NASCAR memories, part 2...

In the previous blog I talked about Richard Petty, and how I became a fan of NASCAR. Sundays were reserved for watching the races. Any time I left the house I looked for racing games to play. I spent a lifetime playing dozens of different titles in the arcade, home consoles, handheld consoles, mobile devices, and on the computer. I learned that simulation games didn’t really hold my interest. The over-the-top action of arcade racing games appealed much more to me. I enjoyed the sense of speed, looking for secret shortcuts, and bite-sized races that were more popular with gamers. I didn’t have the time, or money, to set up a fancy rig like you might see for serious Forza or Gran Turismo fans. Nor did we have a gaming PC while growing up. If the game couldn’t fit on a cartridge, or game disk then chances are we never saw it at home. I especially liked combat racing games, and Formula-1 console games on the Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis. When consoles moved to 3D with the Sega Saturn, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and Sony Playstation then things would get really interesting. There was one NASCAR game that I would rank among the best titles I ever played.

NASCAR Rumble, was developed by Visceral Games, and published by Electronic Arts. The game came out in February 3, 2000. It had 18 unique on and off-road race courses, plus 3 bonus tracks. The game did not feature any actual race track, city course, or super speedway. They tracks were instead inspired by different areas of North America that were influential in the history of the sport. I’m sure that excluding actual locations helped keep the license costs down. Where the game excelled was in the number of available cars, and drivers to race as. There were 33 Winston Cup Cars, 6 Craftsman Trucks, and 7 Legend Cars. Non-race fans were probably familiar with stock cars, however they probably had no idea that there was a truck based circuit as well. The game was a way to bring that five-year-old truck series to the general public. It also honored the legendary drivers of yesteryear, like my personal hero Richard Petty, by hiding them in the game. Seeing the ads featuring his iconic 43 car instantly got my attention.

The game would turn out to be a the perfect snapshot of an era. We saw the numbers of the Petty family represented. #41 originally belonged to Maurice Petty but that number car was not in the game, #42 originally belonged to Lee Petty (father of Richard), the driver of that car in 2000 was Joe Nemecheck. #43 belonged to Richard Petty, but was driven by John Andretti (nephew of Mario Andretti). #44 belonged to Richard's son Kyle. #45 belonged to Kyle's son Adam. I didn't realize when the game came out that it would be the last time we got to see these legacy race drivers in the same game while they were still with us.

Dale "The Intimidator" Earnhardt #3 died in an accident a year after the game was released. His son Dale Jr. was driving #8 at the time. Adam Petty was 20-years-old, and considered a prodigy. He died in an accident three months after the game debuted. Looking back after the losses made me appreciate the moment that Visceral Games managed to capture. The studio approached the genre with the same love that I had when I discovered NASCAR as a kid. They knew that the cars were the superstars. They were bigger, badder, and faster than any other street car. The in-game models had fairly accurate builds, tires, frames, and sponsor logos. They were as realistic as the Playstation was capable of rendering.

Presenting accurate cars was only the beginning for the studio. The game was meant to be as over-the-top as possible. It was going to have to compete with other arcade style racing games. To do this it took the best elements of combat, and cart racing games. I’m sure the original pitch to Electronic Arts was “imagine if Sega’s Daytona, and Nintendo’s Mario Kart had a baby.” In essence that’s what Visceral delivered. Players could pick up random power-ups through the courses. They went from giving your ride super grippy tires so that it could hug the road, or a temporary jet boost, and more offensive weapons such as a nose barrier to plow through opponents, and exploding force field. There were also ranged attacks to sabotage cars ahead of you, including freezing them, throwing a storm cloud to block their view, and make their tires slippery. The biggest field clearing power up was a tornado that would follow the road, and toss all the opponents aside. 

The biggest criticism to the game was how much the power ups could punish the otherwise fun experience. If you found yourself ahead the power ups would sabotage you 90% of the time. If you were behind then they would be more of a benefit to you. The thing was that the amount of power ups could be controlled. You could have it set to None, Some, More, or Mayhem. The game was tough with the More setting, and races were absolute chaos with in Mayhem mode. I found that the game was best enjoyed with Some power ups on. I don't understand why the reviewers didn't point out this little detail, rather than complain about a feature they had full control over.

The tracks were brilliantly designed, hiding many secrets, and shortcuts. The cars themselves became the stars of the game. The default traditional looking stock car, truck, or legend ride was considered the Rookie model. Then there was a modified build known as the Pro version. It featured a larger arrow-shaped hood scoop, roof spoilers, and other aggressive features. This Pro model was a little bit faster, and handled a little bit better. It was a radical design that had never been seen in NASCAR. Unlocking the Pro cars, getting faster track times in Standard, and the computer-controlled Team modes helped extend the game play.

