Mark Ursel

Canada

Sloatsburg, NY, USA

49

CTO at Horsesmouth LLC

I've had a pretty varied life - worked everything from oil rigs to executive, from retail to high-tech. No matter what the career or job was, the drive was always to be the best at my current level, and move up to the next level as fast as possible. Sound familiar? Currently, I'm the Chief Technical Officer for an information services company in Midtown Manhattan.

I've lived on the coast, the prairies, small towns, big cities, and even a stint in the far north. My home town is Calgary, Alberta, Canada, but I've lived in or around New York City for the last 11 years. I'm married to the love of my life and have two grown children and a grandchild on the way.

Started with the original Indianapolis 500 game from Papyrus way back in 1989. From there it was Indycar Racing, Indycar Racing II and a little Nascar. Once Papyrus was bought out, I spent a number of years trying to find anything that was as good. Tried the Need for Speed series, Toca, F1 Championship 98-02 and many more. When I found iRacing in August 2010, the search was over.

Star Mazda, Indycar

Was world-class at the Rubik's Cube in 1982. Held a number of ICR2 track world records until those damn Kadlčák boys came along. Raced a 1974 Toyota Celica GT in a number of amateur rallies in the late 70's. Played drums professionally (primarily studio) in the early 80's. Have played significant amounts of hockey, tennis, skiing, baseball, billiards and the stereo. Also play guitar and bass guitar for self-indulgent fun.

Troy Schulz

USA

Oregon, USA

40

Software Engineering Team Lead

Born and raised in Oregon. I have a degree in Computer Science from Portland State University. I've worked at a couple few startup companies in Portland for the majority of my working life, but I'm now working for a large established software company where I'm extremely happy. I raced enduro karts with my father when I was in my teens. I had to take a 20 year break while going to College and raising my family, but I purchased a 125cc Shifter Kart in 2010 and have started running competitively again. I have a wife, a daughter, and a son. We live on a 10 acre farm in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range with 8 beef cows, 3 horses, 12 chickens, 2 barn cats, and a dog.

I've been playing racing games since the Atari 2600 days. Recent Racing Games: Nascar Racing 2003(PC), NeedForSpeed Underground(PC), Grand Turismo 3(PS2), Grand Turismo 4(PS2), NeedForSpeed: Shift(PS3), GRID(PS3), Nascar Racing 2008(PS3), Formula One Championship Edition(PS3), Dirt(PS3), Formula 1 2010, iRacing. I've done primarily off-line racing except for recently with Formula 1 2010 and iRacing. I haven't had an Internet connection reliable enough to play online until recently.

Jetta TDI, Star Mazda

I enjoy all forms of racing. I was in attendance when Mario Andretti beat his son Michael by 7 hundredths of a second on fathers day at Portland International Raceway back in 1986 when Michael ran out of gas on the last lap coming to the checkered flag.

Lawrence Vere Somerton Smyth

New Zealand

Sydney, Australia

25

Actor /promotions worker

I am 25 year old New Zealander living in Sydney Aussi I am an actor/ by trade but work in promotions when I don't have work:) As far as real racing I came to a cross road at age 17 were my dads friend who raced go karts for years offered me a drive. I Had a few laps at the local track and liked it very much and was quite fast. My dads friend saw I was quite quick and set the fastest lap he could and said see how close I could get. In 2 laps I had beaten his lap. He said after 10 laps I was as fast as guys that were in the top ten in his league and that I should try a career in motor sport. So I was all geared up to get a kart but in that same week I got accepted into a drama Degree and decided to take it. I now regret doing it and wish I had taken the motorsport option :(. So iracing is that career for me :). I use a laptop for iracing and I no that sounds a bit slow but Its no ordernary lappy. Its an asus g73:

I have always loved racing games but never used a sim till iracing half way through last year. Just played things such as Forza and GT

Star Mazda/ F1

Big fan of motor sport and work for telstra at the v8 supercars so i get flown around Australia to watch them:). Massive F1 fan go webber!

David Kadlčák

Czech

Ashburn, Virginia, USA

37

Sr. Software Engineer (Aerospace background)

Born and (partially) raised in Czechoslovakia. Family defected in '86 spent my teens living around Munich, temporarily lived in Switzerland for 2 years, then off to college in Arizona.
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering with minor fields of study in Mathematics and Computer Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Currently employed by Rockwell Collins (Simulation & Training Solutions).

Started simracing in the 80s with Indy 500, then ICR1, ICR2, the Papyrus Nascar series, GPL, basically every single Dave Kaemmer game that was out there. Member of the Hawaii-made-me-broke club (hours on hours long distance dial-up to Boston). Ran in an offline league using ICR1 and ICR2 back in the early 90s, then ran a GPL league myself for about 5-6 years. Took a break from simracing between 2003 and 2009 when I finally broke down and subscribed to iRacing.

Lotus 79, Riley DP, SR8; though I like to drive any car that I can get hold of - though hoping a '90s Champcar (PC23/24 or a T9500 or so) will come through the iRacing scanner.

