There is Nothing I enjoy more online than Racing The Beemaster 222 car against other Online Racers around the world. On this page I'll try to give an Overview of what is needed, what you can do and how much fun it can be. With Nascar you can race with up to 42 other "real people" or Computer opponents on all of the Nascar seasonal tracks. At any given time THOUSANDS of people are racing, you might have 50 races at Daytona going on at once - as well as many other races going on at as many other tracks.

How It Works
Just to put sense to it so that the whole process don't sound too scary or complex, this is the basics of how you race Online. I'll go into greater detail below, but for now - here is what you generally do.

You install the software, hookup you driving wheel or other controller, click on the link to open up Nascar, click on multiplayer, choose a race from the list of current races, enter the race ( if you meet the requirements of the race you clicked on ) go into your garage, chose your setup, enter the race for Practice, Qualifying or Race and have fun.

It's actually pretty simple and lots of fun. You can sub specialize in Nascar; car painting, car setup or driving. As you'll see below - there's more than just jumping in the car, but if THAT is all you want to do, then just racing is fine too.

The car above took me about an hour or so to paint using the paintshop software that came with the Nascar Simulator. The image here DOES NOT do justice to the car when you see it Online. The car is deeply painted in metal flake and the shine of the stadium lights ( night time racing is the best ) will blow you away. It's really interesting to see the artwork that people come up with.

I don't want to forget that the cars that come with the game are PRECISELY painted to match the cars in the Winston Cup Series. When you race against the computer ( something that you can do without Internet connection ) you will get to see all the cars in their splendor.

What is Online Racing
Nascar 2002 Season ( and now Thunder 2003 ) are Nascar Winston Cup Series Car Simulators. Meaning, this is not just a video game, but a racing simulator which takes actual racing physics into account during all aspects of the race. There are several modes, arcade and Simulator are the two main styles of racing. Each of these have several realism settings that can enhance the challenge of a given race.

Obviously, Online racing is you and your computer, controller equipment and setups against thousands of other racers ANYWHERE on the planet using their own computers, controllers and setups. There are NO advantages in the car speeds because of faster or slower COMPUTERS or CONNECTIONS - the speed difference lies COMPLETELY in the car's setup and of course the driver's skill behind the wheel. It is this COMMON playing field that makes you want to improve your car setups and relentless practice behind the wheel - both against the computer ( which you can adjust their skill levels ) and humans who you are at the mercy of on the track.

What do you need to Race Online

First, you'll need the software. There are several Nascar versions out there and EACH have Online Multiplayer Racing and Computer opponent options to choose from.

You'll need a computer ( of course ) which meets or surpasses the minimal requirements of the software. Obviously you'll want a great video card, so that you can get 25 to 50 frames per second or faster refresh with all the graphics and sounds turned up to the MAX.

Then there is your Internet Connection Speed. I have Cable Modem and glad I do. Dialup racers are often kicked out of races due to a high latency - slow data transfer rate. You can always tell the dialup racers, their cars blink and disappear or their cars hop all over the track. Most races and all leagues set a minimal latency setting, and if your connection is higher than that setting you can not even get into the race. Online racing, like most multiplayer games and simulators calls for DSL, Cable or faster connections. This doesn't mean you cant race with dialup, it does though mean than MANY of the races will be raced without you.

Then you'll need a controller. Mind you, worse case scenario, you can use the keyboard - but DON'T race Online with the keyboard or you'll find yourself booted out of the race very fast. Ideally, you'll want a Forced Feedback Wheel and pedals. The FFB Wheel gives you the feel of real racing and a TREMENDOUS amount of information; loose or tight feel in and out of turns, riding over the grass or yellow boundary lines, bumping into the walls or other cars. This Feedback is important to us serious racers and I've driven my wheel with the FFB turned off and I will tell you now, there is NO comparing the two feels.

The FFB Wheel gives you a constant feel for the track and how your car is performing - you literally can feel the car sliding as the tires wear, or if you blow a tire or if your engine looses a cylinder. Sure these wheels go about $100 or TWICE that of a cheapy wheel, but if you spend hours and hours racing and you are serious about climbing in rank and want to play against better rated players, then a FFB wheel is worth every penny you pay.

Although Nascar gives you a number of generic setups that will get you out on the tracks in a hurry, it also allows you to tweak every aspect of your car in the garage. You have all the same tweaking options that the Pros have and all these options DO effect the car just as it would in the Earnhardt Garage!

Learning these setup configurations can be dauntingly challenging to us common folk. Minute' changes in Camber or caster or grill tape can turn a sluggish car that turns hard into a turn into a mean rocket that can lead you to victory. I'll list the BEST document out there on setting up your car - from there it's up to you.

But I will give you a clue that will make life easier for you, and old trick my boss once taught me: Make one change at a time, never two. If you make two changes, you'll never know WHICH one made the setup better. 
So change something, jump on the track and see what happens - learn from your trials and become a master at setup. Mind you, setup and garage tweaking is it's very own sport. Many leagues have guys ( and Gals ) who do nothing but tweak the setups, these folks rarely ever sit behind the wheel of the car - that is the DRIVERS JOB!

Painting your car

Another unique aspect of Nascar Racing is Car Painting. You see at the top of this page the 222 Beemaster Silver Beemobile. When I race, the other people in the race see my car on their screen and there is nothing like having your own unique car on the track.