It turned out that wasn’t the peak for the car upgrades. The top of the models were known as the Elite class. Each upgrade was about 10 miles per hour faster than the previous model. Elites topped out at about 183MPH, over 200MPH with a boost power up. These were by far the hardest looking race cars in any game. They looked absolutely brutal, and to this day I have yet to find a race car in any game that comes close to capturing this level of badness. Take a look at this version of the classic 43, and tell me it wasn’t amazing. The Elite car models looked amazing from every angle. I wished that there was a physical model, or toy created of them.

What made the game truly great was that every vehicle in the game had a Rookie, Pro, and Elite version. If you were a fan of a particular driver, or car then you would look forward to having an absolute beast version of the ride. This applied to the trucks as well. The Craftsman trucks already looked cool, but the Pro, and Elite versions were a beautiful form of violence.

If you could win all of the races in the region then you could unlock an extra challenge. The chance to go head-to-head with icons like Alan Kulwichi, Benny Parsons, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and my hero Richard Petty. If you beat the Legend of that area then you could earn their car. The Rookie, Pro, and Elite versions of the Legend cars were just a few MPH faster than the standard cars, or trucks. You had to exploit every shortcut, and power up in order to defeat them. Racing as these, and against them added an entire dimension of replay value.

Every track also had a hidden wrench that would allow you to unlock a Bonus car. These cars ranged from serious, to funny. They reflected the culture of NASCAR fairly well. Best of all each of the bonus cars also had a Rookie, Pro, and Elite version. Their paint schemes, engines, bodies, and supporting details became more aggressive. For example the Rookie version of the Loader is a traditional construction vehicle. The Pro version has a larger engine, and racing stripes. The Elite model has a roof-mounted spoiler, and nuclear engine! There were golf carts, hot rods, RVs, and chicken delivery trucks thrown into the mix as well. They all handled differently, had their own strengths, and weaknesses.

I want you to think about how many cars this meant were featured in the game. If you add up every version of the regular, and hidden cars then there were 165 vehicles in total. I understand the numbers are inflated, as the three versions of the NASCAR, Craftsman Trucks, and Legend rides were simply reskinned from the base model. It nonetheless gave the illusion that there was a tremendous amount of diversity. Granted we had seen this type of development “shortcut” previously, and it really didn’t hurt the game. Namco set the record for reskinned rides on the Playstation with 320 rides in Ridge Racer 4. Many fans, myself included, considered that to be the pinnacle of the Ridge Racer series.

Sadly there would not be a sequel to NASCAR Rumble. At least not one featuring the license. EA, and Visceral released Rumble Racing a year later in 2001. It was a visually upgraded version for the Playstation 2, featuring the same tracks, similar music, and commentary. Aside from lacking the NASCAR rides the game added the ability to control the way the cars flipped, and rotated in the middle of a jump. It was nice feature, say for a Hot Wheels knock-off, but it lacked the magic of the earlier game. There wouldn’t be anything remotely close to Rumble for more than a decade. The one that did appear left me wanting. I’m sure many other fans enjoyed it, but wanted a little bit more. NASCAR Unleashed was Developed by Firebrand Games, and published by Activision. It came out in November 1, 2011 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii.

Let’s start with the best parts of the game. Visually is was brilliant. Side-by-side you could see how far the Playstation, and Playstation 3 graphics engine had come in 11 years. The car models, sponsor logos, and paint jobs were accurate for the season. The cars also showed damage during the races. These were all things virtually impossible on the original PS. Unleashed featured 15 real drivers, and 3 additional fictional drivers from the Sprint Cup series. From a game play perspective it was arcade in control, and not simulation. This made it easy to pick up, and play. It added a draft, and slingshot mechanic. This was absent in Rumble, but was a feature that had been seen in Sega’s Daytona USA going all the way back to 1994.

Unleashed also added the ability to create Rivals by being aggressive to, or wrecking opponents. These computer controlled cars would begin to hunt you down, and make races much more challenging. The game featured six actual locations; the Daytona International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. It also had 12 different track layouts. This meant that some of the races were set in the actual track, and other stages had the cars break through the walls of the course, and race through the streets. It was some great design, especially when you found yourself racing sideways along the face of a glass skyscraper. The game also featured 20 cars racing on the same track at once. In NASCAR Rumble the races maxed out at 6 cars. Despite all of these innovations the game itself felt lacking.

The cars were all identical. You could earn alternate paint schemes for each of the rides, and bonus silly upgrades to affix to your car. These differences didn’t have the same magic of the Pro, Elite, and Legend models of the cars in Rumble. The stages were fun, but not as memorable as the ones in Rumble either. The races lacked power-ups, secret tracks, and hidden cars. Each of these things could have added more replay value. With a little more development time, and a bigger budget I have no doubt that Firebrand Games could made a spiritual successor to Rumble. Instead it falls short of the mark. Many players said the title feels like a budget game. The ones you might see in the bins at WalMart. It wasn’t that bad, far from it, it was a decent-to-good game, but it was missing the things that could elevate it to greatness. The kindest critics said this was the perfect intro to the genre for children. I’m sure if I was a kid, and hadn’t been exposed to decades of racing games then I would have a much greater impression of it. The arcade control made it easier to explain the appeal of NASCAR more than any simulation. That much was certain. I still play NASCAR Unleashed from time-to-time because it is a good game. With that said I find myself firing up NASCAR Rumble shortly after, and end up having more fun. 

