Attention Ed

Ed, We are all looking forward to the NRL! I have a question though, do you have any idea about how it will be structured? I mean there are alot of drivers out there, will there be many divisions within the NRL for us to progress, with the best drivers up top and the others below? Many leagues within the NRL? And how will NASCAR be able to officiate all of the races? Will we all start at the same place, the bottom and work ourselves up, will our currect skill levels be transferred? Please answer all that you are able, we appreciate it! Regards, Todd

>Ed, >We are all looking forward to the NRL! I have a question though, do you have any idea about how it will be structured? I mean there are alot of drivers out there, will there be many divisions within the NRL for us to progress, with the best drivers up top and the others below? Many leagues within the NRL? And how will NASCAR be able to officiate all of the races? Will we all start at the same place, the bottom and work ourselves up, will our currect skill levels be transferred? The NRL will be structured very much like the existing Hawaii prototype, except it will be done on a much larger scale. The existing skill level system will still be in place, however, you will have an individual skill level for each track. Tracks will be grouped together (there will be 5 of them) based on similarity: Super Speedways (Talladega), Speedways (Atlanta, Michigan, C***te, Darlington, Pocono), Mile Ovals (Dover, Louden, Phoenix, Rockingham), Short Ovals (Bristol, Martinsville, N. Wilkesboro, Richmond) & Road Courses (Sears Point, Watkins Glen). Don't worry, if you become a 10 at 1 track in the group, you will not start at the bottom of the pack (i.e. a '0') on the other tracks in the group. For example, if you become a 10 at Michigan but have never raced Atlanta, you will start as a 5 at Atlanta. In addition to the existing pickup races & user created series races, there will be NRL sanctioned series. NRL series will have multiple iterations based on skill level groupings (5 divisions) & times (for convenience). The beauty of the virtual world is that we can run an unlimited number of races on the same track at the same time! So, there won't be multiple leagues, per se, but there will be mutlitple tiers & multiple times within each series to accomodate everyone. NRL series will have a points system similar to Winston Cup events. That way, we can crown a champion based on performance over a number of events even if the users don't all race against the same people all the time. Think of it in terms of the 6 divisions in baseball (AL & NL / east, central & west). At the end of the season, there is a World Series Champion. I don't mean to suggest that we will go with a won/lost situation like baseball, I'm just saying that we can run multiple iterations of a particular series at the same time & still come out with a single champion that the end of the series -- even though you don't race against the same exact set of drivers every race. The system itself will be much more robust at monitoring the events, and races approaching the championship level will be monitored live by NRL officials. We've talked about a "mega championship event" where we bring the top drivers together for the final race... like maybe the day before the Daytona 500. We're even talking about a Champioship Banquet! As for current skill levels, there will be a provision to transfer your existing levels over to NRL. We are keeping all data from all races on Hawaii. Ed Martin Producer, Series Director NASCAR Racing League Papyrus / Sierra On-Line, Inc.

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>>We've talked about a "mega championship event" where we bring the top >>drivers together for the final race... like maybe the day before the >>Daytona 500. We're even talking about a Champioship Banquet! >That's pretty exciting stuff, Ed! So will the NRL Championship drivers get >a chance to hobnob with the real WC drivers at the Waldorf Astoria? >Dave "davids" Sparks >Sequoia Motorsports

I would imagine that we'd have 1 or 2 of them there!!! Ed Martin Producer, Series Director NASCAR Racing League Papyrus / Sierra On-Line, Inc.

That's pretty exciting stuff, Ed! So will the NRL Championship drivers get a chance to hobnob with the real WC drivers at the Waldorf Astoria? Dave "davids" Sparks Sequoia Motorsports

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> NRL series will have a points system similar to Winston Cup events. > That way, we can crown a champion based on performance over a number > of events even if the users don't all race against the same people all > the time. Think of it in terms of the 6 divisions in baseball (AL & > NL / east, central & west). At the end of the season, there is a > World Series Champion. I don't mean to suggest that we will go with a > won/lost situation like baseball, I'm just saying that we can run > multiple iterations of a particular series at the same time & still > come out with a single champion that the end of the series -- even > though you don't race against the same exact set of drivers every > race.

Hey Ed, I hope I speak for alot of people when I say that we've had enough of running separate races (against the AI) and then merging results to create a virtual race standing. We want to be able to run an elite series. One where there are 50 or so drivers competing for 42 spots on race day and the Championship at the end of the season. I think what most people would rather have is a tiered system where you earn your way into the SHOW by finishing in the top 5 of your division. Then all the top 5 drivers from each division duke it out in a series of races not just one race. David Martin

