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  • David Phillips
    Editor and Chief
    David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
  • Chris Hall
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
  • Jameson Spies
    Contributing Writer
    19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
  • Jason Lofing
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
  • David Ifeguni
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1988 and moved to Midland, Michigan when I was two years old. I stayed there until third grade when I moved to Farmington Hills, Michigan and now I currently live in Naperville, IL where I'm attending Metea Valley High School as a 9th grader. In the past, I have participated in soccer and this year I plan on joining swimming or water polo. My family includes my 15 year old sister, a 7 year old sister and my mom and dad. I have been writing since 6th grade and have participated in many writing contests in my school and have received several awards for writing.
    My fascination for motorsports began when I was nine. The first NASCAR race I watched on TV was the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, won by Kasey Kahne. My favorite NASCAR drivers are Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson. I have watched all the races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series since 2010. I currently have three wins on iRacing, two of them in the Nationwide car at Daytona and one in the Street stocks at Charlotte. My favorite car and type of track on iRacing is the Nationwide Series (B Class) car and superspeedways.
  • Katier Scott
    Contributing Writer
    I am a veteran sim racer who first started racing way back in 1993 on the SPRTSIMS section of Compuserve with a league who can trace themselves all the way to the present. Within that league I act as Chief Steward and try to bring the unique viewpoint that this experience gives me into my articles.
    I have a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Editorial design and have been writing for seven years and currently cover the Lotus 79 CTC and Radical series alongside my freelance work. Living in the UK, as well as motorsports I love Photography, Arts and Crafts and reading.
  • Dylan Sharman
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Adelaide and we moved-out for Angle Vale for a few years until I was about 7 years old, when we moved to the Barossa Valley where I live now. I'm 19 years old and currently traveling back and forth weekly as I'm studying for a Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology.

    I've always had a love for racing as my close family did some racing and we were always out at the local dirt track. I joined iRacing back in 2010 and slowly but surely got the hang of it as this is my first experience with sim racing and am loving it each time I race. I've won two SK Modified titles (almost had three in a row but finished P2 in 2011 S4), an inRacingNews Challenge championship (2012 S1 Mazda) and was also an AustralAsian Intel GT Series Finalist.
  • Nathan Aljoe
    Contributing Writer
    Nathan's passion for motorsport first began in the late 1980s, captivated by the season in which Aryton Senna won his first F1 title with McLaren. Over the years his interest widened to include the British Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship, NASCAR and various other forms of motorsport. Nathan began sim-racing in the mid 1990s using games developed by Papyrus. He later moved onto SimBim simulations such as GTR, GTR2 and GTR Evolution and has most recently joined the iRacing community.

    When he's not working or sim racing, Nathan enjoys spending time and relaxing with his family. Other hobbies include going to festivals, tinkering with his car and doing up his house.
  • Austin Hartenfels
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I have always had a serious passion for cars and motorsports. Hoping one day to become an automotive journalist for a magazine, I constantly crave the exciting competition that comes along with racing and sim-racing. Having participated in a mere test session in a Legends car at Old Dominion Speedway, I have not been able to get into any real-life competition . . . yet.

    As a sim racer, my interests date back to "GTR Evolution." My goal is to have fun and win some races. I made it to Oval Pro in 2010, but did not become very successful. I enjoy any mixed road racing competition and love racing the Silverados around almost any track.
  • Jordan Hightower
    Contributing Writer
    Jordan began sim-racing in 2005 with the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season sim and then joined the iRacing community in June of 2008. He hails from Fort Smith, Arkansas where he is currently enrolled at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, after which he plans to attend the University of Arkansas to earn his MBA. Although he enjoys watching and playing basketball, most of Jordan's focus is on motorsports, particularly NASCAR: "Anything that burns gas and goes fast, I like."
  • Scott Kelly
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, Scott Kelly has had a love for motorsports ever since his father did the right thing by introducing auto racing into his life. No longer able to quench his need for speed by spectating NASCAR races on TV and watching dirt track stars slide around local tracks, Kelly eventually picked-up sim racing in his teens, wheeling cars found in Ratbag Games' "Dirt Track Racing" and "World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars" while also becoming introduced into multiple Papyrus sim-racing series. Joining the iRacing ranks in late 2011, Kelly set his sights on the short track racing he was familiar with, focusing on the sprint car, while also driving the Legends and street stock in multiple iRacing.com leagues.

