4B Sunday, March 29, 2020 NASCAR The Daily Nonpareil Virtual smiles Small operation drivers Hill and Smithley shine in iRacing event By Holly Cain have to worry aboutputting scuffedtires on NascarWireService like Ido, or worry being down 250horse- power, or my carbeing 5years old. TimmyHill and GarrettSmithleydid “EverythingIwasdriving wasthe same not hoist anyvirtualtrophies at thevirtual thing DennyHamlin wonwith or Dale Earn- Homestead-Miami Speedway,but they cer- hardt Jr.finishedsecond with.” tainlyfinished Sunday’sinaugural eNAS- Both Hill andSmithleysay theyare eager- CARiRacing ProInvitational with smiles ly preparing forthe second iRacing event and asense of accomplishment. —Sundayonthe simulatedTexas Motor Normally, the twodrivers competefor Speedway, wherethe NASCAR national smaller teams in the NASCAR CupSeries, series would have been racing under normal just happytomakeraces or contend fora circumstances. top-20 showing. ButinSunday’svirtual Instead, thesport hasdeclared a“hold” race,Smithley andHillwerethe driversset- on the season, deferring to thesafetypriori- ting the pace in avirtual competition that ties of its competitorsand fans as the nation allowedthem to challengethe sport’sbig- and worldcontinue to deal with the COVID- gest names. 19 epidemic. Smithley, 27,who drivesthe No.51Rick Judging by the reaction on social media, Ware RacingChevrolet in NASCAR Cup theeNASCAR iRacing event on Sunday Seriescompetition(andiscurrently ranked went along waytowardre-engaging with 36th in the standings), wonthe pole position fans. And it provided asporting outlet for on Sundayand ranupfront formost of the both the competitorsand an audiencethat race,ultimately finishingfifth. included both rabid fans and manynew eyes Hill, 27,who drivesthe No.66Motors- Photosbythe AssociatedPress whowerechecking outthe competition in ports BusinessManagement Toyota (andis TimmyHill ranks 37th in the currentNASCARCup standings but is considered one of the essentiallythe onlytruegameintownfea- ranked 37thinthe standings), finished third. best iRacing competitorsinthe country. turing asport’s topcompetitors. Both came to the race withextensive Hamlin said he wascertainly impressed iRacing experienceand were considered the “Meand Timmy’sset-upsare very simi- same playing field and it doesn’t matterif with the work of Hilland Smithleyand con- “favorites” —adesignation newfor them in lar,wehavejust the regular wheel, it’sabout youhaveafull motion,[an expensive] sim sidersthemprime competition again this anycompetition thatalso includes NASCAR a$250wheel andpedaland shifterset, and rig or if youhaveacouple hundred dollarson week. starsKyleBusch, Joey Logano and seven- Ijust mount it rightonmycomputerdesk,” asimplersim rig. Yo ucan stillgoout there “I think thatguyswith experienceare time championJimmie Johnson. Smithleysaid. “A nd Ihaveone monitor and andcompete withthe best of thebest.” going to shine, especially early on in this While winner DennyHamlin and runner- that’s what I’vegot.” Hill wassimilarly upbeatand encouraged type of racing,”Hamlinsaid. “I mean, you up Dale EarnhardtJr. battled to thefront in Skill and experienceappearstosuper- with the outing. couldn’t believe howlong, howmanyhours the closing laps, steering iRacing set-ups sede equipment in this format —that’sa “Obviouslyinthe real world, there’sdif- Ispent trying to find four hundredths of a thatcost 10softhousands of dollars, both good feeling forthose withoutthe fancy ferent setbacks thatwefaceonasmaller second forqualifying forthe last week and so Smithleyand Hill kept the sport’sbiggest setups. team level, setbacks thatwefacethatan Ithink thatpeople thathaveexperienceand names honest formost of the100-lap race “It’sdefinitely gratifying,”Smithleysaid. averagefan maynot even knowabout or they knowall the tricks and know all the things while driving virtual carsfromasteering “That’swhat’ssogreat aboutsim racing is maysecond-guesswhatwe’re up against,” youdotoget speedout of thecar,they’re wheel attached to adeskathome. thatit’sanequalizer.Everybody’sonthe Hill said. “This race wasneatbecause Ididn’t going to shine right nowfor sure.” “That’s what’ssogreataboutsim racing is thatit’sanequalizer. Everybody’s on the sameplaying field and it doesn’tmatterifyou have afullmotion, [anexpensive] simrig or if youhaveacouple hundred dollars on asimpler simrig.You can still go out there andcompete withthe best of the best. ” – Garrett Smithley, wonthe pole positiononSundayand ranupfront formostofthe race. Ranked 36th in the Cupstandings, Smithley finishedfifth in the iRacing event. NASCAR’s virtual show is ourcurrentreality Waybackwhen, back in the depending on the patent, and