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>> NRL series will have a points system similar to Winston Cup events. >> That way, we can crown a champion based on performance over a number >> of events even if the users don't all race against the same people all >> the time. Think of it in terms of the 6 divisions in baseball (AL & >> NL / east, central & west). At the end of the season, there is a >> World Series Champion. I don't mean to suggest that we will go with a >> won/lost situation like baseball, I'm just saying that we can run >> multiple iterations of a particular series at the same time & still >> come out with a single champion that the end of the series -- even >> though you don't race against the same exact set of drivers every >> race. >Hey Ed, I hope I speak for alot of people when I say that we've had >enough of running separate races (against the AI) and then merging >results to create a virtual race standing. We want to be able to run an >elite series. One where there are 50 or so drivers competing for 42 >spots on race day and the Championship at the end of the season. I >think what most people would rather have is a tiered system where you >earn your way into the SHOW by finishing in the top 5 of your division. >Then all the top 5 drivers from each division duke it out in a series of >races not just one race. >David Martin

I guess my post was a little misleading. Of course we plan on having a championship race. Using my baseball analogy again, at the end of the season, the 2 top teams play each other in the World Series to crown the champion. But there are dozens of teams that fight to get to the championship... many of which NEVER play against each other before getting to "the show". In Winston Cup racing, there are only 50 teams. Those teams compete for slots in each race. It works very well... it's very "clean". In the NRL, there will be thousands of potential teams... probably hundreds in any given NRL series. That makes it "not so clean" to whittle the field down to a championship race. Ed Martin Producer, Series Director NASCAR Racing League Papyrus / Sierra On-Line, Inc.

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> >Hey Ed, I hope I speak for alot of people when I say that we've had > >enough of running separate races (against the AI) and then merging > >results to create a virtual race standing. We want to be able to run an > >elite series. One where there are 50 or so drivers competing for 42 > >spots on race day and the Championship at the end of the season. I > >think what most people would rather have is a tiered system where you > >earn your way into the SHOW by finishing in the top 5 of your division. > >Then all the top 5 drivers from each division duke it out in a series of > >races not just one race. > >David Martin

I am an eccentric in most people's opinion, so these ideas may sound weird to some people: :-) :-) :-) My suggestion is regional divisions that lead to a world division of the ELITE. I'm not sure how many divisions it would take but if there were about 10 BGN-type leagues world wide, regionally placed, and 4 ARCA leagues for each of these BGN-type leagues, that would be 51 leagues (that includes the Elite League). There are 396 racing spots in the top 11 divisions. That is 36 spots per race. Those who don't make a race at one level may try to make a race at one lower level in their region if they are eligible. With 40 ARCA divisions, that's 1440 more racing spots. A total of 1836 racing spots. There are over 2300 people involved in hawaii. Only 70% of those are seasoned drivers capable of running competitively in a heirarcal system like I've described, so there should always be empty spots at the bottom for people to start ONCE THE BGN Divisions and the Elite Divison is established; I would suggest short seasons of 5 races each; the top 12 gain eligibility to move on; the top 5 from each BGN Division moves on to the Elite Division. Once the divisions are established, the seasons should be lengthened. Drivers work their way up through the system. They earn the right to keep a car number in a particular regional division. I think it's important for drivers to be able to identify themselves with a particular car number week in and week out until they lose their eligibility. Eligibility is established at the beginning of each season, and invitations to participate in higher divisions would be extended at the end of each season. Eligibility should not be established based on the current skills rating system. It should be based on how you finish in each division you compete in. The top 5 should be eligible to attempt to qualify in a higher division, the bottom 5 should be able to compete at the lower level division. Everyone stays in their region, no crossing over unless you move your residence. I think that's more than 2 cents, but hey. :-)) David Martin IVL Series Director dgm26sam

The only reason there are only 2300 people on Hawaii is because it's a very long distance call for almost everyone. That number would multiply many times if there were local numbers and a flat entrance fee. Chris

>The only reason there are only 2300 people on Hawaii is because it's a >very long distance call for almost everyone. That number would multiply >many times if there were local numbers and a flat entrance fee. I wonder how many people that live in Hawaii's area code right now are playing for ABSOLUTLY FREE for as much as they want, provided they have a phone line. Anyone so lucky in this newsgroup? I can just imagine... "My goal for the summer, to become skill 15 on hawaii... It may take the whole summer..." Gregory Fung Vancouver, B.C., Canada

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> >My suggestion is regional divisions that lead to a world division of the > >ELITE. I'm not sure how many divisions it would take but if there were > >about 10 BGN-type leagues world wide, regionally placed, and 4 ARCA > The only reason there are only 2300 people on Hawaii is because it's a > very long distance call for almost everyone. That number would multiply > many times if there were local numbers and a flat entrance fee. > Chris

Yes, I thought of that. There may be a need for more divisions, even a fourth tier of divisions, however, the same basic outline applies. Everyone should start from the bottom and work their way up. David

Ed, Do you think there will be digitized sound in Nascar 2? ttyl Todd

> I wonder how many people that live in Hawaii's area code right now are > playing for ABSOLUTLY FREE for as much as they want, provided they have a > phone line. Anyone so lucky in this newsgroup? I'm lucky enough to live in 617 (Yeah, real lucky with the real estate prices and auto insurance costs). But get this, I never have the time to play :( -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~