iRacing Motorsport Simulations, NASCAR Sign Partnership

NASCAR Will Adopt iRacing's Simulation As Virtual Branch Of Auto Racing

Massachusetts-based iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations said that it has reached an endorsement deal with NASCAR that “could catapult iRacing.com to a new level of success,” according to Peter DeMarco of the BOSTON GLOBE. NASCAR said that it “will adopt the company’s simulation -- which is played against other users -- as a virtual branch of auto racing, with potential scoring updates on NASCAR’s website, spots on ESPN, and NASCAR trophies for the best video racers in the country.” iRacing.com President Tony Gardner: “We’re literally going to be a brand of motor sports to them. It’s going to be NASCAR online.” NASCAR said that it “expects the first officially-sanctioned online races to start in 2010.” It is “unclear how many fans will be willing to put in the practice time to get good at the simulation, and pay the online fee -- the basic, annual subscription costs $13 a month.” iRacing.com has “signed up 12,000 subscribers since it started” in August, “targeting mostly amateur race car drivers and experienced simulation players.” The simulation “puts players behind the wheel of a car, staring out the windshield as they race around the twists and turns of re-created tracks from across the country.” iRacing.com looks “like a video game, but the level of interaction a player has with his car and others puts it in a different field” (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/19).

CHANGE IN GAMING CATEGORY APPROACH: The unique five-year licensing arrangement between NASCAR and iRacing.com represents an evolving shift in NASCAR's approach to the gaming category. EA Sports has produced NASCAR-licensed videogames as the sport's exclusive gaming partner since '97, but that deal ends this year and future deals will not provide exclusivity in the space. NASCAR and EA Sports, which produced the first edition of "NASCAR Kart Racing" for Wii this year, are in negotiations for a new contract. Future projects will likely target the Wii console, said Blake Davidson, NASCAR Managing Dir of Licensed Products. "It's important to look at all the categories to find ways to expand NASCAR's presence," Davidson said. "There are so many layers to the gaming space and we need to make sure we're in a position to take advantage of those opportunities." That could mean a continued slicing and dicing of the gaming category, including the prospect of a new Internet-based game with Turner Sports for NASCAR.com. When iRacing.com kicks off the first season in '10, the series will have a name and it is not out of the question that it could have a sponsor. The company, which has kept its marketing lean since it was founded in '04, has not formulated any kind of sponsorship plan yet, said spokesperson Steve Potter. But track sponsors will have their signage displayed on the game to recreate the feeling of the speedway as accurately as possible. NASCAR and iRacing.com are working on a joint logo for the series (Michael Smith, SportsBusiness Journal)