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NASCAR has been in the news quite a bit lately. The world of racing is grieving the loss of Dale Earnhardt. If you are a fan and would like to "race up" your computer or get more involved in the sport, read on. Fans can visit nascar.com, the official site of NASCAR. There is a special video section that has interviews with Dale, reports on safety equipment and the accident. Chat with other fans on the message boards and chat rooms. They have a fan page section where you can build your own tribute to the Intimidator if you want. The site at members.aol.com/NFCFamily/nascarfamily.html offers links to the entire racing community. They boast a complete list of commercial and fan sites devoted to NASCAR as well as individual driver tribute pages. Looking for info on the track hosting the next race? No problem, they have a page for that too. Racing commentaries, collectibles, apparel, if they don't have it, they have a link to it. users.snip.net/~shirsch/webring.htm This is the link to a terrific NASCAR webring. A webring is a form of linking software which allows websites of related materials to link to each other. You can jump from one site to another by just clicking the banner. last-lap.com They also have a nicely done tribute page to Dale Earnhardt, schedules and standings, and a list of the frequencies the drivers' use to talk to the pit (take your scanner to the next race!). They'll even give you a weather report for race day. This is quite a nicely done site. If you consider yourself a NASCAR expert, perhaps you'd consider sharing your knowledge; they are looking for volunteer column writers. Get your computer into the spirit of things, grab some NASCAR wallpaper from themeworld.com. They have their Earnhardt desktop themes front and center. Choose from the man or the machine, these are fantastic. Want more than a picture or screen saver? Racing sims (simulators) put you in the driver's seat. Recently released software includes NASCAR Rumble by EA Sports. The company says their new game "combines the off-road exploration of a Beetle® Adventure Racing with the high-flying stunts of a Hot Wheels® Turbo Racing and brings it all down-home with the cars and stars of NASCAR 2000. " With the country-fied vocals of Jess Harnell, this looks to be some down-home fun. Read more at easports.ea.com/games/nascarrumble . NASCAR Revolution and Nascar 2001 are also by Electronic Arts. Their motto is "Dominate at Daytona". It should also say dominate the NASCAR software industry! Nascar 4 by Sierra Sports was just released February 7th. It is a multi-player game supporting up to 32 players at once! The software maker's homepage is located at sierrasports.com. Read all about it and download a free demo at pc.hotgames.com/games/nascar16/review.htm. Wondering how that many people could play at once? Online of course. SCORL is the stock car online racing league. If you have the NASCAR software, you can race against other drivers around the world online! A visit to north2newman.com/nascar3.html features messages boards and chats, utilities for the NASCAR games, and help for newbies. You can paint your own cars and upload them to the site for others to download. Theyellowflag.com has add-ons for all versions of NASCAR software. They are looking for designers to paint cars, if you're good at that sort of thing. Steering wheels are the best way to interface with the software. We have one hooked up in the store for demonstration purposes, and they are actually quite realistic. There are even cases with racing stripes and lights down the front to help immerse you in the gaming experience. Add some sub-woofer speakers to hear the rumble of the motors and you'll feel like you're at Daytona! Whether you want to get involved for your own enjoyment or to share your hobby with others, you'll find there are lots of ways to get into racing with your computer. |
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