Hobby musician (into good, heavy, high-kinetic-energy music: power-, progressive-, speed-, thrash-, death-metal; but also enjoy anything technical). Got bunch of R/C planes and cars stowed back in Europe from my teens. Raced 100ccm direct-drive karts for a couple of years in the Czech Republic in the early 90s. Was a huge Andrettis fan, until IRL killed road racing. Liked F1 until around '93.

James Wyckoff

United States

Dallas, Texas

28

Disabled

I was born in Cody, Wyoming and moved to Texas in '94. Decided I liked working on cars and became an ASE certified technician. Went to work for Nissan where I became a Nissan certified technician. I got to know the owner of Blak Racing who races Formula Vees and was about to start racing myself when I found out about a heart condition and I have been disabled since 2008.

Started racing on Outrun and moved up to Bill Elliots Nascar Racing back in the day before internet. I didn't really get into many other racing titles untill Grand Tursimo came out. I then moved up to Forza and then found iRacing in 2010 and have never looked back.

Star Mazda, Skip Barber, Daytona Prototype, Lotus 79, and Nascar

I have driven and worked on cars like Lotus, Porsche, Ferrari, Panoz, and only 1 Lamborghini. I watch any form of motorsports except drag racing, anything without wheels, or motorcycles. I have been watching motorsports since '88. I have an open inventation to jump straight into a Formula Vee when the doctor gives me the ok.

Andrew Le

Australia- Vietnamese heritage

Sydney, Australia

26

Self Employed Pest Technician

Born and raised in Sydney, Australia. My folks migrated over here during the Vietnam war. I'm the youngest of 2 boys in the family. I have 2 lovely daughters and not to mention my lovely wife of 4 years. I have a pest control business and have been established for 5yrs now and going on strong. My father is also an exterminator, so I guess it's in the blood.

Where do i start? How about all of them? I do remember when i was little i would play Test Drive and i thought that was a hoot! Then the NFS series came along during puberty and took over my life. Then the GT series, and then Forza. Then i was introduced to the REAL sim world. Started with Live for Speed, then rFactor, then formed a league in GTR2. And here I am, iRacing! My most notable achievement in my sim racing history would be in rFactor, finishing 14th in the world in a 2 week championship driving the WTCC E90. That was epic!
Now the iRacing objective is to finish top 10 in Division 1 in the Star Mazda.

Star Mazda, V8SC and MX5

My mates call me Leech...or L.T. ( Leech-Time )

Richard Todd

USA

Florida

28

TSgt USAF

Spent most of my early life in Iowa and I grew up watching Indy Racing, back when it didn't suck. I joined the AF about 10 years ago and got into cars when I purchased a half finished Nassin 240. It had the Silvia motor in it all I needed to do was attach everything and get it running and the kid sold it to me for 3,000, a steal at that time. I did a few Auto-X in it and some 'other' racing excursions in and around Abilene TX ware I was stationed at the time. Got married to a girl going to school there about 8 yrs ago and started popping out kids every year for 3 yrs. Wife, kids, and SSgt pay was rough on that car and it's still not finished and has an annoying electrical problem I don't have time to trouble shoot. Any way I cross-trained and got stationed in Florida ware I've been for the last 5 yrs and the first couple were rough. Praise God he has brought us through it and if it wasn't for his grace, through my salvation about 3 yrs ago, my family would be in shambles and I'd be doing who knows what. So praise God I have some free time and a motorsports hobby that doesn't cost a fortune.... yet ;)

Always liked racing games. Remember Ridge Racer in the arcade, had H pattern shifter and clutch. Played Grand Tourismo 1-3 beat every race, made it threw GT4 prologue and most the way threw GT 4. I always played flight sims but the first racing sim I played was FIA GT2. I only played it offline and for a few months. Than while I was deployed in Iraq using the worst internet connection known to man, I stumbled across iRacing and couldn't wait to try it. I would let the computer d/l youtube videos throughout my 18 hr shift just so I could watch it when I got back ;). So I came back to the states I couldn't wait to try it they had the 3 months for 1 membership going. I couldn't even wait till the end of the month and became a member Aug 28 2010. The funny thing is I was going on leave in month so I got a month of practice, left for a month, and I've been on ever since.

Star Mazda/would like another but I just cant find the time.

1 Corinthians 9:24--- Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. Race2Obtain

Mikko Nassi

Finland

Malaysia

25

Various

While I'm from Finland I've only lived there for about 5 years of my life.. the rest has been spent in China, England, the UAE, and Malaysia. I've been involved in motorsports from roughly the age of 12 in karting, and since then have also had a taste or single seaters, rally co-driving, and road racing bikes.

Dabbled in all sorts of sims/games including GP1, GP2, GPL, LFS, and rFactor, but only started to take it more seriously with iRacing at the start of 2011.

Changes often but Star Mazda/Indy Car/F1 are all up there.

Joshua Chin

United States

Orlando, FL

17

Student, Amateur Videographer

It's been a long and winding road to the current point in my life, but it's been entertaining for sure. My parents divorced when I was at an early age and thus I've never had one home I've lived in throughout my childhood. However, despite this I have managed to make the most out of my life and plan on attending the University of Central Florida to get my undergrad in TV and Radio Broadcasting. I have had past experience with video editing, live event productions, ENG productions, and in-studio work. Not entirely sure what avenue of broadcasting my career will take me, but a job in motorsport broadcasting would be great.

