Short Track ProCup

- News Archive -

The Value Proposition.
STPC is in an ideal position to display your company's branding within the burgeoning online, simulated racing community to a very interested, highly motivated demographic.  Sim racers are a predominantly male audience of motorsports participants and enthusiasts ranging from young teen to over 70 years of age with a median age near 40.

By providing a very low-cost, partially charitable sponsorship to the STPC Race For Charity Program, we will insure extended branding exposure for your company on our website which receives over 15-thousand true page-view impressions per month. In addition, press releases to related sim-media sites will prominently display your corporate name and brand as a partner-sponsor of STPC.

A Crash Course on Turning Right- Lime Rock Park

December 2nd, 2009 - Matt Menghi

I arrived on the server this week with one thing in my mind, I'm going to wreck. I'm not the best driver on road courses on the STPC tour, or iRacing in general, to be entirely honest. It comes worse when it involves turning right intentionally. And it figures, we were at Lime Rock, which only has one left hand turn.

The stage was set for the race. 22 drivers were to take the green this week, thanks in part to the combining of the Premier and Division A classes. Kyle McCartney was in the field as well, taking a provisional start. Justin Thompson and Kyle McCartney spent the practice and qualifying setting the fastest times, even competing against each other for the top spot. It was just as interesting to watch as you could imagine. Practice was led with a 54.5 second lap, the fastest by two tenths. Which is a whole two and a half seconds ahead of me. Qualifying was out of the ordinary for us. Usually we're all used to time-trialing to get the fastest time. We did the typical road course open style, over fifteen minutes. Justin Thompson nabbed the pole.

In the race, there were no full course cautions to describe, as they were turned off. So I really have not much to write about. It was a typical 50 lap race with a stuff full of local cautions for spins and cars off the track. I happened to cause three, when I spun twice and eventually found myself planted under a Hemming's Motor News sign just before the esses, ending my race on my 13th lap. I was already behind from spinning in the West Bend and having to pit and inspect any suspension damage. Anyway, race leader Justin Thompson pitted on lap 31, using a rather interesting strategy. Instead of the four tires and fuel, he pitted for just fuel. He managed to make his iRacing racing tires last 50 laps on his Georgia Chevy Monte Carlo. This may have helped him retain his already long lead over second place, and it shows the good work he had done on his setup to be able to make his tires last.

Next week the action takes off from the Toyota Irwindale Speedway on Sunday. A race I'm really excited about. It's a really fun combination to race on. We will see if Justin Thompson can carry over his dominant performance from LRP over across the country to Irwindale, or if someone else will take the crown.

(More discussion here.)

JaxCoffee and STPC Announce Sponsorship Plan

September 17th, 2009 - Mark Royer

JaxCoffee Roastery and Short Track Pro Cup have finalized a sponsorship deal that is expected to benefit both organizations.  JaxCoffee is a small, socially-conscious California roastery run by Jack Erhart.  "Jack has been an excellent, proactive partner for STPC" explained Mark Royer, the STPC Administrator.  "We expect Jack's sponsorship plan to help us run STPC and have some exciting special events while at the same time allow our drivers to enjoy the fine blends of fresh roasted Pro Cup coffees from JaxCoffee."

Jack Erhart added "You're buying your coffee from someone, somewhere. Why not support STPC with your purchase."  Each time Pro Cup coffee is purchased from JaxCoffee, a percentage of the purchase goes to STPC.  Also, consider registering for STPC through the special JaxCoffee registration plan.

Open Letter to Prospective STPC Drivers

September 11th, 2009 - Mark Royer

The following e-mail letter was sent to drivers who've expressed interest in STPC.  I post it here openly for anybody else who may be interested in STPC to read.

Hi,
  My name is Mark Royer.  I am the organizer for Short Track Pro Cup (STPC).  I have five years of experience organizing successful short track leagues on NR2003 servers including Hooters Pro Cup Online Racing Series (HPCORS) and a former incarnation of STPC that pitted the best of the best of various leagues against one another.  Those, and other lesser leagues and special events that I've organized have all been great fun.

