iRacing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- There are no tracks open and no actual racing happening, but NASCAR and Fox have helped fill the gaps for racing fans through iRacing.

It's real NASCAR drivers taking part in simulated races on national television. 

Steve Myers has been with iRacing since the company's inception in 2004. And while he wishes it wasn't a global pandemic that caused it, his company was ready when the opportunity presented itself.

"We built the product to do this," said Myers, iRacing's executive vice president and executive producer. "We've been doing these broadcasts for 10 years now with our Esports platforms. So part of the reason we're able to pull this off is because we've been doing it so long we've made all the mistakes. We've figured out how to put on a good show, and then it was a matter of technically getting our broadcast room talking with Fox's broadcast room."

They've done two broadcasts so far with 1.3 million viewers tuning in last Sunday to see Timmy Hill win. Myers said about half the drivers have some experience with iRacing, and he calls Hill an elite simulation racer. 

"It gives this guy that doesn't always get the publicity on the real race weekends some spotlight, but I loved that he was using a 12-year-old wheel and a single screen," Myers said. "It shows that you don't need one of those elaborate $50,000 space shuttles that Denny Hamlin has."

The response they've gotten from the first two broadcasts has kept Myers and his team moving forward. 

"People that had no interest whatsoever in what simulated racing was or in video games got to sit down and spend two hours with their family watching watching some live programming with the stars that they love from the sport that they love," Myers said. "The outpouring of support and love from the racing world for what we've done I think has been the best part of it. It gives us the energy to keep working twenty-hour days with no days off to accomplish this because I think we see a value it's having in a community; just giving people a break from the coronavirus."

And that's a break we could all use.

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