I have no doubt that the greatest NASCAR game never made would be if the best parts of Rumble, and Unleashed were merged together. I hope that there is an over-the-top NASCAR arcade game in the works. Something with a big budget, and AAA team developing it. We’re long overdue for something like that. Until then I'll always have Rumble to keep me going. Were there any games that you wished had gotten a modern sequel? Were there any okay games that you thought could have been great with a little more time, and polish? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

NASCAR Rumble, now this is racing - A 1UP classic from May 6, 2009

Nascar Rumble by EA was one of the last great racing titles released for the original Playstation. It captured a number of arcade themes and made them work well for the aging console. Since it was a licensed game the studio was able to put in renders of actual cars from the NASCAR circuit, complete with accurate paint schemes and sponsor stickers. This also included the Craftsman Truck series vehicles and legendary racers like Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, and Richard Petty. Mr. Petty is nicknamed the King, and he is on my Mount Rushmore of car heroes. He is up there with Bob Chandler, the father of Bigfoot, Formula-1 legend Ayrton Senna, and drag race pioneer Shirley Muldowney. Each vehicle in Rumble had three versions that the player could unlock. The standard, pro and elite versions not only changed the appearance but the performance as well. These souped-up vehicles owed more than a little debt to hot rod culture. Enormous engine blocks would stick out from the hood, the rear wing spoiler would become larger and more stylized. The profile of the car was more aggressive, the stance a little wider and tires more sporty. These were the types of rides that NASCAR fans that grew up on Hot Wheels would dream of.

The tracks that the cars raced in also got an exaggerated treatment. Rumble was anything but a sim, it was very much an arcade experience. There were no ovals here but instead winding courses that took players through one of several American-inspired environments. Each of these regions were chosen because of their contribution to NASCAR history. The South gave rise to many legendary racers and teams, the coasts had some amazing visuals, while the cities provided some of the most hotly contested races. The soundtrack was southern rock, with a little twang even on the surf ballads. There was even a commentator doing his best Jeff Foxworthy one liners. Everything complimented the theme EA was going for. Each course came complete with shortcuts, some obvious and others well hidden. The diversity in locations, clever use of secrets and ramps helped liven up the genre. The computer AI was forgiving as long as it did not "see" the player use the shortcuts. If it did then the AI would take the same shortcuts and pull out some very close races.

These cars could ram each other off the road or plow through opponents which helped make this game really stand out. However EA also gave players the ability to use special power-ups through the courses. Similar to the function featured in the Mario Kart games, these power-ups could give players a speed boost, make them temporarily invincible or sabotage opponents by zapping their speed and grip. These power-ups could be turned off or set to very high numbers depending on how chaotic players wanted the experience to be. The game was very fun and the secrets kept me coming back for more. Unfortunately it looked very dated when it appeared. The car models were blocky and rough when compared to the 1st generation PS2 titles. The saving grace was the originality, memorable tracks and use of iconic racers to make it stand out.

EA did release an updated version called Rumble Racing on the PS2. Unfortunately it did not use the NASCAR license. The exaggerated car models remained and the shift was more on stunt racing rather than the fantastic narrative of taking NASCAR vehicles to the streets. Rumble Racing did marginally well but most fans were hoping for a true sequel. Perhaps someday it might happen, then my friends on 1UP might be converted into believers. So is this how the car series ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper? Come back tomorrow for the wrap-up.

Were you ever a fan of NASCAR? Whether the realistic sims or the arcade types like above? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

NASCAR memories part 1...

I was jumping around several classic Playstation games over the past few weeks as I was putting together my God of War series, and editing the upcoming 1UP classics for this blog. The car series in particular reminded me of my love of a particular game, and genre of racing. As many kids would tell you cars are cool, fast cars are cooler. I was five-years-old when my life was forever changed. It was early in 1979. My parents weren’t feeling well so we would not be going to church that Sunday morning. My brothers slept in most weekends, and I was always the early bird. So I would watch whatever was on TV for a few hours before the rest of the family got up. I flipped through the channels, and saw a race was about to begin. It was the Daytona 500. Today considered one of the most famous races in the world. I had caught glimpses of stock car races before, but usually only the results were shown on TV, and never the entire race.

