I am one of the fortunate people who get paid to do what would be a hobby otherwise.
As a project manager for iRacing.com I may spend more time at more race tracks than anyone else. For those who are not familiar with iRacing.com , it is a motorsports software company based just outside of Boston, MA. iRacing.com does for drivers what NASA, the Armed Forces and Airlines do for their pilots – namely build and hone skills through the use of advanced simulation technology. Through the use of proprietary technology, iRacing.com has developed simulation software of unparalleled accuracy and after four years of development , made it available online to drivers as well as fans of the sport in August of last year.
During the last four years I have found myself traveling coast to coast gathering data, via Exactrac Laser Scanning, from over 60 racetracks as well vehicles from most of the popular racing series. Last week was a not so untypical week. After spending the weekend at Motorsports Expo in Syracuse, I headed to New Hudson, Michigan to collect data from the Corvette team of Pratt and Miller. Less than a day later along with producer Kevin Iannarelli it was a stop at Michigan International Speedway to update data on the new grandstands that had been added in turn one. By the following morning we were in W. Virginia. The destination for the day was North Carolina. Bristol brought back may of the sports legends for a Saturday Night Special Race and that was the weekend destination followed by a short (200 miles)trip to Virginia International Raceway to collect car data for a series that will be offered on the iRacing.com service later in the year as well as collect data from new villas that have added alongside VIR. The next part of the trip was run solo as it only required photo data from the new scoreboard that was added to Martinsville last season. With little time left during business hours I found myself going thru Stuart, Virginia. What I had hoped would be a couple minutes at the home of the famed Wood Brothers ended up being a couple of after hours with Glen Wood and his wife and a private tour of the Wood Bros. Museum and former race shop before the racing operation relocated to North Carolina. Filled with stories that only Glen Wood could tell I headed north toward Ohio where I spent the night in route to Indianapolis. Seven days after leaving the Corvette Racing Headquarters I was in Indianapolis on a much bigger project.