First A class race!

This week started the iRacing 2021 seasons.  It also marked when I am allowed to enter A class races.  To start of the 2021 iRacing season 1, I jumped into a class A Cup series fixed race tonight at Atlanta.  I drew car #21 out of 28, so I was a little concerned about how I would run.

I qualified 11th and moved to 8th after a very early caution.  That turned out to be the only caution in the race.  

Ran between 10th and 13th most of the race.  Ended up 11th after somebody in front of me got wrecked on the last lap.  Definitely not my best run, but no incident points and survived.

SR:  3.31
iRating: 1475

After 126 races....I can finally call myself a iRacing oval winner!

 Finally.

 

8+ months..

 126 starts.

 I  finally did it.

 I finally won an iRacing oval race.

It wasn't pretty, and I most likely made some enemies.

Ran a Truck race at Nashville Fairgrounds speedway.  Qualified 10th and was able to avoid most of the carnage and was running top 5 when a caution came out with 6 to go.

Everyone in front of me pitted.  I stayed out.

On the ensuing restart, I was trying to defend my lead and door slammed the truck to my inside (definitely wasn't trying to) which set off a huge wreck.  It basically destroyed half the field and spurred a huge fight in the chat over how stupid the next guy was for being involved.

I stayed out as the leader again.  

On the next restart (one attempt at G/W/C) I made it to the backstretch as the leader when the yellow came out.

 So I won.

My SR took a beating as I ended with a 10x for it.

But I finally have a one under the win column.

SR dropped 0.18 to 3.06, but still have my A license.

iRating climbed to 1421.

 Now that I have my 1st, wins get easier now, right?

Oval: A

 So yeah, I've been laxing on my iRacing journey updates.  Just been busy with life and have been racing at night and going straight to bed after I'm done.  So my updates haven't been coming.

But today is a special day.

I've been running a lot of Indycar Class C oval events, a few truck and Xfinity, and even a few ARCA races, and was slowly progressing up the SR ladder.  I'd get as high as 3.6, then have a bad race or two and end up dropping back down to as low as 3.2.  I was getting frustrated because most of the time I was being taken out by somebody either not paying attention, or just being stupid.  I get it, it happens, but especially on restarts I'd get my ass kicked.

But finally over the last few days I decided to go for the A class license.

And it finally happened.

I've run several ARCA races over the last 2 days, mostly because there are no cautions so I can avoid most of the other cars.  I just wouldn't qualify and hang back behind the pack.  A couple of near misses and an occasional getting lapped didn't bother me.

This morning it finally happened.

I ran a clean ARCA race at Iowa, and jumped 0.56 in SR.  I ran in the back and finished 12th out of 14, but it was good enough to promote to A class.

So now I can run with the big dogs.  Well, maybe.

So after 9 months of being on iRacing, I've progressed up the ladder  from Rookie to A class.  Let's hope I can stay there for a while.

Oval:  Class A, SR 3.5, iRating 1330
Road: Class C, SR 2.52, iRating 1175
Dirt Oval:  Class B, SR 3.40, iRating 1156
Dirt Road:  Rookie, SR 2.74

Excited for the next chapter!

Been a little lax on iRacing updates

 Been doing some iRacing just haven't been updating the blog.

Ran a Class C Indycar race at Kansas last night.  Finished 4th.  It was a wreck fest but somehow I stayed out of trouble and was mid top 10 most of the race.  A couple of cars ran out of fuel in the closing laps so I gained a few spots.  Indycars were a lot of fun and I may be doing more of that in the future.

Decided to run a Class B Xfinity at Martinsville tonight.  Ended up racing with NASCAR Driver CJ McLaughlin.  Very nice guy.  He definitely is better than me.  Haha.  Started 6th and was running top 10 most of the race.  Messed up a few corners after a late race restart and dropped back to 12th.  Not complaining however, for my first race at Martinsville in iRacing.  Did end up with a 8x however, which sucks, but could've been a lot worse.