It turned out that NASCAR had come to an agreement with broadcasters, this would be the first time the race was shown in its entirety, and not just the last laps. I had no idea what the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was, or why these beautifully painted cars were racing on a giant oval. Not that it mattered. I saw fast cars in bright colors. Watching them run side-by-side at almost 200 miles an hour. They became four-wheeled, street legal, low-flying super heroes. I was absolutely hooked from that moment. As my family got up over the next few hours they saw me glued to the screen. I was explaining to them who the different drivers were, how they were fighting to hold onto a lead, and even the nail-biting pit stops that could cost them the entire race. They asked if I had a favorite. I said yeah, there was a guy called Richard Petty driving the #43 car. Its blue, and red paint scheme really stood out. He would become my favorite to watch over the following decade.

In the final laps of the race I remember my older brother, and parents all sitting on the couch watching Richard win his seventh, and final Daytona. My little brother was still a baby, and could care less about the race. We all cheered as he pulled into pit row. We saw his team jump on top of his car as he drove to victory lane. He climbed out of his car, and looked to be the coolest guy ever. He had curly hair, and a mustache like my dad. He sported sunglasses, and traded his helmet for a fancy cowboy hat. Nobody else looked as smooth as Mr. Petty. As the camera people were setting up for an interview they were distracted by a crash that had happened on the final lap. The two drivers Donnie Allison, and Cale Yarborough were trading punches on the infield. I learned that day the many layers of stock car racing. The most important was that they were passionate drivers that were willing to fight for their spot on, and off the track. If you’d never seen it I would recommend the History Channel's review before they started talking about ancient aliens. My family was happy for me. I had become a fan of a new type of racing, and my hero had won the race I had spent Sunday morning watching.

I wouldn’t get to watch many races in their entirety. The good news was that I could see how they started before leaving for church, and catch the ending when we returned on Sundays. I would spend my formative years learning everything that I could about stock car racing. Of course this meant that my friends would get an earful about it at school, and my family would learn about it during dinner time. For example a lot of people thought that NASCAR was always filled with sponsors, and professional drivers. That wasn’t the case. The cars were regular vehicles that were modified to run fast. Not necessarily to race, but because they were used by moonshiners to smuggle booze all over the South. Bootleggers could make as much in one run as a farmer could in a whole month. They had to be able to outrun the law by necessity. These drivers they would get into arguments about who had the fastest car. Racing pre, and post-WWII was a constant battle. The drivers were also the mechanics, crew chiefs, owners, body repair, and paint people. They barely had enough money to fix their cars, and get to the next track. They had to lean on friends, family, and neighbors for help. The cars had such a negative reputation that they were hidden when traveling, and drivers would have to check in under an alias in order to rent a motel room.

The majority of the early tracks were a quarter mile, or half mile, and occasionally a mile. They were mostly flat. They were still made of dirt, gravel, or sand. Darlington North Carolina introduced the first paved track in 1950 for the Southern 500. In 1959 the super speedways were introduced with Daytona. The 2.5 mile track was intimidating, and dangerous. Massive banked concrete turns that were three times taller than any other track. It scared the veterans to death the first time they saw it. I learned that Richard Petty was part of a racing legacy. Lee Petty, Richard’s father, won the initial Daytona 500 with a thrilling photo finish. Richard won that race five years later, and would win it a total of seven times over his career. He started racing in 1958 right as the sport was evolving. He would come to dominate through the ‘60s, and set unparalleled records. He was the first, and most influential NASCAR driver I ever saw, however I would have to accept that his best years were behind him.

Imagine if you were new to basketball, and the very first game you ever saw featured Michael Jordan during his time with the Washington Wizards, and his team won. This was many years after he had won his last championship with the Chicago Bulls. You were instantly impressed with his mastery of the game, and became a fan. Then you would look forward to see him play again, and again, but he just couldn’t capture that magic of that first game. There were glimpses of brilliance, but he just couldn’t keep up with the new crop. You would hear from sportscasters, and fans that he was a far cry from his prime in the early ‘90s. It felt very much that way for me watching Petty race. He would only win 13 more times in the following 370+ races he competed in. His last victory was the sweetest by far. It was his 200th, for the Firecracker 400, on the 4th of July. President Ronald Reagan was on hand to congratulate him. That was in 1984, I was turning 10 that year. Rather than retire Petty would continue racing until 1992. You could imagine that watching the king crash, or lose again, and again over the next eight years took a toll on my heart. By then I was looking overseas for a new series, and finding a new racing hero. Formula-1 was the sport, and Ayrton Senna was the hero. My best friend followed his rival-turned-teammate-turned friend Nigel Mansell. We had the fortune of meeting Mansell when he came to the US to race in the CART Indy series. Unfortunately Senna would die in an accident in 1994.

