The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Sequence has seen a rise in groups with backgrounds in skilled video gaming, versus skilled racing, be a part of the sequence in recent times. The sequence’ newest entrant, the Kansas Metropolis Pioneers, are one other instance of that.
By its expertise at Kansas Speedway and its earlier collaborative efforts with eNASCAR, the Pioneers had been excited by increasing from conventional video video games to NASCAR.
“We began off by constructing a relationship with eNASCAR and racing by way of the Kansas Speedway,” Eddie Dee, the Pioneers’ head of eSports stated. “We did a variety of activations final 12 months on the speedway that had been actually superior and bought to offer us an actual in-depth look of iRacing and the neighborhood and what it might doubtlessly be about.
“As we constructed our relationship with the eNASCAR employees and continued to search out extra about iRacing it began to develop into a no brainer for us to participate in one thing that’s solely going to proceed to develop,” Dee defined.
The Pioneers be a part of XSET, Spacestation Gaming, and the Charlotte Phoenix as eNASCAR groups that stem from non-racing backgrounds.
The group has been extraordinarily lively within the Kansas Metropolis neighborhood together with serving to to assemble a online game lounge on the KC Boys & Women Membership and exposing kids to the profession potentialities gaming has to supply. They’ve additionally partnered with Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ gamers Trey Smith and Andrew Wylie to assist improve its outreach efforts.
Final 12 months, Kansas Metropolis Mayor Quinton Lucas proclaimed July 21 to be Pioneer Day within the metropolis, in honor of the staff’s founding. It beforehand partnered with the Kansas Metropolis Royals to host a pre-season follow occasion for one in every of its eSports groups at Kauffman Stadium.
The staff has signed Derek Justis and Wyatt Tinsley. It’s not setting its purpose too lofty for its first season of competitors, as a substitute hoping to see regular progress and elevated neighborhood involvement.
“Truthfully, I might say a win for us is progress,” Dee stated. “Our greatest mission by way of that is to proceed to study extra about iRacing and eNASCAR and the issues that it has to supply and progress all through the season.
“With us being the brand new staff and not likely having a lot of a possibility to show ourselves in several areas all through earlier seasons, we’re coming in contemporary. We’re coming in with not a variety of background so us attempting to slowly construct with small wins and doing issues little by little by way of the neighborhood is what’s going to make us really feel like this was value it.”
Darius Boyd, whom the Pioneers introduced on to steer its growth into iRacing, stated that eNASCAR first reached out for final 12 months’s Kansas Speedway spring race and sought their recommendation on its eSports-related activations on the monitor. Boyd hopes these conversations can result in the Pioneers turning into much more concerned with eNASCAR’s at-track choices.
“We’re getting involved with among the representatives from Kansas Speedway,” Boyd stated. “We’re nonetheless determining what precisely we’re going to do however we needed to have some keynote occasions there. Even when the races aren’t happening, convey some folks out, and get some issues going with our content material creators.
“I feel now we have a fairly distinctive approach by way of ourselves and our content material staff and our advertising company to do a variety of cool, digital, and in-real-life issues.”
It took roughly six months for the staff to affix the sequence because it weighed whether or not or not it was the appropriate match for the group.
“We actually simply needed to reap the benefits of (having) as a lot time as we might and actually work on simply constructing the appropriate relationships and connection throughout the area earlier than we made any large commitments,” Dee stated. “I feel by way of that, now we are able to all say we really feel super-confident within the choices we’ve made and we’re tremendous excited for the longer term simply because of all the data we’ve been in a position to collect all through this time.”
The 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Sequence will start on January 31 with The Conflict on the LA Coliseum. The primary points-paying race will probably be on February 14 from the digital Daytona Worldwide Speedway.