I'm not going to cover this or any topic in detail. I will post the BEST LINKS on the web, where you can learn from the pros. That's something that I try to teach to people on my web site designing section - add lots of reliable, knowledgeable links to your site and your site MAGICALLY becomes bigger.

You need software of course - Paintshop Pro tends to be the experts favorite program - as is mine, mainly because it is hundreds of dollars cheaper than Adobe Photoshop. Once you've painted a car, you need to upload it to the Internet to the Central Hub of Online Car Paintings, the Nascarsim.com web site. Once there, other people download your car paint job and whenever you come into a race, they will see your paint job. Note: if you do not upload your car, the other racers will see a generic blue or brown colored car instead of your beautifully painted race car.

You can also EMAIL your car paint job to other racers and they just add it to their paint job folder in Nascar. Either way, having a painted car is fun and always fine to watch in the race reruns.

Your own personal spotter is Darrell Waltrip!!! As you race around the track you will get all the information you need to assist you in decision making from the your spotter. Here are a few of the comments Darrell makes to you as you are driving in different situations.

• The Speed Limit in the pits is 55. Keep the engine under 3500rpm.
• Don't Merge yet!
• Get ready the pace car is in.
• Green Green Green.
  
• Car High!
• Car Low!
• Still there!
• Do not pass the ## Car on the inside lane 
• There is an accident in Turn ##.
• You are THREE WIDE.
• Yellow flag is out, race back to the start/finish line.
  
• You are now in 4th place - good job.
• That car ahead is a LAP behind.
• You are Racing the car BEHIND you - meaning HE is trying to take YOUR position.
• You WON!!! Great Job Buddy.

The interesting thing is that EVERYONE ( in the ENGLISH VERSION ) has Darrell Waltrip as their own personal spotter. In different languages they use other voices. But your spotter gives you enough heads up information to make critical decisions in micro-seconds. Often, you can not see a car above or below you on the track and without your spotter, you are likely to drive right into that car without a clue he was ever there.

Views of the race - during and after

During the race you can view the track from 4 different views relative to your car.

COCKPIT VIEW - sometimes race hosts force this view. It is very limiting and gives you a feel for what it is to be a real racers. In the cockpit, you depend solely on your spotter and mirrors because the only thing you have a clear view of is a small area to the front of your car.

Over the Hood View - This is my favorite. You see your car as if you are sitting behind the wheel of the family car looking out over the hood. You then click on the G and S keys to bring the dashboard gages and speedometer to the bottom where you can view them easily throughout the race.

BUMPER CAM - This is just what is says. I'm sure you've seen the races where you have a fisheye view of the cars racing bumper to bumper from a very low position, where everything seems WAY TOO CLOSE and distorted slightly. That is the Bumper View. It's a lot of fun to race, but isn't the most ideal view in heavy traffic.

CHASE CAR VIEW - is the only outside of the car view you have WHILE racing. It is a cam directly behind and above your car and allows you to see all the cars in front, along side and even behind you. This view is difficult to drive unless you have lots of arcade driving experience and it also reduces the degree of realism in this wonderful simulator.

AFTER THE RACE you have a greatly increased set of views that can greatly enhance your ability to critique your own skills as a driver. You can access these enhanced view in two specific ways:

• During the race - if you voluntarily leave a race or if your car is totaled, you can enter the LIVE CAMERA SECTION and watch the race from inside ANY CAR and with any of a bunch of views - including helicopter, chase cars, lead cars,, right side, left side, stadium, etc..
• After the Race - you can save the race for reviewing at your leisure. That's right, the entire race can be reviewed at any time and again - from ANY VIEW from any car in the race.

These Added Views allow you to jump into other driver's cars and watch your car race around from their prospective. Lap after lap you can sit back and critique your own skills from these dozens or so views from all 43 cars. It really does improve your skill level.

Also, it allows you to race in the car of better drivers, you can look and see which gear they are in, how much throttle or brake they are giving the car at different parts of the track, etc..

Joining leagues

Being a good racer helps you to get into leagues, but NOT mandatory. What is expected though is a serious desire to race well. Leagues are a great way to improve your driving skills

• It allows you to race against consistently good drivers
• you'll get to race on more tracks - many people stick to a handful of tracks and rarely drive the 4 types of Nascar Tracks - road course, short track, speedway and super speedway.
• You'll get to share car setups, swap paint jobs, make partnerships and drafting buddies.
• You'll have a fixed schedule of racing, so you can plan your racing days and nights and have many practice sessions to tweak your car and driving skills.

Much more coming to this site - within a few days, I'll have links to all the best Nascar Simulator sites. You'll have Downloadable Car Setups, complete garage instructions, painting info and more about leagues.

I’ll turn this page into a MEGA SITE by offering you links to the best online racing sites on the Internet. All of them have detailed information on League, Setups, Paint jobs, Etiquette of racing, racing rules, hints and putting it all together.

There isn't no better feeling in Online racing than knowing your car is tweaked to the max. and your own skills are capable of getting you from anywhere in the pack up toward the front and maybe across the finish line in first place. I've downloaded many races from different league sites and I will say that I was blown away at the talents of many of these drivers.

