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As someone that has been Sim-Racing extensively on the traditional big tracks used in Camping World Trucks and Sprint Cup cars for a long time, I wasn't sure what to expect running in the Michigan Circle Track-Sim Racing League series. I've generally struggled at the short tracks whenever they have popped up on the schedule and here I would be running a series where the largest tracks are only a mile. In fact you will rarely find any of these tracks used in a typical Sim-Racing championship series.  What the heck was I thinking when I signed up for this?

Contrary to my concern, I have had an absolute blast racing these Outlaw cars on short tracks.  There are some top caliber racers in this group and the competition has been great. The tracks require a combination of patience and finesse and I get to steer with the throttle as much as I do the steering wheel. Not something you do a lot of in the other series I run.  All of these factors have made it a lot of fun.

Mark Howland, driver of the No.57 Rudyard Auto Sales Dodge agrees.  "The Short track racing we are doing here is so much different from the cookie-cutter mile and a half tracks that most Sim-racers run. Some of the guys in this league are just blazing fast.”

I figured that this would be a good opportunity to talk about what is in store for Drivers that may be interested in joining the Michigan Circle Track Sim-Racing League and racing with us.  An MCT-SRL season will generally consist of between 13 and 17 races. It is a touring series with each race at a different track. Points are awarded using the tried and true NASCAR points system.  A champion will be crowned at the end of each season and a new season will start immediately afterwards.

There are a few benefits that Sim-Racing actually has over the real thing. The first is that  you can do it in the dead of winter when your driving suit is packed away in mothballs. Second, it provides drivers with an opportunity to experience tracks that they might not ever have an opportunity to race on.  Finally, while no one likes to see a track close its doors, once the track has been captured, you can continue racing on it even if the real one no longer exists. As you will see from the schedule, there are a couple of closed tracks and some that are out of the area.   As time goes on, we will be adding more Michigan area tracks to the list.

Here is the schedule looks for the upcoming season.

May 14: Hickory Motor Speedway, Newton, NC. 1/3 mile
May 21: I-70 Speedway, Odessa, MO, 1/2 mile (track closed 2008)
May 28: Kalamazoo Speedway, Kalamazoo, MI. 3/8 mile
June 04: Grand Detour, Fictional track, 1 1/2 mile
June 11: Baer Field, Fort Wayne, IN. ½ mile
June 18: Concord Motorsports Park, Midland, NC, 1/2 mile
June 25: Salem Speedway, Salem, IN. ½ mile
July 02: Nashville Fairgrounds, Nashville, TN. 5/8 mile
July 09: Madison Speedway, Madison, WI. 3/8 mile
July 16: South Boston Speedway, South Boston, VA. 2/5 mile
July 23: Gorilla Snot. Fictional track, ¾ mile
July 30: Mesa Marin Raceway, Bakersfield, CA. ½ mile (track closed 2005)
Aug 06: New Smyrna Speedway, New Smyrna Beach, FL. ½ mile
Aug 13: Berlin Raceway, Marne, MI. 7/16 mile
Aug 20: Wall Township Speedway, Wall, NJ. 1/3 mile

The pre-season which just concluded was basically a shake-down cruise for the league. The Pre-Season the server settings used were pretty much left to "driver preference".  A driver had a choice of driving perspectives, from an "above and behind" perspective found in most video games, to an in the cockpit view. Similarly various driving aids were available, such as stability or traction control.
From a damage perspective, the settings were such that you could nearly hit the wall head on and not even knock your front end out of alignment.  Now that first real season is here, these features are now being eliminated one by one and by the time we hit the Grand Detour race on June 4th, the settings will be cockpit driving view, no aids and realistic damage. Time to bring your "A" game.

The Hickory race on the 14th was a great, if small event. Only ten cars started for the 100 lap event, but we had some of the best racing I've seen in a while. Chuck Darling, who won a couple of Pre-Season events in the No.88, qualified on the pole,  turning a 14.452 second (89.776 mph) lap. John Hernly in the TV Land / ECCI No.64, started next to Darling on the front row of the historic North Carolina oval, with a 14.436 second (89.676 mph) lap.

The caution waved three times during the event. The first was brought out by yours truly on lap 12, when I got into the back of the No. 134 of Ken Shook.  I had to pit after making contact with the wall and ended up losing two laps under caution. Sean Case in the No.77 elected to pit for right-side tires. League Administrator Craig Bristol in the No.36 got the free pass back to the lead lap.

Darling hung onto the lead for the first 63 laps. At that point, Hernly got a great run on the inside of Darling and the two of there ran side by side for several laps before he could close the deal. The hard racing between the No.64 of Hernly and the No.88 of Darling, had allowed third place Brad Skusa in the No.20 to get within striking distance and Darling quickly lost another position.

Sean Case in the No.77 brought out the second caution of the night when he turned Tom TerMeer in the No.89 on lap 75. Case had been in the position to pick up the lucky dog, but lost the privilege by initiating the incident. The entire field pitted under the caution. Of the three lead lap cars, Hernly, Darling and Skusa in the No.20 Darling over shot his pit stall and ended up having to go back around. The mis queue put Darling behind a number of lap down cars. Of the lapped cars, I took two tires for track position, but got tagged for speeding in the pits and had to start at the tail end of the field, more than canceling out any gains I had made.

On the restart at lap 82, Skusa, whom had beaten Hernly out of the pits, spun his tires and Hernly quickly regained the first place slot. Skusa regained the position within a couple of laps, but a bobble in turn four on lap 86 gave the inside line to Hernly. The two drivers crossed the stripe to start lap 87 door-to-door. Skusa attempted to put the squeeze on Hernly as they entered turn one, but only succeeded in knocking himself out of contention, bringing out the third and final caution and badly damaging his car. While Skusa and Hernly were duking it out, Darling, still running in the third position, had managed to pick his way through the lapped traffic.   Case in the No.77 picked up the lucky-dog this time around placing four cars on the lead lap.

Up front is was John Hernly and Chuck Darling, one-two for the restart, with Skusa and Case running a distant third and fourth behind a number of lapped cars.  The laps quickly ticked down and all four finished in the order as they had restarted, giving the win to Hernly.

Date  Driver  Car#  Finish  Start  Int  Status  Laps  Led  Points  Qtime  Qspeed
1 5/14/2009 John Hernly  64 1 2 73.808 Running 100 30 185 14.452 89.776 mph 
2 5/14/2009 Chuck Darling  88 2 1 -0.44 Running 100 64*  180 14.436 89.676 mph 
3 5/14/2009 Sean Case  77 3 4 -5.9 Running 100 0 165 14.742  87.912 mph
4 5/14/2009 Brad Skusa  20 4 3 -6.07 Running 100 6 165 14.537  89.142 mph
5 5/14/2009 Craig Bristol  36 5 9 -3L Running 97 0 155 15.33  84.540 mph
6 5/14/2009 Tom TerMeer  89 6 8 -3L Running 97 0 150 15.226  85.118 mph
7 5/14/2009 Kenny Paul  73 7 10 -3L Running 97 0 146 Prov  Prov
8 5/14/2009 Terry stiles  314 8 6 -4L Running 96 0 142 15.082 85.930 mph
9 5/14/2009 Ken Shook  134 9 5 -6L Running 94 0 138 14.956  86.654 mph
10 5/14/2009 Doug Termeer  91 10 7 -87L Retired 13 0 134 15.106  85.794 mph