The worlds of real-life and virtual racing will merge once again when the North Wilkesboro Speedway is entered into the realistic simulator, iRacing, courtesy, in part, to Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
It all came about when those behind the game showed interest in adding the infamous stock-car racing track to their simulation title. Of course, since the Speedway has been closed since 2011, it needed a bit of a clean-up for its iRacing debut. That’s when Dale Jr. decided to get involved and fund the track’s transformation.
A major clean-up isn’t all that’s in store for the NW Speedway though, as it will also receive a nice, virtual facelift, appearing in the game, as it did in its heyday of 1987. (If you have pictures of the Speedway in 1987, please contact Sr VP of iRacing Product Development, Greg Hill via his Twitter account).
“So, what exactly is iRacing,” you might be asking? It’s a subscription based, on-line game which mimics the real world of racing, allowing players to experience simulations of real-life cars, tracks, and events. This isn’t just a simple, little computer game though as it takes a major amount of PC hardware to make it work and is used as a training tool for those who are (or want to be) drivers in real life. (Read the story of how iRacing helped driver, William Byron get his start).
We’ll look forward to the seeing the final results of how our hometown track looks when it enters this new world of racing. A big thanks to Dale Jr. (& his team) and the iRacing family for making this a reality. We couldn’t think of a better way to forever preserve this piece of racing history.
You can read more about iRacing on the game’s official website.
Keep up with the latest news via the twitter accounts of Dale Jr. & the iRacing team.
Love all things racing? Listen to commentary, interviews, and more via “The Dale Jr. Download” podcast.
Sources: Dale Earnhardt Jr, iRacing, Polygon