I still held Petty in high regards, but wasn’t fond of him losing in popular media. The 1990 Tom Cruise film Days of Thunder was considered the best NASCAR film ever made. My parents saw it in the theater, and thought that when it came out for rent they would bring it home. The film began with Petty crashing out during the opening credits. I was so angry that I took the movie out, put it back in the case, and asked them to return it to the video store. My mom was furious with me for stopping the tape while the family was watching. My older brother came to my defense, he explained to her that Petty was my hero, why would I want to see a movie where he’s seen as a washed-up driver? I put the tape back in but went to my room, I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. My brothers knew that I was deeply upset by it. I would argue that Petty wouldn’t get his due in popular media for another 14 years after his retirement.

Pixar’s Cars movie came out in 2006. I wasn’t impressed with the early teaser, as all it seemed to be was a demo reel for Pixar’s physics technology. In case you haven’t seen it, the movie revolves around an upstart rookie called Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson, his rival Chick Hicks, voiced by Michael Keaton, and the winningest car in Piston Cup History “The King” Strip Weathers. The design of the The King was based on the iconic Petty Blue Superbird. Richard Petty was cast to voice Strip, and his actual wife Lynda voiced Lynda Weathers. Unfortunately he crashes at the end of the film, but Lightning gives up a sure championship win to make sure that Strip can finish his last race. As was the case with Pixar movies the ending brought many to tears. You can imagine that it gave me, and a couple of generations of NASCAR fans a sense of closure as well.

Richard was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010. It seemed way overdue by that point. His records, and legacy seemed impossible to match. His greatest NASCAR moments are well documented. However when you put his life, and contribution in context he seems even larger than life. There is a fantastic documentary on Richard, and the Petty family. Including his father Lee, his son Kyle, and grandson Adam. They were the first four generation family in professional sports. This was another achievement that might never be matched in our lifetimes.

Of the many NASCAR games that were released over the years I think there was one that captured the thrill of the sport best. I’d like to talk about it in the next blog. Until then I’d like to know if you followed any motorsport. Did you have a favorite series, or driver? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The secrets of Hog Hollow

Hello friends, I hope that you are doing well. Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite games. I’ve written about NASCAR Rumble on a couple of occasions. I will probably do so again in the future. Today I wanted to mention something that’s a bit of a throw-away detail. Something so minuscule I have a feeling that a lot of players never even caught it in the game. First off let’s talk about the stages. Unlike the other NASCAR games there were no licensed tracks featured in this game. Instead there were courses inspired by regions of the US. The south specifically, but also the midwest, and west coast. Each region featured three courses to race on with heavy theming. One of my favorites was Southern Exposure, and it’s third, and most complex road was called Hog Hollow.

The developers at EA had a lot of fun putting together these roads. There was nothing subtle in the themes that they used, in fact they were heavy handed with the details, and that’s what I especially loved. In this case Hog Hollow took place through a Three Little Pigs theme park, and hog farm. If you looked carefully you would notice that the track was shaped in the outline of a pig. For a few years I thought that it was a particularly challenging course, until one day I looked at the map, and made out the shape. I felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner.

Every course had a shortcut, or series of shortcuts that you could exploit to beat your opponents. As the old saying went in NASCAR “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t winning.” The main shortcuts for Hog Hollow took place just after the gates of the park, there was a barn with a fence, and sign that read Park Closed. Of course you could crash through the gates, and streak through the narrow streets.

Here was one example of the types of details that players would miss. Since the cars are going super fast the audience wouldn’t have time to read the signs in the retail area of the park. They would miss the Porkantile market, or the Piggy’s Bank.

At the end of the street there’s a stage show dedicated to the Three Little Pigs. You can drive down the aisle, and run over the pig standees. Out the back door there is a shortcut that leads under the parking lot.

After you exit the park, and follow the road you will eventually come across a hog farm. If you drive between the pens you can see, and hear pigs squealing. It’s another great touch for one of the last games made on the original Playstation.

The greatest hidden detail in the game is one easily missed. There are three ticket booths at the front gates of Hog Hollow. The booths are themed after the story of the Three Little Pigs. You can easily run over the standees, fence, and booths themselves. Those things are all destructible. That is with the exception of the house of bricks.

No matter how fast you are going, or even what type of car or truck you drive, you simply cannot destroy the house of bricks. You can’t even break through the fence. The best part is that if you run over one of the remaining pig standees then it will immediately appear in the yard of the brick house.

I actually didn’t even catch this detail for years, and years. My focus was on winning the race, and not about seeing what happened to items you crashed through. As in many games those things simply disappeared once they were smashed. Then one day I noticed that there was an extra pig with the brick house. I thought to myself there was no way the studio programmed in this throwaway detail. So I restarted the stage and slowly ran over the sticks, and straw houses just to see. Sure enough nothing happened unless I ran over the standees as well. Then they immediately appeared safely behind the fence.