One race sticks out more than all others. It was a 150 lap race at the short track Bristol. On this steeply banked track which is only a half mile in length, you can always expect bumper-to-bumper smashem’ up racing. The pros consider Bristol Night Race to be the best in Nascar and the $400 a seat tickets that need to be booked sometimes years in advanced will enforce the popularity of this great competition.

Well, I downloaded and watched as 43 On-line drivers, all belonging to the same league roll in formation behind the pace car. For the next 42 laps I saw the lead car only make mild gain on the next 12 cars in the pack and not a single accident to bring out a yellow flag. Eventually, I witnessed 3 yellows, far less than you'll ever see at Bristol in real racing. This tight small track racing is a specialty that is something so witness. Having 43 cars on a super speedway like Talladega or Daytona pales in comparison to the fast paced, bumper-to-bumper racing at Bristol. I ran the race in 4X speed and was surprised to realize that the only yellow flags were from cars spinning out unassisted by other drivers racing to tight.

I mentioned the Super Speedways. These massive 2.5mile tracks are the home of the fastest racing in Nascar. Talladega, known as the fastest speedway on Earth often has cars three wide, lap after lap at speeds nearing 200 mph even with RESTRICTOR PLANTS used to keep the speeds down about 10% to 15% of their full out throttle. These courses also differ because they take DRAFTING into effect, unlike the Short Track, where fast acceleration, good balance and setups and masterful braking are needed.

Drafting is a topic that fascinates me to no end. I've had slow cars that just do terrible alone on the track, but almost magically climb toward a car ahead as my car grabs the hole in the air cut by the leading car. If given a choice of having a car equally as fast as any other car on the track OR having a slower car that drafts well, I will take the drafting car every time.

Lets talk about Drafting, I think it would make a great science project in school – and it can be related to creatures in nature, military vehicles and other topics. But drafting at high speeds in a Nascar is a beautiful thing to watch, especially if you have a good understanding of the draft.

DRAFTING – Another sport in the sport.

You've all seen trains for cars on the racetrack, bumper-to-bumper, mile after mile, lap after lap and you've also probably noticed that this train of cars passes single race cars as if they were practically standing still. This is just one benefit of the draft. Drafting is a simple principle that offers great racing advantages to cars that team up for longer races. Here are a few advantages of drafting:

•    Drafting cars increase their speed by sometime 10 and even 15 miles an hour over cars driving single on the track.
•    Drafting cars get better mileage per gallon fuel economy; so fewer pits stops are required.
•    Drafting cars are tightly fitted bumper to bumper and this makes it nearly impossible for slower cars to merge into the drafting pack.
•    Also slower cars who are passed by the draft can not gain enough speed quickly enough as the cars pass to merge into the rear of the draft line – these passed cars will gain some speed, but as the drafters gain more distance, the passed car will slow down to its previous speed again.

How drafting works

Drafting is a concept found in nature. Flocks of geese use drafting to travel long distances in their familiar VEER pattern that they fly. Geese change lead birds often, because that lead bird is doing much more work than those following it in the draft. The VEER SHAPE is unique to the bird's own aerodynamic pattern, just as a single tight line of cars is unique to racing cars in a draft mode.

Drafting doesn't really kick in until very fast speeds are achieved by the race cars. Speedways and super speedways are the primary place drivers depend on drafting. Drafting is a phenomenon that occurs as the wind passes over the speeding car. It is pushed up and over the front of the lead car and pushes down on the rear spoiler to help hold the car down – mainly because additional air flows under the car, which could create unwanted lift.

As a second car pulls behind the air pushes down less on the front car's spoiler and even bypasses the hood of the second car – instead it rises over the roof of the second (and subsequent cars) and even beyond the train of cars where it cuts a hole in the air, forming a low pressure zone which allows other cars to move up faster than if there were no draft. This train of air treats the vehicles as ONE HUGE LONG VEHICLE, equalizing the down force across all the cars, and causing the mass of the train of cars to push through the air faster, gaining speed over individual cars.

I mentioned drafting is an art form, something that Dale Earnhardt Sr. was thought to be the best at. Finding a group of cars up ahead that are in draft and brainstorming your way to catch-up and become part of that train can be the difference of being in the lead pack or lapped several times throughout a long race.

CATCHING UP WITH DRAFTERS

When I race I look for opportunities to move up quickly and even if I have a slower car, there are times when the lead cars form patterns that are favorable to moving my car up into the draft. Here are a few situation that you can look for and take advantage of – lets assume you are about 6 to 10 seconds back, which in racing terms is a miserably long distance on a Super Speedway.

