NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver A.J. Allmendinger has found success at every level of racing competition over the course of his very young career. The 26 year-old driver was the 2002 Barber Dodge Pro Series Champion with six wins in a 10 race season in which he never finished below fourth place. The next year, he was the Toyota Atlantic Champion and Rookie of the Year with a record eight wins for the season. In 2004, moving over to Champ Car, he became the first American in over a decade to claim the Roshfrans Rookie of the Year Award.
The Toyota Red Bull driver (#84) has been a gamer all of his life. He took a pit stop to talk to SportsGamer about how gaming has impacted his racing prowess.
What did you play in the early days?
Atari and Nintendo were probably the ones I started off in. Obviously with in Nintendo, Mario Land was the big thing.. I was like 5 or 6 playing that. But the games that really excited me were ExciteBike and Mickey Thompson Off Road. I think the ultimate game, and we probably all agree as kids, was Pole Position. As a kid I thought that was the coolest game ever
Did you ever play Super Monaco GP on Sega Genesis?
Oh yeah, Super Monaco GP, when that came out, you thought that was the coolest technology to ever come out. I mean, I remember I played that thing for hours and then Virtua Racing came out and that was huge. When I first started playing on the PC, the Indy 500 game was out, so that one was one I played for hours.
So you progressed from those consoles through today?
Yeah, basically. As more technology came out, Id always get the most updated version. But when it came to the Indy 500 game, that is when I found out I liked playing more the racing games on my computer. And my sports games like Madden, when it first came out and baseball, hockey all the sports games I liked playing on whatever console I had at that time. And that was between Nintendo, Genesis, PS1, PS2. When all those came out, I found the sports games I enjoyed on the consoles more then the racing. That is probably why I am so much into the sim racing. It was pretty much all done on computer. It all pretty much started with that Indy 500 game.
Did you play the NASCAR PC games?
The ultimate game was when Papyrus came out with the NASCAR game. I mean, Papyrus with the NASCAR games was just amazing. Some of the Papyrus guys that came from that are the ones making the sim models now that are so cool that I download and race. Back in the day, Papyrus was it. The stock car games they came out with every year and progressed with were just amazing.. I know when Champ Car, back when it was still Indy Car, came out with their game in 94 or 95 those were some really cool games, as well, but Papyrus had everybody beat at that point.
A lot of NASCAR drivers still play NASCAR Racing 2003 to this day.
Oh yeah, for sure. I don’t have the 2003 game because they have come out with some of the mods now, but Ive talked to people when the mods are coming out there that update NASCAR 2003 with new cars and drivers.
Some racers I’ve interviewed play the R Factor simulations on PC. Do you?
Oh yeah. R factor is really cool. You buy the R Factor game and download it into your computer and they come up with updates for that. There are also downloads that get made throughout the world with every type racing you can think of. I’m not a computer genius, but R Factor makes it easy for someone like me to download and play these racing games.
Do you ever get to play as your car in these games?
Oh yeah there is a mod out there that has my car in it. EA Sports owns all the rights to NASCAR Nextel Cup, Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series stuff. Guys have made mods using the Orchid Re/Max Series cars because there are no rights issues with those vehicles. They’ve made a Nextel Cup version of the game using these cars. They have some of the tracks from NASCAR, as well.
Do you ever use the videogames to help prepare for a race?
Yeah. With open wheel racing and Nextel Cup stuff I’m always on the game trying to learn the track and where it goes. I focus on what kind of characteristics I can learn from the videogames so that when I show up to the track I’m not surprised. I’m just like Denny Hamlin, Junior and those guys that have done that, so it’s a big help. Games are becoming so realistic now that it’s a lot closer to the track when you show up
What do you think next generation consoles bring to racing games?
I recently was able to play F1 on PS3 and that thing is amazing.. That’s a sweet game. When NASCAR 08 comes out on PS3 I will be one of the first ones to buy it. I’ll have it in my bus at home having fun with it. It’s a big deal.. These games are now so realistic, whether you just want to play with a buddy and you guys want to go at it or whether you want to go and play the real thing, it’s cool.
Are you looking forward to being in one of the new NASCAR games?
I had to laugh. I kind of have three goals to know I’ve made it big in racing. One is to buy a videogame and play as myself.. That’s going to be cool. I’ve been in some of the mods, but I want to be in an EA Sports game.
Since you’ve raced both stock cars and open wheel, can you talk about the differences?
Obviously, in the US NASCAR is the mainstream sport of auto racing. Unfortunately that is because the two open wheel series split between Champ Car and IRL a few years ago. In Europe, F1 is the big thing.. It’s a different culture.. It’s a different way of racing. They’re both still competitive as can be. The difference between NASCAR and open wheel racing is you have five or six just top notch guys in open wheel racing and the rest are guys that don’t have the sponsorship or funding because the sport isn’t as big in the US. NASCAR is the top 43 drivers and one weekend you can be king of the hill, winning, and the next weekend you can finish 35 and you cant figure out why. That’s what I love about NASCAR, the competitiveness of the sport
What game systems do you have today?
I got PS3 in my bus, PS2at home and a specially-built PC at home for just sim racing.. So when I’m at home, for the most part, I’m on my PC playing online against a lot of my friends. I play a lot of the guys around the US and around the world even on all the mods that R Factor has put out.
What are you playing on PS3?
I just recently bought the F1 game. I also play a lot of Madden NFL 07 and NHL 2K7.
What team do you play as on Madden?
When it comes to NFL…I love the NFL. My team is the Packers. I love Brett Favre, so that is my Madden team.
What do you play on NHL 2K7?
Being from San Jose, I’m a Sharks guy...even though they got knocked out of the playoffs again.
What do you think of racing games today?
It’s just like in the racing games, the realism of the sports games, from what the players look like to what their attributes are and their strength and weaknesses are, is amazing. Just how good the defenses are and how the computer defenses get a reading if you’re strong in one area and they all stack up on that. It’s crazy how tough it is. I probably broke many controllers now throwing them at the videogame because they’re so realistic now.
How do you play Madden?
I’m the type of guy that tries to get everything as realistic as possible, so I put everything full strength and as hard as it can be in these games. I don’t want to be one of those guys who wins on the easy level. I put everything on full strength. I can’t win against the PC, but I can beat all my friends.. With the computer it’s just ridiculous with the salary caps and trading people. It’s so realistic now, its crazy.
Do you ever throw caution to the wind when playing the racing videogames?
Everything that I do in the racing games…anything that I play, I want it as hard as I can play because I like to give myself a challenge. That’s the way I am.
Do you think your background in gaming has helped you as a race car driver?
The racing games for sure. You keep your reaction time up and now me coming from open wheel racing and moving to NASCAR the set-up on the race cars and the changes you can make are very similar to real life. Not so much that I can take the set-up from Charlotte on my real car and put it on the videogame and it will handle exactly the same, but the difference is the fact that changes now between air pressure and wedge and all the stuff you can do on our vehicle reacts fairly closely to what it does in real life. That’s helping me this year to learn just what these changes do and what they mean. It’s helping me be able to speak to my crew chief and tell him what I want in the race car in real life