It was one of the many clever details that the company hid in the game. Did it make the experience any better? Probably not. Was I glad that they went above, and beyond in populating the stages with these Easter eggs? You bet I was! I’d like to know if there were any throwaway details in your favorite games. Something so obscure that chances were many fans never even caught it. I’d like to hear about it on the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Daytona USA, Let’s Go Away! - Originally published on 1UP - April 8, 2009

The Daytona USA series is an odd duck among racers. It, like Super GT and the other Sega classics, is either loved or loathed by racing fans. Feelings about Daytona USA are much stronger than any other racer by Yu Suzuki, or to be more accurate as Alex aka FerrarimanF355 pointed out to me the director for many of the Sega racers including Daytona USA was Toshihiro Nagosh. The reasons for which might come down to what Japan doesn't understand about Western racing culture. Those that dislike Daytona USA would argue that the title was unabashedly Japanese in scope, it succeeds by being an ignorant arcade statement about stock cars and western racing. Those critics might be right. 

The track for which the game is named is based on the legendary Daytona International track in Florida. It was among the oldest of tracks in a fledgling NASCAR circuit. Back in the 50's the track was right on the beach. Massive production cars would tear up the sand, just a few feet from brave, or crazy spectators. These cars were stock in appearance but everything under the sheet metal was anything but. Even today the stock cars carry the large proportions granted by their originators. The current Daytona track is built right over that original track in the sand. It is as beloved a racing course as any other track in the world. Only a few things in Daytona USA would even draw comparisons to the real deal.

The original beginner track in Daytona USA was a three turn oval but it looked nothing like the real course. It was far more fantastic in origin. Snow capped mountains loomed in the background and a rocky cliff was etched with the visage of Sonic the Hedgehog. This track, like every track AM2 was famous for, excelled in the spectacle. The layout defied logic but was an amazing sight to behold. Virtual architecture that rivaled the greatest wonders of the world. Courses that snaked through a canyon, inches from NYC skyscrapers or rumbled down the middle of an amusement park. These were the best tracks I had ever experienced but at the same time the name of the game and style of car had rubbed me the wrong way.

I grew up on racing. Being a fan of every type of circuit and style imaginable. You can guess that my feelings toward a Sega game named Daytona would be mixed. The game featured the familiar boxy cars from the NASCAR circuit but they looked a little odd. This was not a licensed stock car racer so the cars had to give a familiar vibe by their shape and bright paint job. However these things were done from a Japanese perspective. Japan had more experience with GT and even F-1 racing. Those were cars that were created with racing in mind, rather than regular cars turned into racers by mechanics. The Japanese interpretation of the stock car was, for lack of a better word, dubious. The stock car was a foreign breed, a big and brutish American racer. It was unrefined and garish, much too swollen for racing, brightly painted in contrasting colors, a rolling reflection of the loud gaijin and beer swilling rednecks that adored driving 500 miles in a circle. The cars featured in Daytona USA reflected this brutal opinion.

The cars were more or less shaped like stock cars but with fanciful names and questionably-designed logos. Undoubtedly fruity names to get Japanese gamers interested in these brutes. The game was made to bring American gamers to the arcade, but to make it more appealing to the rest of the world it made many concessions to the car design and gameplay. The Daytona series played just like the previous Sega racers. The only way to beat the courses was to drift, or power slide, around every corner. Each successive pass would "slingshot" you past opponents. The sight of massive blocky cars sliding around corners, in the way that was previously reserved for lightweight Ferraris, was too much to behold. The secret cars were anything but more stockers, they were instead crazy-named cars that players could unlock for added replay value. These odd cars were a jab at the roster of racing machines featured in Namco's rival Ridge Racer. I was unimpressed with the effort and slightly disappointed with how Japan was treating the stock car name.

The game was beautiful and is still fun to play, if you could get past the suspension of disbelief. Daytona USA 2 looked amazing on an updated version of the Model 3 board. It's tracks were among the best ever, even trumping the eye candy featured in Super GT.

Unlike Super GT the consoles and PC saw several versions of the Daytona racer released. The most recent appearance of Daytona USA also happens to be the most memorable. The great Daytona USA 2 tracks make an appearance as a single interconnected track in OutRun 2's bonus stage. Making it a definite must-get for racing game fans. Did you know that the things that got NASCAR purists riled up with Daytona USA worked in a different breed of racer? Sega's obsession with drifting would finally make an appropriate appearance, but not in a Yu Suzuki game. Find out which game I'm talking about tomorrow!

Were you a fan of this racing series? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The Monster Wars that turned the public away from Bigfoot

In a previous blog I talked about rebuilding my monster truck book, and magazine library. It was something that I had originally built up through the 1980’s, but was destroyed by a freak series of rain storms in the mid 1990’s. It left me disheartened, and unwilling to have anything to do with monster trucks for more than a decade. Thankfully street basketball, and the urban vinyl movement created new interests for me to follow entering the new milennium. I ended the entry by talking about how I rebuilt the library over the past few years. I also started collecting classic monster truck toys to display on my work desk. I went back to the Matchbox Super Charger trucks from 1985-1986. These were some of the most memorable toys to me as a kid. They set the standard in my book. If you were born in the ‘90s or early 2000’s then you always had monster trucks on television, and monster truck toys on the toy shelves. To you they had always existed, and always were a part of motorsports culture. I’m here to tell you this wasn’t always the case.

