pretty good mix.”

The advent of the 16th Street Racing League was particularly timely for Will Power.  The talented Australian with name straight out of central casting was recovering from injuries suffered at an IZOD IndyCar Series race at Infineon Raceway last summer and he was keen to get back “in” a Dallara while continuing his recouperation.

“The timing of the league was perfect,” Power said.  “I’ve spent a bit of time getting the (virtual) Dallara to work like the real one.  Some of the set-ups are . . . interesting, but it’s pretty accurate.

I use the (iRacing) service all the time — the Pontiac Solstice, the Skip Barber car — but not always for racing.  Sometimes I just enjoy belting around the tracks in the Dallara.”

The 16th Street League is not just about real world Indy car drivers having fun while keeping their reflexes sharp in the “off-season.”  A quick look at the season standings so far shows the points leaders are named Simpson, Doyle, and Thrasher.  Indeed, four races into the season, the real world drivers have just one victory to their name (Justin Wilson’s win at, where else, Watkins Glen).  Simpson won at Phoenix International Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway while Tim Doyle took home the honors at Barber Motorsports Park.

“It’s a pretty hard-fought competition,” says Simpson.  “Justin and Will are pretty incredible on the road courses, but everyone’s pretty evenly matched on the ovals.  Sure there are some famous names out there, but for the most part it’s just a bunch of people who enjoy sim-racing no matter regardless of their last name.

“Tomas (Scheckter) is my friend and I know he has a reputation for making some pretty aggressive moves, so I may give him a little extra room.  But racing with Justin and Will is no different than the rest of the members.”

“It’s a pretty hard-fought competition,” says 16th Street Racing League's Brian Simpson.

The 16th Street Racing League has more in common with the IZOD IndyCar Series than just some famous drives and names.  The league awards points on the same basis as the real world series and the schedule mimics the philosophy if not the exact make-up of the IZOD IndyCar calendar, with a fifty-fifty split between ovals   and road courses.

“Tony’s a big fan of the ovals, although he enjoys the road races as well,” Simpson explains.  “I’m more partial to road racing, but I also like the ovals.  We’ve got a good mix, especially since our ovals are not ones you can just drive with your accelerator flat on the floor.”

The one notable absence from this first season of 16th Street Racing League competition is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“By the time we got everybody signed-up for the league we couldn’t fit Indianapolis onto our schedule for the first season,” says Simpson.  “So we just decided to extend the season and make Indianapolis the last race of the first season.”

Students of motorsports history will remember that, in its first years, the IZOD IndyCar Series  featured a similar calendar split in order to make the Indianapolis 500 the climactic event of the season.  It’s just another way in which the “virtual” competition in 16th Street Racing League mirrors its real world counterpart.