My first major sim racing success — the sort of moment that I just had to wake up my parents and tell them about, no matter how late it was on a Friday night — happened in an online oval league race. On September 27, 2002, I found my way to the front of a SOAR Racing League event at Gateway, much to the surprise of just about everyone else in the field, and managed to hang on for the victory.
More than a decade later on iRacing, I was excited to again find a league home at the ISRA-turned-ITSR, where during a three-year period I enjoyed my most successful — and most fun — run ever in sim racing. A big reason was having a friendly, competitive league where I competed against the same drivers each week and learned their tendencies as we pushed each other to be better and faster.
While I began racing there as a road course ringer, I soon became an oval race winner, a fuel mileage specialist, and even a championship contender. During my tenure at ISRA/ITSR, I won my three oval league championships: two in the Power Series, which used the NASCAR Cup cars, and one in the STARS Series driving the NASCAR trucks. Those featured some incredibly tight points battles and strategic decisions that would make any real-world crew chief proud.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and the abrupt closure of ITSR in 2016 amid declining turnout for races effectively spelled the end of my oval league career. Looking back, those three years were like capturing lightning in a bottle, and those experiences have made my resumé more complete and my sim racing story more well-rounded.
Power Series career stats:
| Season | Starts | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Poles | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 5/20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 25th |
| 7 | 19/19 | 4 | 15 | 17 | 0 | 2nd |
| 8 | 19/19 | 4 | 13 | 16 | 4 | 1st |
| 9 | 16/17 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 2nd |
| 10 | 18/18 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 5th |
| 11 | 17/17 | 4 | 12 | 15 | 3 | 1st |
| 12 | 10/10 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 4 | incomplete |
| Total | 104 | 21 | 68 | 82 | 14 | 1st (2 times) |
THUNDER Series career stats:
| Season | Starts | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Poles | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 A | 13/13 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 2 | 2nd |
| 2016 B | 11/12 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 0 | incomplete |
| Total | 24 | 4 | 23 | 24 | 2 | 2nd (1 time) |
STARS Series career stats:
| Season | Starts | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | Poles | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 A | 13/13 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 1st |
| 2016 B | 10/11 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 3 | incomplete |
| Total | 23 | 6 | 19 | 21 | 4 | 1st (1 time) |
