Motor Sports Weekly News

Story and photo by: Drew Hierwarter

As of this writing it’s been nearly a month since the last time NASCAR race engines were heard in anger at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It’s been almost two weeks longer than that since the NHRA World Finals in Pomona. Most other major race series in the country ended their seasons even earlier. And with the exception of a few regional short track races, almost all race tracks across the country have been dark and silent for several weeks at least.  

 

So how are you coping? Do your Saturday nights feel empty and boring? Are Sundays now just like any other day of the week? Do you find yourself making race engine noises when you think nobody else can hear? Are you watching rain drops run down your window just to see which one “wins”?

 

Well it’s okay, I’m here to help. There are plenty of ways you can stave off the winter racing doldrums and keep yourself occupied until spring. No, it won’t be the same as being there in person. But it’s better than sitting around doing nothing waiting for the 2010 season to start.

 

First thing to check is the news. There was a three day ARCA test at Daytona this past weekend and reading about the times and speeds and seeing who ran well and who didn’t can be interesting. It’s all out there on the internet.

 

And speaking of the internet, check out You Tube. There are literally thousands of race videos there. Just enter the name of your favorite race track, race series, or driver in the search block and you’ll get hours of material to watch. Some of it is pretty amateur and low quality, but just as much of it is very good.

 

Another place to check is race team and driver websites. Every driver and team in any form of racing has a website these days. There’s lots of content on there to keep you busy from bios, to photos, and of course, the obligatory souvenir store.

 

And finally, there are race simulators. The most popular one is probably iRacing.com. You’ll need to pay for a membership and have some rather specific equipment for your computer (steering wheel and pedals) but the “racing” is about as realistic as it can be and still be sitting in front of your computer at home. iRacing is endorsed and used by drivers like Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Bobby Labonte, and many more. You can practice by yourself or run actual races on-line on dozens of race tracks, against others from all over the world.

 

So stop sitting around moping about the lack of “real” racing and look into some of the things I’ve suggested here. Before you know it, the snow will have melted and the locks will be removed from the gates at race tracks all over the place, and we’ll hear the sound of race engines once again echoing off the bleachers.

 

There are only 40 days left until the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona

 

There are only 52 days left until the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona

 

And only 55 days until the NASCAR Daytona 500.

 

You can make it!