•    Look ahead for cars forming two distance lines, an upper and lower line ( they are racing side by side and several cars deep ) this is a perfect time to make up a second or two. Cars two or three wide form a solid line of air – much like building a vertical wall across the full length of the track. Even if they are many cars deep, their over all speed slows down – BUT they have still created a low pressure zone for you to move up through. Take advantage of this by driving in the CENTER of the track between the lower and upper wide lanes of cars and you will feel your car pulling in closer in no time.
•    Look for a car in the draft that is struggling to keep up with the pack. Get behind him and follow his line perfectly as you race toward him. What happens here is the draft in front of him gets diminished as a second draft - one from his car makes its way back toward your car. As the air passes over his car, it also gets trapped in the lower front of his car and form as pushing effect in the direction of the lead car to his front. You receive the drafting from this car in front of you, but he looses more and more of the draft he has with the cars in front of him. When this medium zone is met, you will speed up faster to meet with his ca, air from the front of your car pushed his forward and the two of you move faster to regain the position in the draft he came from.
•    Courtesy and the rules state the SLOWER and LAP CARS stay high on the track allowing faster cars to go low. As a draft of cars approach, stay in front as long as you can in the same line they are driving. Your speed will increase as they approach. IMPORTANT: let them know that you will be going high for leaders with 1 seconds spread between you and them. At that point, climb quickly out of their way, carefully count the cars as they pass and as soon as it is safe – GET behind the last car in the draft. If the drafting bunch is moving greatly faster than you, then you may not catch the draft and your car will slowly lose seconds as the hurl on by. Ideally, you can gain enough speed as they first approached to give you a good start at catching up as the wiz past. With some luck, there will be another car that is being dragged by the draft and you will be able to squeeze in front or just behind him and the two of you can catch the drafters.

You are in the Draft – NOW… How do I stay there?

One of the most intense adventures of racing is side-by-side, bumper-to-bumper racing. Getting up at the lead of a draft is a wonderful place to be, but this is where everyone else wants to be too. That means your work has just begun. Here are a few things to watch out for and a few tricks to keep you out front all the way to the finish line.

•    After gaining the lead or at least being in that front pack of cars all doing 190 mph lap after lap only feet apart, you'll need to know a few things about your car and the track to make it to the end as a winner. The car setup changes as you draft and according to where you are in this draft, your car can improve or drastically suffer and even blow an engine.
•    Lets take Talladega for example, but Daytona also applies, at least in this one scenario. You are in the lead, your tires are good, you are holding the track and you have made it to the bottom groove. You have at least one, maybe two cars high lap after lap and about 10 cars behind you. You have a few advantages in this scenario 1) you have the shortest distance to travel around the track 2) you are in the lead so you get the most air to the engine through the grill 3) in this formation it is nearly impossible to move up – holding a line behind leaders in a tight pack is tough enough. The only real problem you could have is if your tires start to wear and you find it difficult to hold the bottom of the track without climbing up the track and hitting the car above you.
•    Same situation, but there are only you and a car above you racing around the track. The car high can not pass you if you and his car are nearly the same speed. He has a much greater distance to travel around the track and he would need a second car in draft with him to build enough speed to pass you and get in front of you low on the track. This happens often, especially with good racers. I do my best to get someone to stay low with me and that will lock in our position going in to the end race.
•    Avoid going multi-car wide when possible, you only increase the competition to the front where you are – remember, cars across the track form a wall of all and this wall opens the door for slower cars to catch up with the draft cars.
•    Don't always hold the front line. Sometimes it's better to get a car or two back, especially if you have a poor drafter behind you that wouldn't think twice of spinning you out in the forth turn on the last lap. I'm a great drafter, but I feel like chum in a shark infested pond when I have a stranger right up my bumper lap after lap. I tend to stay near the from, keep an eye on my gages to make sure my water and oil temps are acceptable and most importantly surround myself with a bunch of drivers I feel safe with.
•    Always use drafting to your advantage. As you race down the track, get behind any car ( even those 5 or 6 seconds ahead ) and drive his line. The vortex theory of racing states that air masses flow counterclockwise around a race track and are most stable directly behind a race car. If you constantly target a car in your front window to move up on, then you are much more likely to make your way up the pack and finally into a good drafting chain. I like to always warn the driver I'm tagging along with that I’ll be passing low with about 1 second spread. This way he knows your goal isn't to ram him, just to take advantage of his draft.
•    After passing a car in the last bulleted example, ask that driver to draft you if you are not excessively faster than him. Two cars are always faster than one and if you pass him up and leave him far behind in the mirror, you will see your speed once again drop until you have reached your maximum engine speed.

Aero-Loose

Is worth mentioning briefly. It is when a car in the rear of an other car disrupts the down force normally exerted on the rear of the first car, causing that car to have more air pressure on its front down force than its rear down force - causing the car to act lighter, become loose in the rear and more easily spin outwards up the track.

This happens as the air from the front of rear car forces its way under the front car's rear instead of continuing over the roof of the rear car as it normally does in draft. Aero-loose is mostly found in two car scenarios, more than two cars form the chain of airflow - much like imagining the line of cars as one super long limousine. Aero-loose does happen in Online racing and often causes arguments between racers. The lead car will swear that he was tapped in the turn by the drafting car, even though the drafter knows this not to be the case.

What you See Ain't Always What You Get

This is a good time to give you a warning about race playback. It's a wonderful feature to be able to replay an entire race, view it from any car and from any camera view, but there is a caveat to be cautious of. Your computer take the information at great-neck speed, processes all your intricate moves, the moves of all the other cars and forms a digital movie of the event - a movie which you can move with the same controls of any DVD player. You can do a frame at a time, speed up the race, pause it, switch views, etc..

Here though is the warning: sometimes in accidents, the data can get interpreted improperly by the computer and create a scenario that is different from which actually occurred. I'll explain in a second, but millions of bits of data is being processed and sometimes minute' interpretations are improperly processed and you what you see is NOT actually what happened.

I was racing at Talladega one night. I was about 120 laps into a 140 lap race, drafting closely and moving toward the front of a very good pack of racers. I had cars as close to my rear as I was to the car before me, but I felt comfortable in these drivers and I just moved fast and furious as we neared the end of this exceptionally long race.