SR:  3.42
iRating: 1356

A little iRacing truck action

 Ran a Class C GoTS series race tonight at Kansas.  Last one before the change tomorrow night.

Started in the back and worked my way up to 9th before the first caution.  Came in and got tires figuring it was a good time to do so.  

Was running 6th on the white flag and the two in front of me decided to start banging fenders.  Not trying to get in their mess, I had to back out of the gas and ended up getting passed by 3 trucks before the S/F line.  Finished 9th but had a clean run and a lot of fun.

SR:  3.43 (+0.61!)
iRating: 1539 (+21)

iRacing ARCA at Kentucky

 Ran an ARCA race at Kentucky tonight.  Didn't qualify well and started 14th out of 18.  

Took it easy from the start since I heard Kentucky eats tires.  Worked my way up and finished 7th.  Good, clean run.

SR:  2.87
iRating: 1555

iRacing NASCAR Legends Redemption!

Another NASCAR Legends race on iRacing at Daytona.

This time I survived!

Avoided all the wrecks and came home 7th.  Good for SR and iRating.

SR:  2.71 (+0.13)
iRating: 1529 (+51)

Once again....NASCAR Legends series

 Ran a truck and NASCAR Legends race tonight.  Trucks was non-eventful and finished 9th.  Decent run.

NASCAR Legends at Daytona however was a different story.  It was a complete wreckfest.  Got caught in a wreck that I had no doing and finished 15th.   The 10x was a SR killer.

I love that series, but I just have no luck in it.  I either get caught up in somebody else's mess, or just have crap happen.  

 SR:  2.58 (-0.3)
iRating:  1478 (-32)

A couple of iRacing updates

 Tonight most of the NASCAR series started at Kansas Speedway in iRacing.  I decided to run a Class C truck race.  

I lasted all of 8 laps.

Made contact with another truck, and went head on into the wall.  32 minutes of required repairs = race over for me.

Then jumped into a Class B Xfinity Series race.

Started 16th, was running in the top 10 when the caution came out at lap 15.  Decided to stay out hoping for another caution that never came.

My car faded and I ended up 12th.  Not terrible but not great.

Ended with a 4x in both races.

SR:  2.69
iRating: 1485

NASCAR Legends kicks my ass again

 Another night of NASCAR Legends series on iRacing, another night of shit.

Qualified 9th, was running 4th when a caution came out around lap 15.  Decided to pit for tires since most of the races i've been running have gone caution free in the 2nd half of the race.

A bad restart got me behind and I started getting too aggressive.  Got into the wall while trying to make a pass and damaged the right front.  Got a quick caution and repaired it pretty well.  During the caution the field stacked, I didn;t see it, and ran into the car in front of me.  He was pretty pissed about it. 

Then on the restart got into a car on old tires trying to pass and wrecked 3-4 cars.  Got yelled at in the voice chat even though I apologized.  

Too much damage but stayed on track.  Finished 18th and had another SR killer.

SR:  2.63 (-0.18)
iRating: 1534 (-72)

Some dirt slinging, and some old oval racing

 Ran a NASCAR Legends series race at Charlotte today.  Started 13th, stayed around that for most of the race.  On a caution about mid-race, stayed out on the first lap, then pitted with one to go.  Was catching the field when the green flew.  Passed a car on the inside (that I was supposed to pass anyway) and ended up getting a black flag for passing on the inside before the S/F line.  Served my penalty, but had no more cautions to catch up or anything.  Finished 20th, 2 laps down.

SR:      2.81
iRating: 1606

Also ran a 305 Sprint Car at Lanier.  I still suck on dirt.  Working on it but had a crappy race.  Started 11th of 12, finished 9th.

Dirt Class D:
SR: 2.88
iRating: 1210 (-44)

Road race practice

 After essentially grenading it the other night, I decided to run a road race tonight on iRacing.  Spec racer Ford, D class race, at Daytona roadcourse.