    Kelly brings not just his enthusiasm for racing to the highest-rated motorsports simulation, but also his B.A. degree in English; he covers the action seen in the iRacing.com Sprint Car Series, while also placing the spotlight on various leagues within the service. Enjoying his start to a career in motorsports journalism, Kelly also doesn't mind visiting victory lane from time-to-time.
  • Kenneth O'Keefe
    Contributing Writer
    Kenneth was born in Smithville, Ontario on December 23, 1994. A major racing fan, he enjoys competitive kart racing in the Rotax Max category at Mosport International Karting. Kenneth also tunes into Formula One and NASCAR races on those Sundays when he is not at the kart track.

    O'Keefe has been sim-racing since 2005, starting on the Live For Speed simulator. After moving to iRacing in 2008, he was able to qualify for the NASCAR iRacing Pro Series (NiPS) in both 2011 and 2012. He will continue to compete and write about the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series throughout the coming year before taking another run at the NiPS in late 2013.
  • Chris Owens
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Florence, South Carolina in 1989 and have lived here my entire life. I've been around racing since I was a young kid watching with my dad on Sundays. In 2009 and found my local track, Florence Motor Speedway and started working for them as a PR guy the same year. At the end of that season, I started writing for RACE22.com, a Late Model Stock Car news site. In 2010, I picked up my first DSLR camera and started shooting races. To this day, I've experienced some of the best races from behind the camera.

    I've been with the iRacing service since its public beta in 2008, back when the top oval car was the Late Model. I've been in over 500 races on the service with 70+ wins on both oval and road. My favorite car on the service is the Chevrolet Silverado. Darlington Raceway and Concord Speedway are my favorite tracks simply because everybody hates them.
  • George Wood
    Contributing Writer
    After beginning his racing career with go-karts at age seven, George then turned wrenches on street stocks until he could finally turn the wheel. Following the successes of his friends and family, George has since retired from real-world racing, where he is now a science and mathematics faculty member for several local community colleges. When George isn't grading laboratory reports or iRacing, he is performing at bluegrass festivals in the Northeast, making fishing lures, playing golf, and rooting for his beloved Baltimore Orioles.

iRacer Profile: Jan Wedin

by David Phillips on October 13th, 2012

Mahatma Gandhi is not a name normally associated with sim racing . . . to put it mildly.  But when you consider that one of the aspects of iRacing that Jan Wedin most appreciates is its emphasis on precision and control– and that the person he most admires is virtually synonymous with self-control — well then Gandhi certainly does fit with the Helsinki-based Wedin’s approach to online racing.  So to does his appreciation for the fact that iRacing is the “greenest” form of racing you can do.

It’s an approach that works, at least in terms of results.  With 35 victories in 327 starts, Wedin’s overall winning rate tops 10% and he ranks third behind Evgeniy Donstov and Davis Richard in the iRacing GT Challenge’s Corvette class, with seven wins and 17 top five finishes in 19 starts.  Last season saw Wedin place 10th overall in the class and third in Division 2, this after steering his C6.R to the iRacing.com GT Championship (Fixed setup) Division 2 title in Season One.

Q:     How long have you been sim-racing?
A:    Since 2009. Got hold of a SimBin game, bought a (LogiTech) G25 and started to drive offline by myself. When I heard about iRacing, I decided to test it. I did my first official session October 25th 2009.

Q:     What attracted you to iRacing?
A:    The level of realism and the closed ecosystem with a solid framework of rules and regulations.