However, with the arrival of iRacing organizations in November, we stand poised to surpass all previous levels of excitement and fun as we rev up those engines for intense bumper-to-bumper, fender-to-fender short track action on the best online motorsports simulation physics in history!

Each of you has expressed an interest in STPC and therefore are on this e-mail list.  STPC will be an iRacing organization that will launch it's first season in November, 2009.  If you are no longer interested in STPC, please let me know and I will remove you from my e-mail list.

Below is a long-winded introduction and description of STPC and how I see it unfolding.  If you don't want to wade through my verbal diarrhea, I have highlighted the essential elements in bold red, so you can just quickly skim those and dispense with the rest.

Thanks for your interest in STPC.  I see this series as having the potential to be the most exciting online short track racing we have ever experienced!  The time is finally almost upon us - iRacing has enabled it - now it's up to us to make it happen.  Lets do it!
 

Series Overview
STPC will be arranged as a set of skill-matched divisions.  The number of divisions will depend on the number of drivers who register for STPC.  There will be an entry level Mini-Stock Division that will race the Jetta.  Every week, you will battle other similarly skilled drivers, not only for race position, but for overall divisional championship points.

Divisions: Premier, A, B, etc... as required (drivers matched by iRating), and Mini-Stock
 

License: Oval C or higher (Rookie or higher for the Mini-Stock Division)

Night: Sunday
Practice Opens: 9:00 PM Eastern Time

Quals/Race: 9:45 PM Eastern Time

Laps: 150
Cautions: ON
Max Field Size: 30
Setups: open (not fixed)

Entry Fee: $3.00 (USD) per 12-week season.

Schedule - Race Day
I had previously announced that Wednesday will be STPC race night.  I fear I must change that announcement since Wednesday night is iRacing's official Pro Oval Series main race night for US drivers and a good chunk of the top 250 drivers on iRacing would be excluded from STPC.

Since Sunday was the second most voted night in the forums poll, I am moving the STPC race night to Sunday.

For drivers who've already registered and paid $3 but can't race Sunday, I will be happy to refund your money.  I am very sorry for this change, but I feel the reason is compelling.  I do not change schedules or plans lightly.

If we are racing late models in STPC, which appears likely (see next section), I plan to follow the iRacing official arrive & drive schedule with a few modifications.  Doing this will allow us to use the entire week of arrive & drive sprint races as preparation for the 150 lap STPC feature on Sunday.  However, in the interest in not running a track twice in a season, I will substitute other cool short tracks when the arrive & drive schedule visits a track a second time.

If next seasons arrive & drive schedule is the same as this season's, this is what the STPC schedule will look like.

STPC 2009 - Season 4
Speculative Schedule
Nov 8 - USA Intl
Nov 15 - Oxford Plains
Nov 22 - Concord
Nov 29 - Martinsville
Dec 6 - Irwindale
Dec 13 - Stafford
Dec 20 - New Hampshire
Dec 27 - Lanier
Jan 3 - South Boston
Jan 10 - Richmond
Jan 17 - Phoenix
Jan 24 - Bristol
Jan 31 - Week 13 Special Event - TBD

Vehicle(s)
Two polls in the STPC forums ask (1) whether all divisions should run the same vehicle and (2) if so, which vehicle should it be.  The polls will be closed on Saturday, Sept. 19th.  Voice your opinion!

As of right now, the poll is neck and neck regarding whether we run same vehicle in all divisions or different vehicles for each division is.  However, if we do run the same vehicle in all divisions, the Late Model currently has more than a 2:1 lead over the SK modified.

Should we end up as a late model series (as it currently appears) and you wanted to run SK modifieds, Robert Rund is running a similar SK series that you might want to check out ( http://members.iracing.com/iforum/thread.jspa?messageID=639755&#639755 ).  Robert and I have  been coordinating our organizations so we should not conflict on nights and it will be possible to run both, should you care to do that.

While I personally like the idea of different cars for different divisions, it make sense to go with a single vehicle, at least for the first season and until STPC is better established.  One issue with different vehicles is that some drivers will find their preferred vehicle, or the vehicle he owns, in another division from the one to which they have been assigned (see Divisional Assignment below).