As member of Generation-X I was a kid when monster trucks first made the news. I first saw them in magazines, and couldn’t believe that there were trucks so massive that they could crush cars. It was the ultimate power trip! My brain melted when my brothers, and I saw the first televised monster truck race between Bigfoot, and USA-1 on That’s Incredible in 1983. I remember finding out about it thanks to TV Guide (ask your grandparents). I spent all week hyping my classmates up in elementary school. I told them that there was going to be a monster truck race on TV. They didn’t grasp the concept, and didn’t seem to be remotely interested in what was about to happen. From that point on I would check the listings to see if there were any other monster truck related events. Sadly there would be nothing else for a couple of years. Then in 1985 I found out that there was going to be a TV special on the weekend. It was called Battle of the Monster Trucks. It would feature a bunch of monster trucks going against each other across multiple events. To say that this was the most important televised event of my childhood would be an understatement. It would become the first entry in the most important trilogy of my childhood.

The next year we saw the Return of the Monster Trucks, and it was rounded out by the War of the Monster Trucks. The success of these specials lead to the creation of different racing leagues, and different touring shows. The majority were organized by the United States Hot Rod Association (USHRA). Sponsors realized that they could capture the public by featuring the best monsters in live competition. This early period for organized monster truck events had the same kind of energy as the birth of NASCAR some 40-years earlier. Just like NASCAR it was beer, and tobacco companies that saw the motorsport as a way to build a customer base. One of the biggest contests around was the Mud & Monsters series presented by Camel cigarettes. All of a sudden local television, and cable channels were fighting over broadcast rights. This started to put a rift in between the various trucks, teams, track operators, and owners. There was no doubt that backroom deals, and exclusive contracts to feature the biggest names were being created at this time.

It was the late ‘80s, and early ‘90s when the regular televised events started growing in popularity. I was entering my teen years, and super excited to see that monster trucks had become a part of mainstream culture. The one thing that I began to notice was how some of the contests were pushing certain trucks more than others. In particular the black, and green Chevy panel van known as Grave Digger was getting a massive push from the commentators. I pointed it out to my brothers, and after a few weeks they also noticed that the Grave Digger was getting the majority of air time over the older, and more established trucks. I said if I didn’t know better it looked like they were trying to push Bigfoot out of the spotlight. That was not to say that Bigfoot was unstoppable. USA-1 won the series champion in 1988, and Equalizer in 1989. Bigfoot didn’t capture a championship until 1990. The Grave Digger didn’t win the championship until 1999, after Bigfoot had already won it seven times. If you look at the list of monster truck racing champions from 1988-2005 you can clearly see how dominant Bigfoot was in competition. Yet that didn’t seem to be the narrative according to television.

I felt like I was watching a biased show. It was never that the Carolina Crusher, Taurus, Bear Foot, or the Equalizer had better season than the Grave Digger, but rather that the Grave Digger just had a bad run. I started to feel a little jaded with the entire format, and way that TNT Motorsports was presenting the contests. My suspicions were slowly growing into a full blown conspiracy. To me the smoking gun was when Bigfoot owner Bob Chandler went back to the drawing board. He built a better Bigfoot after narrowly losing the championship two years in a row. Team Bigfoot had once again raised the bar. Bigfoot VIII was so dominant that it was banned from competition. This lead to a lawsuit against TNT. They argued that Chandler’s “third-generation” monster truck was too far advanced for the competition. What Chandler had done was improve on the building techniques of himself, and his contemporaries. Bigfoot VIII featured a tube chassis designed on a computer. It had a lightweight body, and was closer to a Baja racing truck than an old school monster truck. This was a template that would be modified even more through Bigfoot XI aka Wildfoot in 1993. It set the standard which would be copied by the rest of the industry for more than a decade.

The Bigfoot Team was losing points during the season while they were appealing the ban in court. Rather than sit out the season Chandler decided to run an older truck, and stay in contention. Despite a number of engine issues Rich Hooser did the impossible. He ran Bigfoot IV against newer monster trucks, and won. Andy Brass also drove the truck to several victories as well. Watching the truck which was originally built in 1984 hang with newer machines made me an even bigger fan. I thought that Bigfoot was fighting the good fight, and showing the country why it was called the King of the Monster Trucks. It seemed that TNT always downplayed these scrappy victories. They would make excuses for the other trucks in the series, and never give Bigfoot the credit it deserved.