Jumped into the session late, so got no practice in.  Didn't bother to qualify and started 14th of 16.  Ran in the back and finished 13th, but got only a 1x which I didn't agree with, but whatever.

Road Class C:
SR:  2.14 (+ 0.12)
iRating:  968

ARCA - the SR killer

 Decided to run the ARCA class D series at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.  Never drove that track before so it seemed like it might be fun.

Didn't qualify well and started 12th.  At the drop of the green flag, 2nd place spun his tires, which caused the 4th place car to plow into him.  The result was about half the field getting caught in a wreck before we even got to turn 1.  What a mess.  Somehow I avoided it but got slammed from behind and caught a 4x before the race even got going.  

From there it was a mess.  I got loose exiting turn 4 with a car to my inside, so we wrecked.  Several more cars got into it.  Another 4x.  

Then two bounces off the wall avoiding spun cars (I was on the high side and had too many cars with tires on my low side) so I finished the race with a 12x.  Yikes.  My SR dropped .25 from that one race.  Ouch.

Good news is the truck series will usually help get it back.

Oval SR:  2.6
iRating:  1642

Not a road master

 Decided to try my hand at some iRacing road course racing at Watkins Glen last night in a Cadillac CTS-VR.

What a mistake.

Didn't get an official qualifying lap because I got off course on both laps.  So started at the back.

On the first lap, got door slammed by a car, then the car in front of me lost control and I had no time to react.  Pitted for my fast repair, and ran the car too hard trying to make up for lost time.  Basically rage quit because I had a 16/17x, and just wasn't having fun.

The bad news, my SR and iRating for road courses plummeted.

Road class C:
SR:  2.02 (-0.29) yikes!
iRating:  997 (-66)

Yeah, I need more practice in those cars.

However...

Redeemed myself tonight at a Class C oval truck race.

Started 8th at Charlotte, ran in the top 5 for the first stretch, then missed the big one right in front of me.  Pitted for tires, which was a good move since it turned out to be the only caution.  Was running as high as 3rd but wore my tires out and faded to 5th at the end.  Got into another car and drove through the grass avoiding the earlier wreck, so ended with a 5x.

Oval SR:  2.85
iRating:  1597

More Talladega UGH

 Another day, another Class B Xfinity iRacing event at Talladega.

Same results.

Started 20th (missed qualifying) and stayed in the back for the beginning.  Missed the first big one on lap 4, then got involved in the 2nd one on lap 12 and just never could recover.  Finished 16th, 3 laps down.

Surprisingly, SR and iRating didn't drop too much.
SR: 2.80 (-0.05)
iRating: 1543 (-23)

Still holding on to my class B oval however.

iRacing Talladega: Ugh

 Ran 4 races between late last night and today.  One Class B and two Class C at Talladega, and one ARCA race at Bristol.

Name of the game today was wrecked.

Got wrecked last night and the first truck race today.  Ended up with engine issues and couldn't keep up.  Both times ended up with 10+ minutes of repairs.  Didn't get enough cautions to help.

ARCA race was uneventful.  Burned my tires early but still managed to finish 5th, one lap down.

Last truck race I decided to not qualify and ended up starting near the back.  Decided to stay there for the first part and was going to jump into the pack late.  Unfortunately the leader of the back line had front end damage and we lost the lead pack.  No more cautions meant we finished 18 seconds behind.  Brought it home with a 0x after a 10x and a 4x.

Surprisingly:
SR:  2.85
iRating:  1566

Probably will do a few more Talladega races this week.  They're fun, just frustrating at times.

Some iRacing Sunday

 As I am taking an evening break from iRacing to watch the Cup race from Las Vegas, I did a little iRacing this morning.  Ran a Truck series Class C oval race, and then a class D Sim Lab Production car challenge series race at Okayama.  

Truck race wasn't the best.  Just couldn't find the speed I wanted.  Led a lap under caution since I was already towards the back of the lead lap.  Ended up getting into an incident on the final restart so I finished 12th after starting 12th.  Only finished with a 4x however, which helped my SR.

