Why I finally quit League Racing and open IRacing too.
For many years, I organized several iRacing leagues. Starting with the 60PLUS Racing Adventures for drivers over 60 years old, then later to Team Racers for Christ, and Fair Chance Racing. Finally the Senior Sportsmanship League. I focused on elderly "senior" drivers intentionally as I guessed they might be more open to my message.
The goal was always to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the command to Love Thy Neighbor. Loving Thy Neighbor in racing competition, in my strong opinion is restraint of aggression and the avoidance of any action that will slow down your competitor.
Unfortunately, most men who engage in competitive racing see it as "fighting" or at the minimum, "friendly conflict and struggle". Their reaction to my version of Love Thy Neighbor message was "that's not racing!". One league actually advertises having “fierce competition” with non-aggressive driving. Not sure the two ideas are compatible. When you are “battling” you are fighting. And “fierce” seems a bit unfriendly.
The league concept is that you race against people you are familiar with rather than strangers. Many leagues promote "friendliness" but never seem to eliminate the worst temptations to fight with what is often called "clean hard racing" which is just another word for "friendly fighting". Mostly it becomes like a bar room brawl where everyone sort of celebrates with a "wasn't that fight great fun". Some competitors are more vicious and aggressive than others. Members do form a sort of community which they value, but on the track most see each other as enemies that they need to defeat, even though they show a form of “friendliness”. It may not be Heavy Weight Pro Boxing or UFC Battles but it is always as least as much of a fight as Olympic Boxing.
The goal for most is to finish ahead of others rather to finish in the least amount of time. If you are fighting for position with other drivers throughout the race, everyone is essentially slowed down and not finishing in the least amount of time. The best racing is more like a “Time Trial in Traffic.”
The best example of this is the lack of respect given to qualifying positions. Qualifying is intended to “signal” the relative speed of the participants. Those that see racing as a “fight” will almost always try to pass the car who qualified faster on the first lap-even on the first corner. This slows everyone down and often results in needless collisions. It is high risk as tires are not at their optimum on the first lap and aggressive driving is high risk. Absent mistakes, the faster qualifier is the faster car. Lack of respect for qualifying positions on the first lap does harm to the entire field.
Ten years of doing my best to change this attitude and I finally concluded that the goal was unattainable. (See Struggles of a Christian Racer". ) The Bible clearly instructs Christians to depart from a group after a clear rejection of the Gospel message.
I am careful to avoid the self righteous judgment that the "normal" behavior is "evil". Many of those on track that are fighting most probably see themselves as Christians. "It's only a game and a way to have fun!" I am simply indicating that "Love Thy Neighbor" in racing does not include overtake attempts during corner entry (a sort of theft) and does not include following so close during corner entry that the possibility of collision is high. The first always forces the other driver to slow and both actions dramatically increase the probability of collision, ruining the other person's race. Great racing is still possible without these behaviors--passing in the section of long straights from corner exit ending several car lengths before the braking zone is great racing-passing in corner entry is fighting. Many racers do not see iRacing as a game-it is a serious endeavor illustrating advanced car control--to these, the "clean hard racing" is an annoyance.
I have determined that the open iRacing is completely unacceptable. The driver behavior on the first lap is TERRIBLE. Events are no worse in terms of excess aggression than racing leagues-but with one important point to mention. First lap driving skill and judgment in iRacing “open” series is UNBELIEVABLY TERRIBLE! Total chaos in the first lap. A very high percentage of the time, the experience is very disappointing.
But often, league racing is just as bad. (One recent league race on an oval track had 7 yellow flags-one about every five minutes. And I was rear ended by one of the top performers on corner entry. I had earned the pole P1 position from qualifying, made a mistake and was a lap down because of a “no passing” penalty but was in the position to return to the lead lap and this guy decided to try to dive bomb on the inside entering a corner, colliding with me. There was no rational reason for him to be aggressive at that time. On the restart he anticipated the green and “jumped” the start, rocketing pass me on the outside—a very aggressive and dangerous move.)
There are exceptions, but the top performers in most leagues are born lethal predators seeking a "win" almost “at all costs” in order to validate their self esteem and superiority. There is nothing wrong with the desire to win, but winning at others’ expense is not consistent with the Love Thy Neighbor command. Racing in a league against these same predators every week was very unpleasant. I raced to have fun. They raced to position themselves as “better”.
I have made reasonably friendly relationships with many league racers but the racing is no more fun than open iRacing. In fact it is often more frustrating when some people pretend to be your friend when in fact they see you as prey to defeat and dominate on a regular basis.
I have tried several leagues where I don't evangelize--just race. But, generally the competition in leagues is just as cutthroat as in open iRacing. The only goal is to finish in as high a position as possible--the attitude adopts high risk behavior as beneficial. This is especially the case where the draft is powerful. Slower cars will use the draft to overtake and then become obstacles in upcoming corner entry. Often this results in unintentional contact and frustration.
I returned to compete in two events in one of my previous leagues. In the first race, on the first lap, one of the leaders went off track because of careless driving and took out two other cars. In the second race near the end P3 and P4 went into a corner side by side recklessly and took each other out and collided with me.
After a “one last try” in open iRacing, I have decided to end any and all attempts to enter racing competition with others on track there. (The last straw—Starting on P1 pole position in a FF1600 race, I was taken out on the first lap by a car attempting a late braking dive bomb.) I will enter Time Trial and Time Attack competition and will program some AI competitors to race against in traffic.
I love racing when it is competition without unreasonable risk and without contact. Pro racing tolerates chaos as it entertains the spectators-club racing is supposed to be fun for the participants. But,I finally must admit that racing attracts participants who truly love to fight and dominate and as iRacing is “a game” the high risk and consequences are not a concern. The participants see themselves almost like pretend pro racing drivers. (My “Incidents per Race” were less than 3.5– an analysis of the top three drivers in several series indicates a high level of incidents , most having an average “Incidents per Race” of higher than 7!)
IRacing is popular because it is an excellent simulation. I congratulate them for the Time Track and Time Trial systems. I congratulate them for AI cars. I think they have allowed the open racing to become a violent chaotic mess by failing to invest in a race review by Stewards to assign blame and discipline for reckless behavior and avoidable collisions-and by the “cold tire” with low grip design on lap 1 that they use. Obviously it has not hurt their business as the “violent chaotic mess” seems to be acceptable and maybe even desirable by a very large population of drivers.
Leagues could and should have race reviews by Stewards but the participation would be severely reduced once discipline was applied as most often the end result is removal of the participant-you kick them out or they quit.
So probably, given the mindset of the vast majority of racing, “hard racing” which is really almost always a “violent chaotic mess” is attractive or at least tolerable.
To the small minority like me, you either muddle thru or just decide not to be annoyed and unhappy- by withdrawing from the chaos.
