Schartner’s  Average Joes football team at

       UNC Charlotte in North Carolina

         NASCAR   fan put peddle to metal at Silicon Speedway

 

 

Computer technology lets competitors

 

 

Get Winston Cup feeling, minus the risk.

 

 

 

By Nolan Weidner

 

Staff writer

 

For 10-year-old Andrew Schartner of Weedsport, it's a chance to jump-start his dream of being a big-time stock car,driver.

 

For retiree Dave Tumbole of Liverpool, it's an opportunity to

 relive a dream, long past.  .

 

And for current sprint car racer Mike Bozzuto of Syracuse, it's a chance to hone needed driving skills while Central New York winters bar him from the track.

 

The three share something in common, a growing addiction to a simulated racing game that puts them behind the wheel of a knock-off of Jeff Gordon’s no. 24, Dale Jarrett’s No. 88, and Tony Stewart’s No. 20 or five other cars.

 

Even veteran Winston Cup driver Michael Waltrip, who actually lines up with Gordon, Jarrett, Stewart and others on 35 Saturdays and Sundays from February through November, gets kind of giddy over the prospect of strapping into one of the simulated cars.

 

"It's very realistic," Waltrip said. "The visual is perfect. The way the car feels when you hook the corner like you want to. It reminds me a whole lot of what it feels like when you're on the racetrack and do that.

 

A head-on collision between NASCAR’s Winston cup series and Silicon Valley has spawned a new generation in entertainment. Its called NASCAR Silicon motor Speedway, and there is one coming to a regional shopping mall near you.

 

One of the newest opened Nov. 19 in the basement of Carousel Center, next to Kahunaville restaurant. On Tuesday, the speedway held its grand opening, complete with NASCAR's Waltrip on hand to sign autographs and put his driving skills up against the locals.

 

The new concept in virtual entertainment is half video game and half stock car racing. It's the thrills without the spills - at least the ones that might land you in the hospital, or worse..

 

 

                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                               Winston Cup star Michael Waltrip tries a simulated race Tuesday  night  at the

                                             

                                                                                                   NASCAR Silicon Motor    Speedway in the Carousel Center.