If I deny movement between divisions, some drivers may become disgruntled at having to drive a vehicle other than their preferred one (or the one they own).  If I allow such divisional shuffling, the integrity of the skill-matched divisions becomes compromised.  Since my mission for STPC is to create awesome, skill-matched, short track racing in STPC, keeping the divisional drivers close in iRating is paramount.

So, the upshot is, unless the poll shows an overwhelming support for different vehicles, I will choose to use the same vehicle in all divisions.  As we grow, we can introduce more and different vehicles in future seasons if it makes sense to do so at that time.

The Mini-Stock Division is a special case and will run Jetta (see Divisional Admins below).

Registration
To register for the STPC 2009-4 season go to the STPC website and on the right hand column click the Donate button and donate $3.00.  That works out to about 25¢ per race.  I know iRacing is expensive and it's a tough pill to swallow to pay yet another charge to race in an organization, but it is what it are - dedicated server time costs money.  I think in the long run it's worth it simply because it'll keep the number of fly-by-night organizations down.

On November 7th, the day before the first race, I will assign all registered drivers to divisions (see Divisional Assignment below) thereby establishing equally-sized, iRating-matched divisions.

Drivers will be allowed to register late (on or after Nov 7th) throughout the season.  The $3.00 registration donation will NOT be pro-rated for mid-season registrants.  Late registrants will be assigned to divisions as indicated in Divisional Assignment below.

Divisional Assignment
If your license is Oval D or Oval Rookie, you will be assigned to the Mini-Stock Division (Jetta).  Drivers with higher license levels can request to be placed in the Mini-Stock Division.

On November 7th, all registered drivers with an Oval C or higher license (who haven't requested Mini-Stock assignment) will be divided up into equally-sized divisions in the same manner that iRacing does for the arrive and drive splits (i.e., by iRating).  However, unlike arrive and drive, the STPC divisional assignments are for the entire season regardless of how a driver's iRating changes during the season.  So, for the duration of the season you will battle the same field of drivers for divisional honors.

Registered drivers will be split into divisions such that each division is equally-sized and as close to 30 drivers as possible.

Drivers who register late (e.g., on or after Nov 7th) will be assigned to the division for which their iRating is most closely matched.  If that division is closed (i.e., the division has 30 drivers), then the driver will be assigned to the next higher division and so on.  If all higher divisions are closed, the late registrant's $3 will be refunded.

Website and Forums
The STPC website is http://www.stprocup.com
We have a forums on the website.  If you haven't signed up for the forums you should do so to keep informed.  To sign up use authorization code STPC-FORUMS (all caps).

To avoid spamming everyone's e-mail boxes with STPC information, I will use the forums for most announcements and information and will only occasionally use e-mail for very important issues.  Please, do NOT reply-to-all on STPC-list e-mails; use the forums instead.  Feel free to reply to me directly if you have something for me specifically.

I view the STPC forums as temporary until iRacing provides organizations with forums.  If that never happens, then the STPC forums will become permanent.  I'd prefer to keep tied in with iRacing as much as possible.

Divisional Admins
I am looking for help in the form of admins for the various divisions.  The duties of a division admin will be very simple.  A divisional admin will be a participating driver who is an official presence and voice in case any issues arise during a race.  Also the division admin will save a replay after the race and help score the division.  If you'd like to help in that regard, I'd appreciate it VERY much; it'll help STPC run smoothly.

Dennis Heaney is the admin for the Mini-Stock Division.  Dennis is the architect of the concept to run the Jetta on short track ovals as an entry level training series.  I'm very interested in how this plays out and it sounds an exciting combination.  My only concern is using a front wheel drive car as a training vehicle for upper classes that are rear wheel drive.  But, lets see how it goes.  Unfortunately, Dennis has had recent equipment failure (steering wheel pots or something like that) and he is unable to race for the forseeable future.  Hopefully he is available for the season start in November.  If not, I'll need help in the Mini-Stock Division too.

