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BEDFORD (24 October 2007) iRacing.com has been named Official Driver Development Software for Team USA Scholarship, an organization that provides support to up-and-coming young American racers of championship-winning potential. The announcement was made Monday, October 22, by Jeremy Shaw, Team USA's founder, and Scott McKee, vice president of marketing for iRacing.com.
The announcement comes shortly after the arrival in England of the 2007 Team USA Scholarship winners Joel Miller and Patrick Barrett, where they will compete in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy, a series of six races on consecutive weekends at the Brands Hatch and Snetterton race tracks.
"Our scholarship winners are long on potential, but relatively speaking, they are still fairly inexperienced," Shaw said. "In addition to the annual fall races in England, through the team's sponsors and supporters we're often able to arrange for our drivers to test in other series. Earlier this month Patrick and Joel tested Star Mazda cars at Virginia International Raceway. In the future, our team members will be more competitive in their races and get more out of their on-track tests because they'll be able to better prepare for them with iRacing.com's simulation software."
"Our business is about helping racers develop their skills," McKee said. "Our simulation software is useful for drivers at all levels of skill and experience, but there's something particularly satisfying about helping the stars of tomorrow make their way in the sport. It feels good to be a part of such a worthy program."
Miller had the chance to try out iRacing.com's simulation software this past weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he was competing in the Snap-On Stars of Karting National Finals. Miller conducted a back-to-back comparison, driving a Formula Mazda at VIR in the sim, just a week after testing the real car on the 3.7-mile circuit.
"The brake and shift points are spot on," Miller said after getting acclimated in a Formula Skip Barber 2000 and then switching over to the Formula Mazda for several hot laps. "I think it's especially good for learning tracks. When you go someplace new, you spend the first two sessions just learning the track. But when you're under pressure, like we'll be in England, you don't have those two sessions to just learn the track you're expected to know that right away."
Team USA Scholarship, which began operations in 1990, has assisted the careers of a number of drivers who have gone on to stellar success, beginning with the first scholarship winner, Jimmy Vasser, long-time open-wheel star and 1995 CART champion. Others include Bryan Herta, who is now driving an Acura entry in the American Le Mans Series following a long career in CART and IRL; former Champ Car driver A.J. Allmendinger, who is now a NASCAR Nextel Cup regular; Joey Hand and Bryan Sellers, both drivers for Team PTG Panoz in the ALMS; 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice; and Tony Ave, the winner earlier this month of the GT1 class at the SCCA National Runoffs.
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