**Racing is Back: A Look at the Impact of Quarantine on Motor Sports**

The world of motor sports has been turned upside down in recent weeks, with racing events being canceled and postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NASCAR's season was put on hold until May, and Formula 1's Australian Grand Prix was called off after crew members showed symptoms of the virus.

But amidst all this chaos, something amazing happened. The sim racing community came together to fill the void left by real-world racing events. From basement amateurs to semi-pros and even some of the biggest names in motor sports, people from all over the world joined forces to create a thrilling experience for fans.

**The Sim Racing Phenomenon**

iRacing, a popular online racing simulator, saw an surge in popularity as drivers took to the virtual track to compete against each other. The sim's realistic gameplay and ranking system made it the perfect platform for sim racers to showcase their skills. Suddenly, unknown but skilled drivers were being pitted against big-name pros in regular events.

One such driver was Ryan Vargas, a NASCAR Xfinity driver who took to Twitter on March 13th to share his excitement about the sim racing community's efforts. "Just got back from a sick session on @iRacing! The competition is getting fierce out there and I'm loving every minute of it," he tweeted.

**The Dazzlepro Difference**

But what really sets the sim racing community apart is the passion and dedication of its members. And that's where Dazzlepro comes in - a company that's not only passionate about motor sports but also cares about the health and well-being of its fans.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been using my Dazzlepro toothbrush for quite some time now, and it's made a huge difference in my oral hygiene. The sonic technology and UV light feature make it a breeze to keep my teeth clean and germ-free. And with the code DM62 at the link in the description, you can get 50% off your very own Dazzlepro toothbrush!

**The Impact of Quarantine on Motor Sports**

So what does this all mean for motor sports? Well, the postponement of racing events has had a significant impact on the industry. But as we've seen, it's also created opportunities for sim racers to shine and bring fans together.

As we wait for the return of real-world racing, let's take a moment to appreciate the dedication and passion of the sim racing community. They're keeping the spirit of motor sports alive, even in these uncertain times.