All of a sudden, I'm hit from the rear on a turn, spun around and smashed the wall hard. Another 20 cars flew by me and I was pretty much done for the day. I was furious, this driver had been in my mirror for nearly an hour and out of nowhere he bumps me and takes me out. To say the least, I typed some NOT very pleasant things to the other driver. Looking back I was pretty cruel toward him, but I felt justified in my word.

I exited the race and watched the replay - mind you after you leave the race, you can still communicate with the other racers and even watch the race LIVE from any of the camera views. I rewound the race to the point of the accident and watched it from several angles including; chase car, helicopter, his in-car cam and several other views. Every view showed him bump me hard out of nowhere, spinning me out and up the track into the wall. To me I had all the proof in the world and I was still furious. I said a few more colorful words to the racer who swore that he never touched me, saying it was probably Aero-Loose. But in all my replays I heard the crunch as he smacked me.

Another racer ( who I believed had no friendship with the incident driver ) left the race and he too watched the race. After about a minute, he told me two words that blew me away: "No Contact!"  I yelled like a madman, asked he what he had been smoking and told him to look again. At this point, others were finishing the race and they also viewed the incident. Again, this time from several people - No Contact!.

I just didn't get it. Here it was in every view, without doubt he smacked me hard enough to put me in the wall and everyone else saw the incident the same - except for me. One fellow asked if I had cable modem, I said I did and he asked me to hold on. A few minutes later he emailed a short clip from the race showing the incident from about 10 seconds prior and just as long AFTER the incident.

There was no doubt that what I was watching was indeed from THAT race. All the cars were right there in the correct order and as I watched the emailed rerun I sat with my mouth open as the car to my rear NEVER came in contact with my car. Indeed it was Aero-loose, air had been pushed under my car's rear from his front bumper and in reduced my traction to the track as I entered the turn. My car lost its grip and off I went into the wall.

At this time it was too late to apologize to the other driver, but I had learned a valuable lesson concerning play back - that is, it can be wrong. Not often, matter of fact rarely - but it is only a computer collecting on-the-fly data and creating images from it. A little glitch and somethings can be captured or interpreted incorrectly.

My only point is that you need to take racing from a cool head prospective. None of us are expert drivers and mistakes do happen. To reduct the number of incidences you encounter, I suggest race in rated races and win or finish as many of them as you can, slowly building up your own rating - so that you can enter races that have minimum rating drivers allowed. Honestly, there is NOTHING like being in a race with drivers with 6 or 7 ratings. These guys are all serious about racing and the number of purpose wreckers are few.


Simple Pit Strategy to get you home a winner

Online Racing offers a ton of variables, but my favorites are SHORT races ( 40 or so laps ) where you are forced to have at least ONE pit stop. This turns just racing into a mathematical puzzle and some good old fashion thinking. Longer races are fine if you can stomach doing 300 or 400 hundred laps with 6 or so pit stops, just to have some idiot smash you into the wall with only 3 laps left. This is another reason that I'm very much for League Racing – accidents still happen, but at least in league they tend to be accidents and not a last second power struggle from a half-wit wanting to win at all costs.

You may get a warning from your spotter as you near the refueling time “Keep an eye on that fuel gauger buddy, if it starts to drop you need to come in for fuel!” or you might here “you have a tire that's about to go!” and even “There's something wrong with that engine – you're smoking out there!” Take heed of all these warnings.

The Fuel gauger is NOT a gallon per tank gauge like our cars at home. It is a pressurized tank and the gauge normally shows about 9 to 11 psi of fuel pressure. Once your spotter has warned you, you have about 2 maybe 3 laps to get into the pit without running out. In some rare cases, the spotter will shout over the radio “Looks like we can make it on what fuel you got buddy, bring it on home!” If this happens, go for it. I have heard people say that they still ran out, but in the dozen or so times I continued on, I always finished with fuel.

There are several rules required around the pits and all must be followed or stiff penalties will be issued against you by the GAME itself. Here are a few: speeding on pit lane gets you a 15 second penalty, exiting the pit unsafely or merging before the proper merge area will get you back in the pits for a stop and go. Passing the pace car can get you to the back of the longest line and so on. So being aware of pit strategy is the first and most powerful way to keep you in the race. Just think how long it takes you to make up 15 seconds in a race – I’ll tell you now that I have raced before and only gained 1/10th of a second on the car ahead of me after 40 laps of hard racing. 15 seconds or a stop and go can be disastrous – as can be poor pit stops.