Oval Class B:
SR:  2.82
iRating: 1608

I will be the first to admit I am not a good road racer.  Just never gotten the hang of it, so I rarely drive them.  I do have a class C road license, however.

Decided to run a Pontiac Solstice.  Started 5th out of 9 cars in our group.  Just never found my groove, got run into a couple of times, and had a couple of off-road excursions.  Ended up 7th in my class with a 14x.  Ouch.  I definitely need more practice or something.  That's why I mostly stick to ovals.

Surprisingly, with the 14x:
SR:  2.31 (only a - 0.06)
iRating road: 1063 ( -49)

Tomorrow night starts a new week, so I'll probably jump on tomorrow or Tuesday depending on scheduling.

Slinging dirt on iRacing

 Decided to do a little dirt racing today on iRacing.  I'll be the first to admit that I am not that good on dirt, so I wasn't expecting to finish very well.

Ran two races in a 305 cubic inch sprint car at USA International Speedway.  Didn't qualify in the first race, and started 9th out of 10 in the 2nd.

Wasn't competitive in either race.  Just can't seem to get the feel for dirt.  I don't wreck, but I'm at least half a second to a full second slower than the leaders.  But I keep my nose clean so my SR climbs.

Dirt Oval, Class D:
SR: 2.82 ( + 0.22 today)
iRating:  1254 (  down from 1325)

Also decided on a whim to jump into a street stock class C asphalt race at Bristol.  Practiced really well, thought I would do well in the race.  Didn't do well in qualifying and started 12th out of 14 starters.  Got caught up in an early race crash, got some damage, and just never recovered.  I ended up 8th, one lap down.

Oval Class B:
SR:  2.79
iRating: 1604

A little iRacing action tonight

 Ran a Class C truck race and a Class D ARCA race.  Trucks are at Las Vegas this week, ARCA at Lanier speedway.

Qualified 8th at Vegas.  Was running top 5 when I got into a truck that had bounced off the wall.  Had to pit for repairs and restarted 13th.  Climbed back to 11th but some non cautions and one idiot who decided to retaliate several times against another driver killed our race.  Finished 11th with a 5x after the first wreck I caused and driving through the grass to avoid another.

ARCA race was at Lanier, a short track.  Average lap time there is under 15 seconds.  Somehow qualified 2nd and was running there for about 25 laps.  Then got into a lapped car which slowed me down and got passed by 3 cars to drop to 5th.  Just couldn't recover with no cautions and ended there.

SR took a slight dip due to the 5x and a 4x in the two races.  iRating increased however.  My confidence is definitely climbing.

SR:  2.68

iRating:  1599

iRacing Xfinity from Las Vegas!

 Finally got back on iRacing tonight after a few days hiatus.  Spent the weekend in Bristol, TN for the Cup race.  Had a blast.  I'll blog about that separately later.

Ran a Fixed Xfinity series race.  45 laps.  Qualified 10th, dropped back in the middle of the race to around 12th.  Had a caution with about 15 laps to go.  Went to pit and missed my box so I had to go around again and restarted at the tail of the lead lap, which was 14th.  Drove up through some cars and finished 8th.  0x incidents.  Good, clean race.  Lots of fun.

SR:  2.79 (+0.2)

iRating:  1530 (+38)

Will probably run either trucks or ARCA tomorrow depending on my schedule.

Couple more iRacing events tonight

 Decided to run ARCA class D and NASCAR Legends class C tonight.

ARCA at Darlington - Just couldn't find the handling.  Car was very, very loose all race.  Played it safe and came home 10th, but a lap down.  0x incidents however. 

NASCAR Legends race at Dover.  Qualified 5th, was running up front the entire race.  Got into another car after bouncing off the wall which affected the handling too much.  Ended up 5th but ran well.  Probably my best race of the week so far.