And who knows? Maybe one day soon, we'll be back to our regular racing events, cheering on our favorite drivers and enjoying the thrill of competition. Until then, let's keep the wheels turning and the engines revving!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Racing is back.Kind of.NASCAR's been runningevents without crowdsfor a few weeks now,same with the World of Outlawsand Formula 1 is going to try it too.Hey guys, I wrote and shotthis episode a few weeks ago.We shoot all our stuff inadvance and since then,a lot of really important thingshave happened in the worldof racing, especially NASCAR,and I wanna let you guys knowthat we didn't intentionally leaveanything of that sort outbecause it is absolutelyworth talking about,but instead of crammingit into this episode,the Wheel House team and I wanted to givethose events their due diligence andcover them in a way thatthey deserve to be covered.So without further ado,here's all the crazy stuffthat went down in motor sportsduring quarantine, enjoy.- But as real racing returns.I don't want that to overshadowthe astounding accomplishmentsof the sim racing communityduring quarantine.In our time of need, people fromall over the country and the world,from basement amateurs to semi-prosto some of the biggestnames in motor sports,left it all on the virtual track.While the cars might not have been real,the racing sure as hell was,and let me tell you,things got (beep) insane.Thanks to Dazzlepro forsponsoring this week's episode.If you're like me, you probably haven'tbeen to the dentist in a while,but you also live infear of losing your teethand having to drink all your meals.(sighs) It's a real fear of mine,I have nightmares where myteeth fall out of my mouthon a date and I can only drinkmilk and smoothies forthe rest of my life.But thanks to Dazzlepro'selectric, sonic toothbrush,I don't have to worry about eitherloosing my teeth or going to the dentist.Not only does it keep my chompers healthy,but it comes with a UV light thatsanitizes the toothbrush head killing99% of germs on the brush head.It's really nice toknow that I have a cleantoothbrush head everytime I brush my teeth.Honestly, I adore myDazzlepro, I love this thing.It's affordable.I've never had a toothbrush this nice.I didn't really see the hypein electric toothbrushesuntil I used the Dazzlepro.I'm a believer, this thing is really cool,and it's just a great wayto start your day off right.To get your teeth as clean as mine,enter code DM62 at thelink in the descriptionfor 50% off, 50% off guys, that's amazing.Support the companies that support Donutsso we can keep making dope contentand keep our teeth clean, hashtagclean teeth gang. (laughs)All right, I've got to giveyou guys some backgroundbefore we get into the nuttiness.The story begins on February 12th,when the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prixwas officially canceled afterthe Shanghai Sport Bureaucalled off all sports in the city.However, the F1 season opener in Australiawas still about a month away.The FIA considered implementingsocial distancing protocolsfor teams in attendance,which would be a monumentaleffort for an eventas big as the Australian Grand Prix.After a few crew members on multiple teamsshowed symptoms of COVID-19,the organizers calledit off on March 13th.There would be no racing that weekend.Over in the world of NASCAR,America's favorite oval racing serieshave been racing since February,but that was about to change.On Monday, March 16th,NASCAR postponed their season until May.Within one week, we went from expectinga great year of racingto nada, zip, nothing.But I want to be clear,I support the (beep)out of every sanctioningbody's decision to postpone.Public health comes first in my book.But now, there's no racing, it sucks.Lucky for us though,some enterprising racerstook matters into their own hands.Some of you might be familiar withthe racing simulator called iRacing.This sim is so realisticthat professional racersuse it to practice in their own homes.The keep the competition serious,the developer charges asubscription fee to driveand the sim has a pretty stringentranking system thatrewards good racecraft.It's not uncommon for unknownbut skilled sim racersto be put in the same lobbiesas big name pro drivers.I was once in the same lobbyas French Formula 1 champion,John Gerard, but now thanks to quarantine,and the efforts of somedevoted sim racers,Joes going up against pros wouldnow become a regular occurrence.On March 13th, NASCAR Xfinity driverRyan Vargas posted this tweet,"Should I do a big hosted race on iRacing?"Get some drivers and fans involved"and find a way to have someone stream it?"I feel like we all needsomething to pick our spirits up."Ryan's tweet went superviral on NASCAR twitter,getting retweets fromdrivers like Justin Allgaier.NASCAR fans were stoked.On the 19th, eTruck Night in Americapowered by FilterTimewas streamed on Twitch.Thousands of people tuned into see the race, myself included.Some pro drivers were in the raceas well as veteran sim racerslike four-time eNASCARiRacing champion Ray Alfalla.The grass roots scene had come togetherto give racing fans their sportwhen it was no longer possible,and I thing Ryan's raceinspired NASCAR themselvesto dip their little toesiesinto the world of sim racing.NASCAR, iRacing, and FoxSports teamed up to airthe first ever sim race on March 22nd.The venue would be a virtualversion of Homestead Miami,which was the race that was supposed tobe happening that weekend.The eNASCAR iRacing ProInvitational Dixie Vodka 150,that's a mouthful, wasa who's who of NASCAR,including big name drivers.You had Denny Hamlin, JoeyLogano, Bubba Wallace.They even got guys to come outof retirement for this race.They got freaking Dale Jr. andNASCAR racing three-cover driverBobby Labonte up in this (beep).This was shaping up tobe the most epic race,maybe of all time.What we got, though, waskind of a (beep) show,but in a fun way.Here's the thing about sim racingor any online racing game,it has a problem thatany gamer probably knows.Because you aren't putting your bodyor a real car on the line,the stake just aren't there,and this was made readilyapparent to everyonethat watched this race.Every five or so laps,someone would crash out,which brought out the caution flag,only for the same thing tohappen a few laps later.And because everyone got two resets,meaning if they crash theywould just get a whole new car,the drivers didn't feel that incentivizedto drive cautiously whichonly let to more wrecks.It was a total meme fest,one that went almost an hour over scheduleuntil a higher-up at FoxSports told the organizers,hey, no more yellow flags becausewe have a dang horse race to broadcast,and no one is gonna get inthe way of my buff horseswho are immune to COVID for some reason.