But, my love for racing didn't start until late 2004 after watching a few NASCAR races, including the Homestead race that had a wheel running away from the eventual champion. After that I began to watch NASCAR races whenever possible throughout the season. 2006 began my love for road course racing, especially open wheeled formula cars. Ever since then I've been watching just about every form of racing that involves an engine, from AMA Supercross all the way to Formula One.

Started on NASCAR Sim Racing in 2005 to 2006 offline. Then in late 2006 I discovered the online portion of the sim and got my first wheel, a Logitech MOMO, and ran up until mid-2007 when I began running NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Over the course of 4 years and several leagues I was able to get over 50 wins and a championship, with several top-five finishes in championships as well. In April of 2011 I finally took the plunge into iRacing and haven't looked back since.

Star Mazda, Dallara IndyCar, Riley DP, NASCAR Impala B COT

Started sim-racing at roughly 11, been among the youngest members on most teams I've been on. TNT is no exception to that. Also, huge addict to retro sodas. There will always be a soft spot in my heart for Cheerwine and Mountain Dew in glass bottles. Also, saw one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history at the 2007 Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

Nenad Matijevic

Serbia

Backa Palanka

28

System Administrator

I'm an IT expert and work for an ISP and Computer Sales and Repair. I was messing around with electronics since I was a kid, and naturally I am very happy with my job position at the moment. Married for 5 years to a wife that comes from a big big family. We don't have kids, but her family has kids to spare that come over the summer and winter, so we are fine for now.

My first racing game was Andretti Racing a long time ago. Never raced anyone online until BMW M3 Challenge arrived, and then...I was hooked! I was enjoying my online racing and then M3 servers died. By pure accident I find this game called iRacing and the search was over. iRacing got into my veins and I am enjoying every seconds of it. I won multiple Solstice championships and had plenty of wins in other cars.

Star Mazda, Pontiac Solstice

When I am not simracing, I like to go and fulfill my recreational needs with some tennis, adrenalin needs with a game of texas hold'em and my need for speed fulfills a Suzuki GSX-R K3.

Felipe Scarel

Brasíl

Brasília

23

Systems Administrator / CS Teacher

Born in Goiânia, moved to Brasília at the age of 16 to study and build my career. Computer Science undergratuate from the University of Brasília, currently pursuing a Master's degree and working as a network systems administrator and substitute CS teacher. Always had deep interest in cars and racing in general, even though not having the money to back up such an expensive hobby. I race go-karts on a monthly basis, albeit not competitively.

Played Sony's Gran Turismo series since the PlayStation 1 days, stating from GT 1 all the way to GT 5 Prologue. Learned about iRacing in late 2010, joining the service in december. Not much accomplished so far, though I managed to compete and place 19th in the 2010 World Cup of iRacing Road Finals.

Star Mazda, Lotus 79 and Spec Racer Ford.

Likes: Racing, Football (Soccer in the US, haha), Speed Skating and Cycling. Also, anything computer-related, console gaming and traveling. Dislikes: not many, but sitting through pointless meetings top my list by far!

Gary W. Clark

United States

Knoxville,TN

53

Electrician

I was born in West by god Virginia. Moved to Knoxville when I was one so they tell me. Been here since. Married 27 years to the same woman and we have a son who is 22. I speak fairly good English and fluent hill billy. I no longer consume shine but I know where to get it.

In 1994 I was introduced to NASCAR which ran on a long distance server called Hawaii. Long distance meaning that long distance telephone charges applied. $1000.00 monthly bills were not uncommon. Luckily a company called TEN (Total Entertainment Network) started. It hosted NASCAR2 software only. I was able to win a few championships and was a member of an invitation only league called SASCAR. I have always loved motorsport of all kinds and truly love being able to race on IRacing and be a member of such a great team.

Hands down. Star Mazda and it's series. I really enjoy the INDY car and starting to dabble with the F1.

Charles Bass

USA

Kunsan AFB, South Korea

28

Aircraft Maintainer in the United States Air Force. Rank, SSgt.

Born in San Antonio, Texas, lived there my whole life. My young life was dominated by motorsports, as I started karting at the age of 9. I was very sucessful at that, and at age 17 I was picked up to drive in the American Race Truck series by a Mr. Bruce Stark. Shortly before the beginning of my rookie season however, Mr. Stark passed away and the team liquidated out from under me. It is at that point that I joined the USAF where I have been ever since. I have been in the AF for 8 years now. I am currently divorced, but I am engaged to be married again soon!

I started sim racing in something like 1996 on NASCAR 2 on TEN. From there, I played most of the other racing titles offline, and did some online stuff with Nascar 3. In 2003, I started racing with the SRO League using Nascar Racing 2003, and that lasted for several years, actually right up until I came to the Iracing beta in 2008. I have been here ever since!

Star Mazda, F1, Sprint Car, Silver crown, Modified, Truck

2010 Season 4 Division 4 Star Mazda Champ