SR:  2.59

iRating:  1492

Hope to run either another Xfinity race or maybe a road course race tomorrow depending on my personal schedule.

A little iRacing truck action

 Only had time for one C class truck race tonight.  Decided to not qualify after last night's debacle.  Started 19th and avoided a couple of wrecks to finish 6th.  Happy with the results.

SR:  2.33

iRating:  1430

 

iRacing 2020 Season 4: 1st two races

 Ran Class C GOTS and Class B Xfinity Series races at Bristol tonight.

Ten laps into the truck race spun avoiding a wreck and went nose first into the wall.  Tried to limp back to the pits and ended up blowing my motor.  32 minutes of required repairs was longer than the scheduled distance, so I disconnected.

Then noticed a Xfinity series race was starting in a few minutes, so decided to run that.  Started in the back, was running at the back of the pack.  Got caught up in a wreck about 20 laps into the race and needed too much repair to be competitive.  Ended up 13th with a 8x incident.  Not complaining as it was my first Class B race.

Still Oval class B

iRating:  1379

SR:  2.23

Finished for tonight, will run some more races tomorrow.

Continuing my iRacing career

 I've decided to start blogging about my iRacing career.  I will post here after races to talk about how I did, increases in rating, etc. Hopefully I will see improvement over time!

Current ratings:

Oval:  Class B

SR:  2.06

iRating: 1467

Road:  Class C

SR:  2.37

iRating:  1112

Dirt Oval:  Class D

SR:  2.60

iRating:  1325

Dirt Road:  Rookie

SR:  2.74

 

Why do we need *more* social media platforms???

Since the introduction of sites such as Geocities, livejournal, blogger, then apps such as AIM, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, then social media sites like Facebook and Myspace, social media has taken over the world.  It seems like every other week, a new social media app is created, each trying to gain attention and users to allow them to share content.

In no particular order, here are some of the most popular apps in the world:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• Pinterest
• TikTok
• Youtube
• Tumblr
• Flickr
• Blogspot

There are others, but you get my point.

How much social media do we really need, and how many different accounts do we need?

I follow several athletes, friends, and public corporations on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  I don't use Snapchat or Tiktok.

Facebook and Instagram are basically the same format, allowing a user to post a picture with a description of almost infinite text.  Twitter allows you to post content, but limits you to 240 characters per "post", or Tweet.   Snapchat claims that when you post a picture or comment, it's only visible for 24 hours, or you can choose to keep it up longer.  TikTok allows you to create "short, music videos".  People can "follow" you on these sites to see your content.

So why so many sites, and why do people feel the need to be on each?
 
What I find is a lot of the exact same content is posted to each social media site.  Heck, Instagram allows you to cross post to Twitter and Facebook.    And let's be honest, aside from politicians or professional athletes, when was the last time you went through and reviewed every tweet, every instagram post, or Facebook post? 

We see so much data being sent, and now there are concerns about privacy and how your data is used.  Several questions have been raised recently about who owns each site, and what their policies read.

A gentle reminder that once something is on the internet, it is there forever.  There are too many bots out there collecting data, meaning that facebook post or that snapchat you regret sending 8 hours earlier will be out there forever.  Even companies that allow you to "delete" all your data cannot be trusted, as you can never be sure all that data has been scrubbed from said company's servers.

Before you sign up for a new social media account, or post something, look at a company's privacy policy, do some research on the company, and choose only those that are important to you, not who may make you infamous, sometimes for the wrong reasons.  And of course, you are always open to spoofing attacks and account cloning, where somebody creates an account similar to your name, and pretends to be you.  Those usually are malicious.

Social media can be fun if used safely and smartly.  But think long and hard before creating that account that you might regret later.

2020: the year of just stay the eff home

COVID-19 has been rearing it's ugly head for a while.  It's closed businesses, forced people to stay home, and now taken over 100,000 American lives.  Countless others are in the hospital. 