Here are some sensible ideas when having to
go into the pit during a green flag racing situation:

•    Assess what you are going to need done to your car BEFORE you decide to pit. Know if you can get away with just a splash of fuel, or no tires, or two tire or all four tires. Also, any air pressure adjustments or grill tape, etc. There are several things that you can radio in ahead of time and when you pull into your stall, the items you asked for will be taken care of only! Otherwise, you will get all four tires by default and usually ( not always ) a full can of gas to top you off ). This pit stop could be for just a splash of fuel and take only 4 seconds or a full tire change, fuel, grill tape, etc. and set you back 15 seconds. You can save more time in the pits then anywhere else in a race – RACES are OFTEN WON IN THE PITS – keep that in mind and be ready to get in and out in the least amount of time possible.
•    Know where your pit entrance and your pit stall is. This seems silly, but many people forget where they finished in qualifying and don't have the slightest idea where they need to pull their car up to. This becomes very confusing under yellow when everyone is in the pits at the same time. So know where your pit is, stay high in the pit road to the right until you near your space and make sure you center the car in the slot. You will loose precious time if your spotter says “you are too far to the left” or “Backup, you're too far forward”. Stop the car right the first time, every time.
•    Alert the other racers “Pitting this Lap” and pull off of the track, apply heavy but uniform brakes so that you are just below the track pit speed ( 55 mph in most tracks ). There is a line at the beginning and at the end of the Pit Road, you are timed and if you exceed the pit speed you will be held for a penalty. Mind you, your spotter will give you warnings if you exceed these speed limits, but give yourself about 2 mph under the limit to be safe.
•    If you find your car sliding up the track in turns, you need tires.  Always take at least two right tires in an oval track – road courses are always four tires changed. When you enter the track with fresh tires, your car will be faster, better grip around turns will keep you in a sharper line and your lap speed will greatly improve. Four tires will give you better speed than 2 tires, but also double your pit stay. But if your tires feel fine to you and your car is keeping up with the pack, then by all means go with no tires, just fuel. Of course, this could bite you if the other racers grab two or four tires. Even though they lost 12 seconds to you in the pits, they will also make up about a second per lap. If there are lots of laps left in the race, they could very well pass you again. It's an interesting trade off and again, many races have been lost in the pits.
•    After having the tires or fuel or whatever you choose to have done, your spotter tells you to “go, go, go!!!” and you make your way back out onto the track. CAUTION: do not exceed the posted speed limit until you pass the white line at the end of pit road. Your spotter will tell you when it is safe. Lastly, wait until you get the “Merge when you can” warning from the spotter – pulling out on to the track before that will get you a return to the pits for a Stop and Go penalty.

Playing the pit game is where you can win. Having an aerodynamic car, drafting long distances and proper tire inflation can keep you out on the track longer than others – and when everyone else are all scrambling to pit, you can make your way to the lead- if for only a few laps and gain some precious points in the standings.

More Racing Strategy to Ponder

Nascar 2002 Winston Cup Series is designed to add all the realism of actual racing. So much so that drivers like Dale Jr., Jimmy Johnson, Tony Stewart and many others spend hours driving their simulators before and after a race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. says this is the only way he can mentally prepare himself for Watkins Glen, a winding and hilly road course in Upstate New York at the bottom of the Finger Lakes – see my Watkins Glen Page in my travel section at www.beemaster.com for some more insight in this beautiful area in the North Eastern United States.

Earnhardt literally drives his car in his personal trailer while still parked at the speedway and even connects through his satellite dish to the other racers who wish to go another go for some more practice or a race. These professional racers know the power of this simulator and they take advantage of it every chance that they cannot sit behind the wheel of the real car. This gives us Online racers a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that the Pros are every bit as fascinated by the simulators realism as we are.

So let's talk about the preparation before a race and even the expectations you can have when first learning to race your own 700 horsepower, 4000 pound pro stock. I've mentioned previously the equipment and connections you'll need to really get the most enjoyment out of racing Online, but this goes the same for racing against the computer opponents too. I strongly suggest that you spend time racing against the computer until you feel comfortable with all aspects of driving. Here are the basic skills you should have confidence in BEFORE you pull onto a race track with 42 other humans from around the globe.

•    Get a basic understanding of the rules and regulations of Nascar – the most interesting feature of Nascar 2002 is that you have a few DOZEN lengthy movies built into the CD and hosted by your spotter Darrell Waltrip. These videos cover such topics as what the flags mean, entering and exiting the pits, fuel usage and tire management, pacing and running under yellow flags and other technical rules that are necessary in order to race by the book.
•    Then Darrell host a complete detailed driving school covering EVERY SINGLE RACETRACK in the Nascar 2002 Season Simulator. He gives you a brief history of the track, it lists track records, you get to then sit in the cockpit while Darrell drives around the tracks showing you exact places to let off the gas, brake or go full throttle. You'll get all the details to help you navigate the track as the pros do. After a slow step by step drive through, you then sit back and watch as Darrell does a lap at real-time pace. Watch these films as often as you need, especially the road courses which have many turns and the short tracks where braking is critical.
•    After you have viewed the videos, decide on a track you wish to practice at. Launch the track of your choice, choose how many computer opponents you wish to race against, set up their skill level ( this is based on your own speed on the track – example you set it for 90% skill, the computer analyzes your abilities and creates the speed at which the drivers race. I suggest that you set up the skill level to at least 85% or the drivers tend to get in your way, more than race you.
•    By now you should have chosen a setup or configured on, or even imported one to race with. You actually have up to three unique setups for each race that can be selected from nearly limitless lists of setups. These are CURRENT, QUALIFYING and RACE. Nascar gives you a few setups, but you can literally change almost every configuration as mentioned earlier, tweaking your car until you feel its perfect for that particular track. Again, garage work is practically its own sport, many people spend 90% of their time there just trying to create the perfect car!
•    Also, I suggest you only choose about a dozen computer opponents at first. Getting 43 cars out on the track can be more work than fun at first. You can choose WHICH drivers you want out there – I'm a big Matt Kennseth Fan, he's a rookie, but a really great racer and drives the Dewalt 17 Car. I always race against him, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gorden, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin and a few others. The paint jobs are sooo perfect that you can recognize these cars seconds away during racing.
•    So you've chosen a setup, picked the number of opponents, set their skill level, configured your controller, and all the other little things required like percentage of race, damage level, arcade or simulator, weather conditions. There are a few important settings that I really want to cover before we get out on the track:

o    Steering Assistance is probably the MOST IMPORTANT box you can check in the OPTIONS mode. In Online racing I see people all over the track, struggling to just keep their car on the track, but bumping into other racers and into the walls. These are folks who have forced feedback wheels and want to feel EVERY LITTLE bump imaginable, so they leave this option turned off, so they can adjust wheel sensitivity levels. The truth is, you could spend a life time and NEVER get the controls to give you both the feedback you want and the control you need. Now I also use a Forced Feedback Wheel, I leave Steering Assistance on and I have plenty of feeling in my wheel. I can tell when I hit a wall or another car, if I am tight or loose in and out of turns and even if I have a flat tire or strong winds – and STILL have complete almost microscopic control over my steering. Why Papyrus ( the makers of Nascar 2002 ) made setting up the FFB Wheel options so difficult is beyond me, but I beg you to turn Steering Assistance ON and leave it on.
o    The other controls are realism settings, both graphical and audio. If you have a processor and video card that is maxed out ( like mine ) you can turn all this stuff on and sit back to stunning, nearly photo realistic graphics at about 50 frames per second. You can start will everything turned on, then as you race see if the frame rate looks choppy and start unclicking things like Grass Detail, skid marks, sky rendering – things that aren't as important as paint jobs, stand details, smoke, asphalt surfacing and what ever else makes the simulator look so awesome. Please note: purposely crash you car into a ton of other cars and watch the frame rate. If you can see smooth accidents, then chances are your settings will be fine for the races.
o    Sound too is important, you can configure what you hear – about a dozed different sounds and how loud you hear them. Your spotter is the most important sound you will want to keep loud, keep him at 100%. Other car noise too is great help while racing. Your ENGINE noise is NOT as critical, you can keep this low, but keep OTHER TRACK NOISES turned up, this is really handy in turns when you need audible feedback in your hugging the track or slipping or sliding. Lastly, choose the 3D sound option, it's much clearer and please make sure your speakers are setup on the correct sides. Nothing worse than hearing a car coming up on your left side, turning right to avoid it and smack into it cause your speakers were backwards lol.
o    Finally you choose Quick Race ( just practice, qualifying and race ) or Standard where you include a WARM-UP session after Qualifying. The only other setup it the length of the race – this is also done by percentage. In Online racing it is typical to have 10% to 20% actual race length, this usually means anywhere from 16 to 60 laps according to the track. Remember, better leagues opt to have one pit stop mandatory, so you might choose to make a race long enough to also practice a pit during a race condition.

Gentlemen… Start Your Engines

Finally J Like you never thought I’d get you in the car. Well, I did say there is quite a bit to do before you start driving, especially against real people. But for now I hope you are staying with the computer opponents you picked earlier and you have your setup tweaked and you should be in your pit stall with your engine running. You can switch from the views mentioned earlier by clicking the page up and page down button. I like the view looking over the car hood, but you can use the cockpit view, bumper cam or chase car in all your races.

I’ll stick here with a medium sized track, only because it offers a bunch of everything. Let's chose Texas Speedway. One of my favorite at a mile and a half, it had a small tri-oval, beautiful grandstands and both an easy and a hard turn, requiring braking in to one turn and reduced but controlled throttle into the other.

Also, hit the G KEY and the S Keys – this will bring up your DASHBOARD and SPEEDOMETER along with the GEAR DISPLAY. These are actual working gauge that give you a tremendous amount of feedback, such as speed, active great, RPMs, oil pressure, Oil Temperature, Water Temperature. The F1 through F10 keys also give you a great deal of feedback and options, we'll cover those later.

You have either set you car up for manual or for automatic shifting. Real serious sim racers use manual shifting always. I have this as two buttons on my wheel. The typical driving wheel has several click type buttons for various feature that you can program. I use the upper two ( of three ) buttons to shift with. The top button shifts up and the bottom shifts down. The lowest button in this vertical stack of three buttons is for REVERSE. Note: you can also achieve reverse by downshifting to neutral and downshifting one extra click. It's then two up clicks to get back into first gear.

As you sit on pit road, you might see the other cars as they pop into the race, either ahead of you in their spots or behind you through your mirror. Look around, see that the coast is clear, turn your wheel to the right, shift into first or just give the pedal a little gas and pull out to the far right lane and make your way down pit road. Your spotter will tell you which gear and at what RPM to keep the engine in to keep the car under the tracks speed limit. If you use automatic shifting, too much throttle and you will likely spinout in the pits. With manual shifting, you can avoid this until you get a feel for the gas peddle by shifting into second gear THEN applying the gas, and shifting of course as you feel it necessary. Typically though, either in manual or auto, you will be shifting around 6000 rpm or when the handy RPM Light comes on.