(horse whinnies)Danny Hamlin ended up winning that raceand the organizers hopefullylearned some lessonsabout giving drivers too many resets.Despite the hiccups though,it was very entertainingto watch, at least for me,but more importantly, it wasa big milestone for eRacing.That same weekend, Formule 1 held it's ownvirtual Bahrain Grand Prix.I remember this race pretty well becauseI didn't watch the official stream.I was onboard with McLaren driverLando Norris on his Twitch channel.Now, I already likedLando before all this,but he really came intohis own during quarantine.He is a natural whenit comes to streaming,and this race proved it.Trouble started when Lando wasdisconnected from the server.While Lando was figuring outhow to get back into the race,his avatar was still drivingand holding off the competition.When Lando was finally ableto get back into the racehis computer driver,which chat named Landobot,had held on to the 3rd place positionand Lando took it from there.Unfortunately, he wascrashed out on the final turnby fellow streamer Jimmy Broadbent,which was honestly pretty funny.But as much as it sucks toget crashed out like that,I think the incident really capturedthe beauty of the situation.One of my favorite simdrivers and Jimmy Broadbentgot to have an unforgettable moment witha rising star of Formula 1.- Jimmy!- The races I've talkedabout really show howthe motor sports world madethe best of the situation,but with the good,there has to be the bad.Like most things in life, thequarantine sim racing scenestarted to get a littleless enjoyable to watchwhen money got involved.On April 5th, NASCARwent to virtual Bristol,and as to be expected, therewas a very early cautionon the very first lap.Racing resumed on lapsix and in car number 43,Bubba Wallace quickly found himselfin a back and forth with Clint Bowyer.Now, what happens next, Idon't wanna point fingers,so I'll just show you.- You seeBowyer running the bottom,comes up, Bowyer I don't know,you might wanna watch the replay becauseit looked to me like he came up on Bubba.-You've got to rewind,that was on purpose.- But that's not the part of the storythat gets the attention.instead of staying in therace, Bubba said this:- Come on Clint, God!-Yep, he just came up andwrecked the hell out ofyou again on purpose.- All right, y'all have a good one.- Then quit.Keep in mind, he did haveone quick repair left.While this didn't make hissponsor Blue-Emu very happy,With the quickness,Blue-Emu took to twitterand accused Bubba of being a quitterand renounced their sponsorship.This caused quite the bruhahain online NASCAR communitieslike Twitter and the NASCAR SubReddit.Some people agreed with Blu-Emucalling Bubba a hothead.Others suggested that Blu-Emu's rantswere all about raisingpublicity for the company.But I think we can allagree that it's maybeblown out of proportion justa little bit, right, right?Whatever the case, it'scertainly illustrated thatmaybe the sponsors were takingthe racing more seriouslythan the guys doing itbecause the sponsorshad actual money in the gameand that was sure causesome strife at some point.But as it turns out, we won'teven have to wait one weekfor the biggest and mostjustifiable controversyof the whole story.On April 12th, iRacing was hostinga race called Monza Madness.It's an oval race atthe Vintage Monza Ovalwith current stock cars.It sounds pretty awesome.This race was cool because itdidn't just have NASCAR guys,but drivers from lotsof other disciplines,and unlike the last couple ofoval races I've talked about,this one wasn't being broadcast on TV.I don't really know how topreface this so I'll just say it.During the qualifying session,driver Kyle Larsonthought that he was havingproblems with his voice chat,so instead of making sure by justtesting the mic a few more times,the guy just dropped a racist slur.- You can't hear me? (beep)- (sighs) Pretty much immediately,people were calling for Larsonto get punished, rightfully so.NASCAR suspended Larson,mandating that he attendsensitivity training.His sponsors, McDonald'sand Credit One Bank,they dropped him,and he was fired by histeam, Chip Ganassi Racing.You've probably alreadyheard about this incidentbecause it got nationwide coverage.I don't think there'smuch more I can say on itother than that I agreewith everyone's decisionsto cut ties with Larson and that that wordshouldn't have a placein anyone's vocabulary.Like seriously, what the (beep) dude?Moving on to America's otherbig-time oval racing series, IndyCar.Quarantine had a hugelyadverse effect on the Indy 500,which basically takes over Indianapolisfor a few weeks during the spring.Obviously, that didn't happen this year.Instead, IndyCar hosted theiRacing IndyCar Challengeat where else but the VirtualIndianapolis Motorspeedway in iRacing.With 8 laps to go in the race,a three-way battlefieldlead is being fought betweenIndyCar drivers SimonPagenaud, Graham Rahal,and F1 young gun Lando Norris.Rahal and Pagenaud come out of turn onewith Rahal on the inside,but at the last second,here comes Lando throwingdown a clean pass below Rahalright above the curtain as allthree of them enter turn two.Something happens, and Rahal gives Landoa little bit of room but bumps Pagenaud,which sends Simon into the wall.He is understandably upsetand blames the young McLarendriver seemingly in real time.