Never driven at this venue... Should be fun!
-----

iRacers Are Sure-Fire Winners with Vegas: Las Vegas Motor Speedway Added to Line-Up of Racetracks Available to Simulation Service Members

BEDFORD, MA (December 01, 2008) - What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? Not at iRacing.com, where members will soon be able to race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway without ever leaving home - even if home is halfway around the world from the glitz of the Strip. The 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, with its 20-degree banking, hosts all three of NASCAR's top stock car series, and has been a venue for top-tier open-wheel competition and sports car racing.

"Las Vegas Motor Speedway is an amazing motorsports complex," noted Scott McKee, vice president of marketing for iRacing. "Its nickname, 'The Diamond in the Desert,' is well-deserved. The facility has the polished brilliance that is a trademark of Speedway Motorsports' properties, and it is truly multifaceted. Whether they are racing the Chevrolet Silverado or one of the other upcoming Chevy stock cars on the big oval, a Legends Car on the pit-lane-based short oval, or any of our road-racing cars on one of the three infield road courses, from the standpoint of fun racing, our members are going to find themselves winners every time they go to Vegas."

Although the oval gets much of the prime-time attention these days, LVMS' multiple infield configurations make the desert speed palace a great venue for road racing and karting. Unlike most road circuit configurations at superspeedways, none of the three at LVMS makes use of the oval, allowing for concurrent use in some situations. In addition, Legends Cars regularly compete on a short oval, which incorporates the superspeedway's pit lane.

"iRacing.com's inclusion of Las Vegas Motor Speedway as one of its online simulated race courses will allow fans to share some of the same experiences as the drivers who compete here," said LVMS president Chris Powell. "We're excited to be a part of this, and we think the race fans will get a real feel for how challenging our various race tracks can be."

In a town where entertainment is king, auto racing had a checkered history until the construction of LVMS in 1996. In 1954, when American open-wheel racing was mostly conducted on fairground dirt ovals and sanctioned by the American Automobile Association, and Las Vegas was still a relatively small town, Jimmy Bryan won a 100-mile national championship race on the one-mile Las Vegas Park track. Major league racing didn't reappear in Las Vegas for a dozen years, and then in the form of unlimited sports car racing at Stardust Raceway, a very basic road course in the countryside outside the city limits. Home for three seasons, beginning in 1966, to the season finale of the Sports Car Club of America's Can-Am series, Stardust Raceway then faded back into the desert from whence it came.

The international Formula One series was the next to take a shot at making it big in Vegas. In 1981 the Ceasars Palace Grand Prix was launched with high hopes on a track constructed in a parking lot adjacent to the hotel/casino complex. After a second race a year later, Formula One was gone, followed by a pair of CART IndyCar races in 1983 and '84. Major-league motorsport was again dormant for a dozen years until the opening of LVMS. The first major event at the new speedway was a NASCAR Craftsman Truck race, in November, 1996. The Nationwide Series paid a visit in 1997, before the Sprint Cup series arrived in 1998, marking the beginning of the track's long-term success.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with two oval and three road-circuit configurations, is scheduled to become available to iRacing members late this month.

About iRacing.com
iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group - the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing - as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing.com team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development.

Attached Thumbnails