At the end of Pit Road, your spotter will say you are Clear of Pit road – you continue down the shoulder until he says “Ok, Merge when you can” at which time, look in your mirrors ( or hit the F2 Key and the SPACE BAR ) to get a handy window which tells you what cars are on the track and in seconds how far ahead or behind you they are. F2 toggles to give you the lap speeds of you and the other cars. Remember, if cars have made a lap already, they are coming up at about 170 mph as you attempt to merge, ride the shoulder as long as it takes to get up speed and a clear area to pull onto the track. You are now ready to practice with the rest of the opponents.

I sure hope you put STEERING ASSISTANCE on in OPTIONS as I strongly suggest – at this point you'll know if you did or not, because without it, you'll find yourself all over the track like you've been drinking moonshine all day. It's now time to get a feeling for your car and how it handles. First though hit the R KEY on your keyboard, this puts a handy PREFERRED line on the track and is a good way to get the feel for where your car should be on the track at all times. It comes with green, yellow and red stripes indicating full throttle, slowdown or brake heavily respectfully.

Try following the green preferred line around the track, going low in the turns but NOT going down on the aprons where you lose a lot of speed and chance losing control of the car. Also listen as you go into the turns – you can hear a quiet entry, a windy sounding entry or a squealing as you round the turns. The quiet is ideal – your tires a grabbing and your car is cutting through the air very aerodynamically. The windy sound is your car grabbing the track but it isn't facing into the turn as perfectly as it could, so the wind is moving over the car improperly, slowing you down. The squealing is of course you losing traction into the turn and sliding up the track. This is the worse case scenario because you are both fighting the wind and not making contact with the road. Excess energy is spent in a lateral movement trying to keep the car from totally leaving the track and you lose a great deal of speed, reduce your tire life and burn excess fuel trying to regain your speed.

Out on the track and in Traffic

You should just pay attention to your own driving, staying clear of the other cars – the artificial intelligence in Nascar 2002 is really good, these guys can avoid most accidents that you cause – such as bumping them into turns ( the worse thing to do in Online Racing ) so you can pretty much do your own thing. Get the car up into forth and keep your car near the ideal racing line. As it goes into turns you will usually see the line fade toward yellow, this usually does NOT mean brake, and rather it is telling you to back off the throttle some. This is a smooth controlled action you will need to practice because one of two things happen if you improperly use your throttle control techniques:

•    If you do not remove you foot enough from the throttle, you will slide up the track and into the wall or at the very least, get out of the darker gray track surface. The dark gray shows you the stickiest part of the racing surface, where most of the cars have laid rubber down. This is where you want to keep your car into a turn, climbing above that is a sure way to scrape the wall and cause damage to your car.
•    If you take your foot too far off of the throttle, you can spin the back end of the car around and dive your front in towards the track. This is always a sure thing on highly banked smaller tracks, where speed difference occurs more frequently. To avoid this, you need to slowly back your foot off the throttle, just enough ( maybe 20% or so ) until your car remains along the turn in the darker gray area and then return to full throttle as the preferred line color returns to green. Getting use to the throttle is tricky. But your brake is NOT USED as often as you would think in auto racing, rather controlled throttle or downshifting is preferred.
•    In a turn you can also downshift and the car will hug the turn better at a higher throttle rate. In a higher gear into a turn it is easier to climb up the track into the light gray track and into the wall. If you feel the car climbing up into the light gray, downshift ( if the RPMs aren't too high ) and continue to hold the throttle as it drifts back into the darker gray.

Learning to build up speed
and maneuver around other cars


As you work your way around the track, use your ears as well as your eyes. I mentioned keeping the track noises turned up and your engine turned lower. You will get a great amount of feedback from the speakers as you enter and exit turns, shift from gear to gear and race close to other cars. Use this audible feedback to keep your car racing that fine line between grabbing the track and slipping. I mentioned that your sound gives you three main clues to what your car is doing in turns. If you use this info to adjust your throttle and wheel position, you can greatly increase your speed around the track.

Here we are still at Texas Speedway, entering that blasted turn one. You go high out of the tri-ovals, past the start/finish line and either brake or take your foot off the throttle as you enter the turn. You want to keep your car in the darker gray area, but you hear your tires squealing and you start climbing up the track. You diddle with the amount of gas you give the car and the speed and angle you enter the turn, but lap after lap you climb up and out of the dark gray and scrape the wall. What could be causing this? Lets think of the possibilities.

• you are still entering the turn too fast. You can brake sooner or pull your foot off of the throttle a bit sooner. Listen to that squeal and see if it reduces with less gas into the turn. At Texas, you wont be holding the track in the simulator mode much beyond 165 mph even with a premo setup, so watch your speed.
• You are cutting your wheel to sharp. You need to get lower into the turn sooner and straighten your wheel out toward the right a bit more - remember listen for the WIND NOISE as the air passes over your car. If you hear wind, chances are your car is NOT cutting into the air properly and improper weight is being distributed around the car, causing either the front or rear to be loose. Again, use your ears as well as all the gages you have in your car.
• Your Car Setup isn't correct. I'm not the king of setups, so you'll need to get the setup guide at www.sascar.com and do some reading on how EVERY SINGLE FEATURE of the car can be tweaked. Look for the setup in html - a link on the left column of the screen at the time of this printing. You can also download the Acrobat Version, as well as the html version. I recommend you get this and keep it on your hard drive. It is the best single reference you will ever find concerning Nascar 2002 setups.
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More to come about Nascar Simulation Racing!!!

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