ETSU Esports announced the addition of iRacing to the program on Friday, Nov. 4, which is the fourth game in the Esports collection. 

As a National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) sponsored event, the races will take place starting the spring semester. 

There will be qualifying rounds, where racers will attempt to complete a certain time to advance to other events. There will be about three to four races per semester. 

“Right now, we’ve got an open call out for racers, and we are doing interviews with people. Any student that is academically eligible and eligible by the rules of NACE will be supported and given access to the competition to try and qualify,” said head coach Jeff Shell.

The layout of iRacing is different from the other games ETSU’s program offers. In iRacing, each racer plays as a simulation and uses pedals, a steering wheel and a gear shifter. 

ETSU Esports will be partnering with Bristol Motor Speedway, which has a state-of-the-art iRacing facility. Qualified students will compete in the suite at Bristol Motor Speedway with professional equipment. 

“We are very excited to have Bristol Motor Speedway working with us on this to help make this happen,” said Shell. “We want to make sure that esports has more of a regional tie to it, so that students will have more opportunities to interact with the program and with ETSU in general.”  

The addition of ETSU Esports iRacing collaborating with Bristol Motor Speedway will focus on cross-promotional content as well. 

“I think it gives us a really unique opportunity for long-term growth of our regional identity for the program,” said Shell. 

If you are interested in iRacing, visit etsu.edu/esports for contact forms to fill out that will connect students with head coach Jeff Shell and production coordinator Leigh Nutter.