I began questioning why it was okay that other teams were allowed to make improvements to their rides during the off season, but Chandler was punished for doing the same thing. I remember how radically different Awesome Kong looked after a crash in 1988. The red Ford with the aircraft engine was easily one of the greatest builds I had ever seen. Then one day after a crash repair it returned to competition with a squished frame over a tube chassis, and a new engine. Builder / driver Jeff Dane said it was to help improve visibility, and make it in time to enter the season of competition. To me it looked like a way to shave weight off of the truck, and have just a hair of an advantage over the other trucks with heavier metal bodies. As much as I respected Mr. Dane, I was skeptical that he was allowed to compete with his radically different truck, at the same time that Bigfoot VIII had to sit out. TNT commentators always seemed to play favorites on the air. Similar things could be said of the other televised contests. It didn’t make sense to me at the time why there seemed to be a bias against the most popular truck in the world. Then I got older, and looked at the big picture.

I mentioned previously how Feld Entertainment bought out the United States Hot Rod Association, and became the De facto organizing body for monster truck competitions. They bought out entire teams, or signed them to exclusive contracts so that they could only appear on Monster Jam tours, and Monster Jam television programming. You can read the history of the different companies that came together to form Monster Jam in this Wiki article. Only as an adult did it make sense why the TV shows were pushing the Grave Digger so hard. Feld would have more control over the marketing, licensing, and merchandise rights of certain trucks. The Grave Digger team run by Dennis Anderson didn’t have the bargaining power that Chandler did. Eventually Anderson would sell the rights to Feld as well. I respected Anderson, in fact I gave him his flowers when I talked about the Grave Digger earning its reputation, and Anderson being an important contributor to the mega truck movement. I was upset watching the artificial rise of the Grave Digger while Bigfoot was getting pushed out of the spotlight. Feld standardized the builds of each truck, poaching the technology that Bigfoot was built on. They pre-packaged trucks with corporate sponsor names. If there was a cartoon, movie, or comic book that they could license then you were guaranteed to see it at the next stadium show. Scooby-Doo, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, and Spongebob Squarepants were just some of the many branded trucks.

Feld pulled off a quiet coup that the public would never know about. You could watch this well researched video to see why Bigfoot and Grave Digger won’t compete against each other again. It was something that I don’t think modern monster truck fans realized. Bob Chandler had been iced out of the sport that he helped create. Team Bigfoot was still able to perform around the world, but to smaller venues, and no dedicated television appearances. This greatly limited the earning potential of Bob Chandler. It didn’t matter that he helped form the Monster Truck Racing Association for the safety of drivers, and audiences. It didn’t matter that his quest to improve on every version of Bigfoot was copied by this contemporaries. Monster truck television shows, and stadium tours had reached a point where they could operate successfully without Bigfoot ever appearing. The important thing to me was how Feld pushed another truck to be the flag bearer for the sport. The years of publicity worked on the masses. By 2019 Motor Trend said that the Grave Digger was the OG monster truck. It was a slap in the face to Bigfoot, USA-1, King Kong, and every other truck that contributed to the culture well before Grave Digger.

Feld also changed the look, and feel of monster truck competition. The original monster truck contests were rough, and tumble affairs. They felt organic. They grew out of the actual off road community. Like a rodeo put together by locals. By comparison Monster Jam was a highly polished event. It was assembled by a corporate boardroom. Ready-made for TV, like dressage for expensive show ponies. Actual measurable events like the hill climb, mud bog, sled pull, and car crush were previously used to determine which was the best truck around. The entire racing element had taken a back seat to the freestyle competitions. That format was much more subjective. Since Feld controlled the biggest shows, and the biggest teams, then they were able to define what monster trucks were all about. Then there was a darker undercurrent about big business corrupting the sport.

Previously I had compared the way Feld operated their business to WWE. The McMahon family owned a majority of the names, and likenesses of the wrestling characters. They treated the talent as independent contractors rather than employees. So they didn’t have to provide them with medical, insurance, or retirement plans. Yes the performers were paid well, but they made a tiny fraction of what the McMahons did. The Feld family owned a number of teams, but also contracted work to smaller groups. The Feld family was worth billions, whereas the superstars like Dennis Anderson were worth a few million, and the lesser known independent teams worth less. Knowing that the owners of the WWE leaned very heavy to the right politically made me wonder about Feld as well. According to OpenSecrets.org Feld Entertainment made a majority of political contributions to the Republican Party through the years.

As a minority living in the USA it pained me to see the sport was being controlled by people that didn’t always consider me a part of this great nation. This distressed me greatly. I was a lifelong fan of the monster truck community I wanted to buy some toys, but I didn’t want to support Feld (or the WWE) in any way. I had to figure out something to collect, but what? I’ll talk about it in a future blog. Were you a fan of a sport, team, or star performer only to find out something that made you lose respect in them? Tell me in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!