- Oh, no race, really?Oh man, wow Lando, wow, nice.- As Lando continues on, Pagenaudcan be heard very clearlyhatching a plan from the pit lane.- Let me take Lando out, let's do it.- Hmm, that doesn't soundvery sportsman like.Maybe he was joking.At this point, Lando has lapped Pagenaudand is behind him as bothdrivers exit turn four.What happens next will shock you.- Ah, I'm spinning.Sorry I didn't mean to do.- Pagenaud slows down to pitright in the middle of turn four's exit.Obviously, people were very upsetwith Mr, Pagenaud, myself included.I mean this guy, he's an Indy champion.This is not the sort ofbehavior you want to seefrom someone like that.Perhaps most disappointedthough was Lando,who was certainly ontrack to win the race.- He had no intention intaking me out, so you know,just wanted to slow me down a little bitby letting off in the middle of the cornerand braking right in front of me, so yeah.- Ah, come on Lando, you'regonna make me cry, man.You just feel so bad for himand somehow this isn't eventhe scummiest thingthat happened that day.On the final lap, ArrowMcLaren SP driver Oliver Askewwas blazing down the front stretchwith Santino Ferucci close behind.It was sure to be a photo finish,as it looked like Ferucci actually hadenough speed to pass Askewat the very last second.Instead, this happens.- Watch Feruccion Askew, just massive wreck.- After the race, he said:"I've been running a lotof different series lately"and I was trying to get on his door"because of the NASCAR style"and I got a little too close"and I think I turned justa touch too aggressive,"and that's my fault."- Which honestly I think sounds plausible,but if you watch the onboard footage,it really looks like hethrew the wheel into Askew,so I'm not so sure.The Indy 500 incident was kind ofthe climax of this year'squarantine racing season.It was just an unbelievable blowoutwith multiple story lines.It couldn't get any more ridiculous.It was truly nutty.Things kind of calmed downfor a while until May 23rd.Formula E was holding the 5th round ofthe Race At Home Series,where their drivers raced athome on their computer at home.Audi driver Daniel Abt tookan early and dominant lead,which was surprisingsince a few weeks earlier,he had struggled to adaptto the feel of sim racing.He wasn't able to hold on to his lead,but he did score a third place finish.Not bad, Daniel.However, some peoplewere a little suspiciousof Daniel's good performancefor a couple of reasons.Number one, his good performance,and number two, the fact that his face wasobscured on webcam by a poorlyplaced microphone stand, hmm.Formula E driver and wafflespokesman Stoffel Van Doorneimmediately suspected trickeryin a post-race interviewand was backed up by two-timeFE champ Jean Eric Vergne.Turns out, their suspicions were correct.Daniel Abt was not theguy seen on the webcam,but a professional sim driver.He used a ringer.Once find out, Formula Efined Daniel 10,000 euros,which he donated to charity,and then Audi fired him.It took him out of the sportthat he'd been a part ofsince his beginning in 2014.Look, quarantine has drivenme a little crazy, I get it.Look at my hair, look at my eyes.I've been by myself for 12 weeks,but I haven't thought ofanything as hairbrained.Daniel explained onvideo that he was filmingthe stunt as a prank on the fieldand he honestly genuinely seemedsorry about the whole thing.Frankly, it does seem like a kooky plangone wrong on Daniel's part,but there is so much time and moneyinvested in these racesthat I understand whythey punished him liked they did.Throughout May, realracing made it's way back.The first high-profile series wasthe World of Outlaws Sprint Car Racingin Knoxville on May 8th, no crowds.Then, NASCAR returned on May 17thto no crowds and teamsobserving social distancing.IndyCar returned on June6th at Texas Motor Speedway.And Formula 1 is due backJuly 4th weekend in Austria.As the real racing returns this summer,it makes me wonder how we'll look atthis strange time in motor sports.Some people will obviouslyprefer to forget.Some really dumb stuff wentdown because it was just a gameand I really don't thinkthat's the right attitude.Since there was no real racing to watch,the sim racing that was just a gamewas the only show in town.And I know I'm not the only onewho wanted to see someseriously good racingand there was, but I guess that kind ofrubbed me the wrong waywas seeing some racersnot take it very seriouslywhen there are tons ofdedicated sim racers out therewho would have jumped at the opportunityto race on live TV andto show off their skills,but that allows us tolook at the positive stuffwith more appreciation.We got to see a grass rootsmovement of organizerscome together and put on a showfrom their living room to ours.They were no longer shielded byPR people or sponsor obligations.I sincerely hope that going forward,race teams and sanctioningbodies learn from thisand let their drivers be themselves.Like, I knew Lando andCharles Leclerc were good,but now I see that they'rereally cool dudes too.Personality is just as,if not more important,than skill when it comesto building a fandomand it just gives me a better appreciationfor the community around the sportthat I already love so much,and that's what's really cool.Hey, if you want more NASCAR content,check out this Up to Speedon Mr. Richard Petty,aka The King, its aold one but a good one.Or for something completely different,check out this episode of Money Pit.It's my favorite show.Zach Jobe is a very handsome man.Fellow us on all social media @donutmedia.Follow me on Instagramand Twitter @nolanjsykesBe kind.See you next time.Love all you guys.