last would cheatand wreck the other early days of color television, week it wasintroduced to the WackyRacersevery Saturday well, at least our television, my worldonFOX Sports. Thevir- morning. favoriteSaturdaymorning car- tual race involvedasmattering of Imean, whywouldn’t some- toon showwas aboutracing. actual NASCAR racers whowere onelikeTonyStewart showup It wasn’t real. In home sitting in “cockpits”infront one week and reduceanevent to fact, it wasn’t even of big screens playing aversion of acartoon show? If it boosted rat- plausible. ButINASCAR 2000. ings, NASCAR would probably loveditanyway. And 900,000 peoplewatched allowit. TheWacky it. Lastweek’s race winner Denny Races. So of course,never an orga- Hamlin donatedmoney to coro- Yo ucan still find nization to turndownattention, navirus victims afterthe event, HARD’N it on Yo uTube,and NASCAR has decidedtoturn it which made it aworthwhile after- FAST all these yearslater intoaseries of sorts. Last week noon. Thesport should probably Ed Hardin it’sstill, youknow, theywereatHomestead. This figure outaway to useproceeds stupid. Butatthe week they’reatTexas. from the showtoaid crew mem- time,itwas cutting-edgeartistic Nowwhile some arereferring bersand thousands in the indus- technology. to this as a“sport,”it’snot. It’s a try whoare outofworkright now. Therewere11vehicles of vary- game,and it’scloser to Donkey They could even raisemoney ing degrees of the word “vehicle,” Kong than actual stock car racing. AssociatedPress |2009 by allowing peopletoplacebets andtherewere11distinctteams Butit’swhereweare. Former NASCAR CupteammatesMartin TruexJr. (left)and Dale on the outcome. Believe it or not, ranging from PeterPerfect,who Thetruth is, these drivers have Earnhardt Jr.often trained forraces in their early days by competing on theydid thatin1968 withthe drove asleek dragster,tothe Slag been doing this foryearswith no simulation tracks. WackyRaces until someone made Brothers, whodrove aboulder. one paying attention. Some have them stop. Don’t ask. been doing it to familiarizethem- hardt’shouseand study track These aregrown men play- It helped turn anation of It wasgreat entertainmentfor selveswith an upcoming track. maneuvers.You could hear them ingvideo games. Iwatched it 9-year-olds into gambling race 9-year-olds. Thevisuals arethatgood. on Saturdays discussing overthe forabout 20 minuteslast week. I fans. Which brings us to thelatest When theywereboth young radiomovestheywereabout to won’twatch it again. Areyou listening NASCAR? weekend cartoon showbrought Busch Series drivers,Dale Earn- makebased on “the other night.” Well, maybe Iwouldifsay,one Bring back Penelope Pitstop to youbyNASCAR.Theycall hardt Jr.and Martin TruexJr. It wasfascinating then. of thedrivers turned outtobea andthe Saturdaymorning gang. it e-racing, or maybe i-racing, would actuallyhang outatEarn- Nowit’sjust odd. badguy likeDick Dastardly, who That,Iwouldwatch. NASCAR orderspay cuts foremployees of theracingseries NASCAR informed its staffTuesday expenses and capital improvements have the long-term businessneeds of our ANASCAR thatpay cuts will be imposedacrossthe also been frozen, and employees were sport,” he added. official holds the companyuntilthe seriesreturns to rac- told to use one week of vacationoverthe NASCAR is currentlysuspended until cars on pit road ing. next five weeks. May9,aspancosting theseries sevenofits before thestart NASCAR President StevePhelps “With thetemporarypostponement of eliteCup Series races. Phelps has vowed of aNASCAR announced the movesinamemo to our season and the impact of the corona- all postponed raceswill be rescheduled. CupSeries employees, acopyofwhich wasobtained virusishaving on every part of our busi- In the memo,hesaidthe hope is that the race.NASCAR by TheAssociatedPress from aperson ness, we will have to adjust our operations cuts aretemporary,but the situation will informed itsstaff whorequested anonymitybecause of the in severalsignificant ways,” Phelps wrote. be revisited. Tuesday that sensitivityofthe situation. “Weare tryingtominimizeexpenses until NASCAR wasfour racesintothe sea- paycutswill be Thememosaidseries executives, we can getbacktodoing what we do best son—the longest in sports at almost 11 imposedacross including the presidents of NASCAR- —holding greatraceevents forour fans.” months —whenthe coronavirus brought the company owned tracks, will see a25% reduction “These decisions aredifficult butnec- the series to ahalt. until the series in salary,while all other employees will essary forthe health of ourcompanyas returns to racing. have their salary reduced by 20%. Budget we work through this crisis and address —AssociatedPress.