- iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.020,198
- Dave Kaemmer Comes Clean on Dirt13,072
- iRacing.com to create virtual McLaren MP4-12C GT312,071
- Release Notes for 2012 Season 311,413
- Scanning What’s in Store for iRacing with Tony Gardner10,536
- The iRacing.com Protest System – May, 201210,330
- Building the iRacing System 1019,006
- Improving the Sound of iRacing7,620
- iRacing.com to Build Digital Honda for New Super GT Series7,384
- Two New Cars and Two New Tracks Coming to iRacing Soon6,753
- Towler, Wood Suspended from Upcoming iWCRR Events 67
- Dave Kaemmer Comes Clean on Dirt 44
- iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.0 41
- The iRacing.com Protest System - May, 2012 33
- iRacer Profile: Sandeep Banerjee 29
- iRacing Announces Added Features, Lower Prices 24
- Scanning What’s in Store for iRacing with Tony Gardner 22
- No Obstacles Here 18
- The Williams-Toyota F31 – More (and Less) Than Meets the Eye 17
- The Customer is (Nearly) Always Right 15
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David Phillips
Editor and ChiefDavid 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 WriterChris 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 Writer19 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 WriterJason 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 WriterI 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 WriterI 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 WriterI 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 WriterNathan'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 WriterBorn 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 WriterJordan 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 WriterBorn 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 WriterKenneth 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 WriterI 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 WriterAfter 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.
Cecce Tops Late Model Tour
by Tim Terry on November 21st, 2012
The NASCAR iRacing.com Late Model Tour (NiLMT) has spawned some great champions of this virtual sport and with the drivers and teams of this series visiting a diverse set of tracks in 2012 Season Four, it would be no surprise to see the top drivers from this season move on to the upper echelons of the iRacing simulation. In fact, in the first three weeks of the season, the series would visit three distinct tracks and produce three different winners when the points were handed out at the end of each week.
Week One took place at the Lanier National Speedway bullring and when the final laps were completed, it was a Late Model veteran who stood tall amongst his 815 peers who took a green flag at the Georgia track. Burris took one win in one start on the week in a 2951 sof race on November 3rd. Burris led all 65 laps of the race from the pole, besting Scott Howell, Joel Putty, Patrick Thomas and Cody Dusty. The race was worth 182 points for the short track ace out of the Carolina club.
Season 4 of the Late Model Tour kicked-off at Lanier National Speedway.
While Bart Hector Jr and Matthew Wright2 tied for second with 172 points, the week may have belonged to Dylan Cecce. Cecce took the big win of the week by taking down the 3023 sof race on November 5th. Cecce took the win by over seven seconds from the pole and topped Wright2, James Locke, Caleb Williams and Kristopher Marlow. The 187 points that Cecce got from that race would have been good enough to lock up first for the week, but the New York driver was on a mission as he finished the week with an incredible 24 wins in 25 starts!
Heath Smith was the pole sitter for the week at Lanier, turning in a 13.451 second lap, besting Landon Sciacca and Ty Majeski. Smith also took top honors in Time Trials over Ron Hagolin and Ty Majeski.
Week Two saw the NiLMT drivers take to the South Boston Speedway. The Virginia track is a favorite amongst most short track racers on the service and once again proved to bring out of the best as nearly 800 sim-racers strutted their stuff at “SoBo.” Randy Bechdel topped the charts with his 3013 sof win on November 6th. Bechel led all 65 laps in the race, defeating Wright2, Daniel Williamson, Dylan Roe and Casey Kirwan. The margin of victory for Bechdel was over seven seconds. The win placed Bechdel atop the weekly standings with 186 points while Wright2’s total of 171 points for this race put him tied for third at the end of the week.
Mike Budzien took home second overall for the week, but once again it was Cecce who sent a statement with five wins in six races and a 171 point total at the completion of Week Two. Cecce’s biggest triumph for the week came during a 3000 sof race on November 7th in which he took the victory over Williamson. Williamson started on the pole and led the first eight of the 65 circuits before handing the lead over to Cecce in the only lead change of the race. Budzien was fourth in this race, behind Hector Jr and in front of Richey Etheridge. Williamson came home in fifth for the week with 170 points.
NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship driver Nick Ottinger took the pole for the week at South Boston with a time of 14.879 seconds. Burris and Smith completed the podium of 400 qualifiers. Hagolin picked up where he left off in Week One by taking the top spot in Time Trials at SoBo over Jeffrey Hileman and Kevin J Myers.
Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the third week of the season and Eastern Canadian driver Ken OKeefe was the driver to beat as he topped the week after a win in a 2835 sof event on November 14th. OKeefe led the final 18 laps after Cecce led the first 22 circuits of the event with Cecce finishing side-by-side with OKeefe at the line (margin of victory was 0.091 seconds with OKeefe over Cecce). Chase Raudman, Wright2 and Michael Peters3 completed the top five in the race. OKeefe captured 175 points for the win while Cecce’s only start of the week would reward him with 161 points and second place overall out of 1,106 drivers who races on Week Three.
Hagolin had a big win on the week, capturing a 2885 sof online race on November 14th. Hagolin took the win by leading 34 of the 40 laps from the pole over Edward Burch Jr., Hamish Gallagher, Jammey Walker and Joshua Shum. The win was one of two on the week for Hagolin, who would finish eighth overall on the week with 152 points.
Australia’s Francis Dunnett was the quickest driver in qualifying as he put a 30.893 second lap up on the board, which was better than podium runs by Cecce and Malik Ray. He was also the quickest in the Time Trial competition over Mark Jorgensen and Scott Mann. Hagolin’s sixth place run in the Week Three Time Trials will keep him on top of the standings in Time Trials.
New Smyrna is next on the NiLMT agenda.
When we look at the standings, we see Cecee as one of the drivers to beat this season with drivers like Wright2, Burris and Budzien as early favorites, among others, for the title. Who will win the coveted 2012 Season 4 NASCAR iRacing.com Late Model Tour crown? Find out here as we go through the season on inRacingNews. Next up for the series is the high banks of New Smyrna Speedway!
Until next time, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!