Q:     What are favorite iRacing cars/tracks?
A:    The two cars I have raced seriously in iRacing are the Star Mazda and the Corvette. But there are many other nice cars that I could think of racing. Not least is the Mazda MX5 that I raced in real life 20 years ago.

Q:     What do you like most about iRacing?
A:    I get a tremendous amount of racing pleasure, not too far from the real thing for the cost of a set of (cheap) racing tyres. It´s also the greenest form of racing you can do, especially if you can run on electricity from renewable sources.
I also like that it’s an extremely stable closed ecosystem with strict control. Racing is about precision and control, and so is iRacing. It’s a perfect match.

Q:     What would you change about iRacing?
A:    I am impressed and happy with the rate iRacing develops.There are many different needs and wants among the members, but I think iRacing does an excellent job finding a good compromise.

Q:     How many hours a week do you spend on iRacing?
A:    I try to do two races a week and I practice four-eight hours per week if I’m at home.

Q:     Tell us about the paint schemes on your helmet/car(s).
A:    On the Corvette that I drive right now I have used the standard paint box and created a paint scheme that fits with the nVidia logo I carry on the car.

Q:     What other sim racing activities (Forza, Gran Turismo, etc.) do you do?
A:    None.

“Racing is about precision and control, and so is iRacing. It’s a perfect match.”

Q:     What are your favorite video games?
A:    iRacing takes up all my spare time, so there is no time for video games.

Q:     Do you do any real world racing? Has iRacing been of any benefit?
A:    I have done some racing back in time. Last time I raced was in a Roadsport series with a Mazda MX5 in 1991. I also did some karting in the 80´s (100 cc karts).
To an amateur real world racer or to a young driver wanting to get into racing, I think iRacing has a lot of benefits to give. You get an enormous amount of track time and race craft in iRacing. The setup work also gives a better understanding of how a race car works and reacts. Perhaps I have to try to find the time and budget to get back to racing and try it out for myself…

Q:     What is your most memorable iRacing moment?
A:    Winning a race the first time was fun, even if it was in a low split.

Q:     What is the iRacing moment you’d love to forget?
A:    I hate taking out a slower class car in multi-class racing. Especially since that driver very well can be a much better driver than me and gets into trouble because I make an error in a faster class car. It hasn’t happened many times, but those times I would like to forget.

Q:     What car/track would you like to see iRacing add to the service?
A:    Now when we get the Lotus 49 soon, I would like iRacing to do some racing archeology and reconstruct a classic track even if it wouldn’t be a laser-scanned track. My favorite would be a 60´s version of Spa. Perhaps iRacing could do some sort of community project out of it, with members trying to get as much reliable information and data as possible? I’m sure many of us would be happy to contribute in any way we could.

Q:     What person, living or dead do you most admire?
A:    Mahatma Gandhi.

Wedin may use a stock livery for his Corvette, but there’s nothing standard about the way he’s wheeled is C6.R to the top of the iRacing.com GT Challenge standings.

Q:     What’s your favorite real world racing series?
A:    I have no favorite, but I enjoy all racing with four wheels. Thanks to iRacing I have started to follow ALMS, GRAND-AM and V8 Supercars on TV when I get a chance.

Q:     Name the title of the most recent book you read.
A:    The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.

Q:     Name of your favorite movie/TV show?
A:    There are many, but as we are on the subject of racing I would like to say Le Mans with Steve McQueen.

Q:     How many of your close friends are iRacing members?
A:    I have not been able to recruit any of my friends to iRacing. Being middle aged, I think some of my friends find racing in front of a screen a bit odd :-) .   But I have made some new friends in iRacing on the other hand.

Q:     Has competing with iRacers all around the world influenced your opinions/outlook on life/world events? How?
A:    In my work I have had the pleasure to work with people from around the world for many years. My experience in iRacing is the same as in my work life: Sometimes you meet some really nice persons and they are evenly scattered around the world. No more, no less in any nationality.

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