iRacing .com League Launch
Delayed
May 24nd, 2009 - Mark Royer
iRacing.com's league launch has been
delayed, we will not be going green in August:
http://members.iracing.com/iforum/thread.jspa?threadID=37296&tstart=0
Interested in STPC?
Sign up for Forums
(not a commitment)
May 22nd, 2009 - Mark Royer
If you're interested in racing in Short
Track Pro Cup (STPC) on iRacing, click on Forums on
the left-hand column of this page and sign up (use
authorization code STPC-FORUMS while
registering). I will
not consider this a commitment to run STPC, but merely a
statement of interest on your part that you are considering
running STPC. The forums will allow me a way to post
updates and contact interested drivers throughout the summer
as we wait for the launch.
Further, we can discuss details of how
the league should be run (there is several polls in there right
now).
Remember, you can only select one iRacing
league in August - so choose carefully.
iRacing Contacts Potential League Admins
May 22nd, 2009 - Mark Royer
Yesterday, Shannon Whitmore of iRacing
contacted prospective league owners who've submitted plans
to run leagues on iRacing servers. He made it clear
that we should begin preparing for our leagues and rounding
up our prospective rosters as soon as possible to be ready
for the planned August launch. At this time he was
short on details of how leagues would be implemented because
there is still a lot of difficult development work ahead for
the iRacing staff. He said he'd keep us informed of
progress as the time approached.
Thanks and I look forward to seeing you
all on the track!
-Mark Royer
Admin - Short Track Pro Cup
League Proposal to iRacing
April 30th, 2009 - Mark Royer
Short Track Pro Cup (STPC)
Where pedal to the metal isn't good enough!
Get back to roots racin' and experience the excitement of
high-powered stock cars on some of the finest short tracks
in North America. Like today's USAR Pro Cup (formerly
Hooters Pro Cup) or the NASCAR Sportsman Division of
yesteryear (forerunner of today's Nationwide Series), race
those 600+ hp machines in bumper to bumper, fender to
fender, knuckle-whitening action. The squeamish need not
apply....
League Format
There will be no invitees to STPC, no one turned away, no
cliques; STPC will take all comers. [See note 1 below]
At the start of each season, drivers who've signed up for
STPC will be split into grids (divisions) of 12 to 24
drivers based on iRating. There will only be one split for
the entire season - drivers race the same field (their
division) every week for 12 weeks for divisional honors.
Week 13 will be the race of champions - top drivers from
each division go head-to-head for overall league honors.
(See Note 4)
Car: Nationwide or Late Models or SK Modifieds, TBD
License: B (C 4.0+)
Schedule: follows late model short track schedule
Time: one week night
(Monday to Thursday TBD) evening 9:30 Eastern Time
[see note 2 below]
Laps: 150
Cautions: ON
Field Size: 24 (splits to 12)
Setups: open (not fixed)
Note 1: To do this, if we get more than 24
drivers we'd need a second server, more than 48 a third and
so on. All servers would be running at the same time slot.
From iRacing's perspective, it would look like two or more
concurrent leagues running at the same time.
Note 2: This timeslot is prime-time for the
entire western hemisphere and would be a mid to late morning
on a non-working day in the far east and Australia. Its not
so good for Europe (extremely early morning) tough to
cover the entire globe. Finally, of course, it works well
for me as the admin.
Note 3:
There is some conflicting information regarding whether the
Nationwide car can be used with the late model/SK schedule.
If not, then the LM or SK can be used instead.
Note
4: All of the parameters are subject to change based
on discussion and polls in the forums and how much
flexibility iRacing ultimately gives leagues.
iRacing's Golden Opportunity
A common knock on traditional leagues is that the finish
order becomes very predictable. With driver skills varying
widely, each week the same drivers tend to be racing for the
win, another group filling the mid-pack, and yet another
trailing the excitement. iRacing is in a unique position to
change all that. This is a golden opportunity to use the
iRating system to divide the league into similarly-skilled
divisions for an entire season. Every week, every driver
will have a realistic chance to take the checkers; exciting
battles and drama will unfold on every lap for every driver
every week.
Benefits to Arrive-and-Drive
To move to a higher division in Short Track Pro Cup, a
driver needs to improve his/her iRating via the main iRacing
arrive-and-drive system. In addition, to join STPC, drivers
need to achieve and maintain a B (C 4.0+) license in
arrive-and-drive.
Applicable Experience
I have been organizing and administering similar very
successful leagues using NR2003 since 2004:
Hooters Pro Cup Online Racing Series (HPCORS) - 5 years -
2004-2008
(HPCORS followed the real HPC, week-for-week,
track-for-track. Unfortunately, the website for HPCORS is
off the air)
Winter Short Track 5 years
(Fun league during HPC off season)
Short Track Pro Cup one year - 2007
(Team oriented, best of the best, short track series pitting
teams from various short track leagues against each other in
a once-per-month showdown.