Sponsors
Please support our sponsors as much as you can.  At this time, we have a single sponsor, JaxCoffee.  Jack Erhart has kindly set up a sponsorship arrangement that puts money into the STPC coffers every time a bag of STPC Coffee is purchased.  I have heard only positive reviews about JaxCoffee brews in the iRacing forums.  I know I'll be trying out a bag of medium (um... maybe dark) roast.

I also have established my so-called Track Partnership Program.  I had some success with this idea in the past for my Hooters Pro Cup league.  Only time will tell if I can gather any interest from the tracks for STPC.  I am hopeful that with the weight of iRacing name and servers behind STPC some real-life tracks will sign on.  We shall see.

If you know of any other potential sponsors, please hook me up with them.  I am thinking in terms of VERY small investments from sponsors; investments along the lines of prizes or merchandising for STPC drivers.  In return, we intend to make our sponsors very visible on our website and mention them prominently in race-results announcements in forums both inside and outside iRacing.

STPC is Not For Profit
STPC is not for profit and I will not collect or keep any money for myself.  Every cent collected, via registration, sponsorship, or otherwise will be put back into STPC in some form or another.

Protests - Penalty System
I do not intend to become a full-time arbiter of spats between drivers about who drove this way or made that mistake.  I have done that for too long and it's no fun, unnecessary and I'm not very good at it.

Instead, STPC will take the iRacing no-fault philosophy.  Groan as you might, the system works and is free from human judgment; we all get caught up in other's mistakes from time to time.  Take a deep breath, suck it up and remember, every driver has paid a lot of money to have fun racing on iRacing servers; it's very unlikely they are intentionally trying to ruin your night.

That said, I will set up an STPC protest system.  However, the system will not be designed for the purpose of arbitrating every on-track spat or mistake.  It will be used solely to judge a drivers "career" performance.  If a driver shows a continued propensity for poor driving judgment, accrues a large number of incidents race after race, engages in inflammatory or inappropriate chat, or otherwise behaves inappropriately, then three or more of his divisional peers can jointly or independently lodge a protest against the driver.

If such a protest is lodged and successful, the driver will be suspended or banned from STPC at the STPC organizer's discretion. 

Note:  Three drivers are required to lodge a protest.  This is done to avoid the personal-spat and grudge type of protest.  In order to protest a driver, there has to be a preponderance of agreement regarding the validity of the protest.

I have proposed a no-fault penalty system whereby a driver who gets 9 or more incident points in a race is automatically penalized championship points.  There is some discussion whether this is necessary or whether 9 is the right threshold for penalties to start.  Remember, unlike the arrive and drive system that has a max of 14 cars over 50 laps, we're talking up to 30 cars over 150 laps, so, indeed, 9 may be too low - I'm not sure.  I'm  very interested in discussion on this topic in the STPC forums.
 

In Closing
I am excited to get STPC underway and I hope you are too.  We have a great opportunity before us for some awesome racing; but the format of STPC depends on participation by a lot of drivers.  The more we have the better we can skill-match the divisions.  So, tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell anyone who might like short track racin'.  Encourage them to check STPC out.  The more, the better - for all of us!

See you all on the track November 8th!
 

-Mark Royer
STPC Organizer

stpcAdmin@comcast.net
http://www.stprocup.com

STPC Series Overview Updated

Aug 31st, 2009 - Mark Royer

I have outlined in detail the overview of Short Track Pro Cup in the series overview.

John Henry Outlines iRacing "Organizations"

Aug 18th, 2009 - Mark Royer

iRacing's John Henry gave us all a peak into the current internal thinking at iRacing.com regarding league structure on the iRacing servers:

http://members.iracing.com/iforum/thread.jspa?threadID=47339&tstart=0

Join the STPC forums for discussion on how to shape the best short track league on the internet.  (use authorization code STPC-FORUMS while registering). Joining the forums is not viewed as a commitment to race in STPC, but merely as a statement of your interest and that you are considering STPC.  Remember, it now appears we will NOT be limited to a single league as previously suggested.

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. It’s 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.