I've been one of the lucky few that works an essential job.  I've been able to go to work almost every day since the crisis began.  I know I'm in the minority.  Several people I know haven't been to work in 2 months.  My wife is a teacher, and has been trying to juggle e-learning with her own students and our 2 kids.  It's been tough for sure.

I know people are frustrated.  They are tired of being home.  There are only so many movies you can watch, things you can find to do around the house that need attending, so many times you can take the dog for a walk.  People are anxious to get out of the house, go to their favorite restaurants, take vacations, etc.  I know my family is among them - my kids are tired of staying home and not seeing their friends.  They don't completely understand why all this is happening.

In January, Australia was on fire.  In February, parts of the world suffered flooding.  People were able to see the devastation of those events.  But Covid is invisible.  You can't see the transfer of Covid from person to person.  And you can't always see what it does to a person.

Now there are people protesting the wearing of masks in public. There are people protesting stay-at-home orders.  Same with closing retail and other shops.  I understand the retail thing, especially since places like Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco are open.  But my local Mexican restaurant can't be open except for takeout.  My local Old Navy isn't open.  I can't go to the movies.  I can't play ice hockey.  Heck, I can't even take a in-person class.  I'm not supposed to get within 6 feet of coworkers. 

This whole Covid thing is frustrating, but the fact we're all staying home has probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives.  And hopefully that trend will continue.  I hope that everyone who reads this (all 4 of you probably) stay safe, stay home when needed, and we all beat this together.

Your driver wins the Daytona 500...and you don't feel like celebrating

 Disclaimer:  I've been working on this post since the night of the Daytona 500.  It's taken me this long to get it all into this post.

End disclaimer.



Silence.

It's the worst nightmare for a team after a crash. The last time I heard silence from a driver where on team communications, and then a long process to get a driver out of the car after a race was the 2001 Daytona 500.  That silence was eerie.  It has haunted me since that day after we found out what happened to Dale Earnhardt.  And I feared I was reliving it last Monday.

I've been a Denny Hamlin fan since 2005.  I've been in attendance for all three of his Daytona 500 wins.  I celebrated hard in 2016 and 2019.  But Monday night, I wasn't really interested in celebrating for a while.

The talk of the town has been Ryan Newman's last lap crash at the Daytona 500.  Heck, FOX TV didn't even mention who won the race for a while after the race was over.  The only reason I knew Denny Hamlin won was due to me listening to his team on the scanner.  After Newman's crash, I immediately changed to Newman's radio, where I heard nothing from Ryan.  I feared the worst.

After I heard the news that Ryan Newman was being cut from his car, and that NASCAR had put up dark curtains to block views, I feared the worst.  Normally that doesn't equate to positive news.  By then my friend, who has attended nine Daytona 500s with me, and I had already started walking out of the speedway grounds.  I was receiving text messages from friends asking if I knew anything.  At that point, I didn't know more than they did.  Most of the news I was getting was on Twitter.  When the decision was made to bypass the infield care center, concern was raised even more.  We saw the ambulance leaving the speedway and heading to the local hospital.  That was followed by 3 SUVs with a police escort racing down the road, presumably with family/team members. With each passing moment, I grew more and more concerned.

It wasn't until almost 90 minutes later, when we were driving on I-95 near the FL/GA line, that I heard the news that Ryan was in serious condition, but was doing ok.  A sigh of relief came over me.  I hadn't had a repeat of 2001. 

I finally felt like celebrating.  For a 3rd time, and the 2nd year in a row, my driver won the Daytona 500.  When we stopped for the night, we went to a bar and I enjoyed celebrating finally.  It wasn't as wild as 2016 or 2019, but I finally felt like celebrating.

Ryan has since been released from the hospital.  While we still do not know the extent of his injuries, he at least is home with his family and is on the road to recovery.  Hopefully we see him back on the track soon.

Denny Hamlin has since been able to celebrate his win, albeit subdued.  And I have been able to finally celebrate as well.