October 29, 2021 – Goshen, IN…Since 2004, the focus of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS), has been based on fair, fun, competitive sim racing, and this week the fun continues as SUPRS celebrates 18 consecutive years of sanctioning supermodified sim racing. The SUPRS 18th Anniversary Special will take place on November 2, 2021 at Camp Creek Speedway.
Remembering Past
The oldest supermodified sim racing sanction plans to remember their past with a NASCAR Heat race using the first mod built in-house for SUPRS called “NHSM”, (NASCAR Heat SuperModified). Kevin Marine, of St. Paul, MN had little knowledge of the real supermodifieds when he joined SUPRS in 2005, but enjoyed the fun, fair, and competitive nature of the fledgling league enough to volunteer his skills at modding games.
Kevin, who went by the nickname “Shaker”, got his feet wet by making small tweaks the the PSTM mod built by Mike Jackson of DSES modding. With Mike’s permission and blessing, Marine “SUPRS-ized the old PSTM car and made it look more like a real supermodified.
Once he had that down, plans were launched to create a brand new version that could represent a real supermodified as closely as possible in these early days of sim racing modifications. The NHSM modification was the first “ground up” SUPRS offering and was released in February of 2006. It was designed with two types of chassis. Drivers could choose from the ISMA, or east coast style supermodified, or the SRL, or west coast style chassis in game. Real supermodified racer, and SUPRS member Joey “The Jersey” Jet Payne had a large influence on the outcome of the mod.
SUPRS Anniversary Special at Camp Creek Speedway
SUPRS will run at Camp Creek Speedway, a track that was built by SUPRS original track designer Doug “Flash” Forgue in 2006, and updated in 2009 for SUPRS. The last time SUPRS raced at Camp Creek was, in fact, 2009, where Derrick Backus won his very first SUPRS feature race while competing in the Silver Crest Division.
Camp Creek is a wide, semi-banked tri-oval with multiple grooves. One of the most notable things about Camp Creek is the “candy stripe” walls that can almost mesmerize a driver. The red/white slashes circle the entire track and sometimes makes it harder to remember exactly where one is on the 1/2 mile.
SUPRS Firsts
Through the years SUPRS has had a lot of firsts, including being the first sim racing league to bring “The Home of the Supermodifieds”-Oswego Speedway to the internet as a virtual track. Started in 2007, and painstakingly recreated for release in 2008, the famed 5/8 mile oval located on Lake Ontario in New York, became a mainstay on the SUPRS summer schedule, and the envy of many sim racing leagues
It has since been upgraded, and even ported over to rFactor and rFactor 2. It remains one of the greatest accomplishments that SUPRS has ever had, and helps the sanction educate people on real supermodified racing.
Another important milestone in SUPRS history was the development of a mod for NASCAR Heat that featured moving top wings. For fans that have never seen real supermodified racing, the wing above the roll cage of the car is always one of the first things noticed. That’s because the wings are attached via pneumatic, or hydraulic struts, to the chassis and will drop lower on straights, then pop up in the corners. This is so that there’s less drag on the longer chutes and more down force in the turns helping the real supermodifieds to corner better and faster than most other forms of short track racing cars.
Through the non-stop efforts of SUPRS second in-house car designer, Brad Quesnell, SUPRS was the first to show that the same could be done in the sim racing world. Again, the ability to make the virtual cars more like the real thing, has helped SUPRS live up to their Mission Statement, and educate new fans on real supermodifieds. To this day, no other sim racing league has successfully pulled off the moving top wing, and now SUPRS has it in rFactor and rFactor 2.
Finally, while not fully developed, SUPRS was the first to bring supermodified racing to the rFactor 2 sim racing platform. Running non-wing supermodifieds at Oswego Speedway, SUPRS put on an exhibition race for the 15th Anniversary of the sanction in 2018.
18th Anniversary Special Details
SUPRS 18th Anniversary Special takes place on Tuesday November 2, 2021 at Camp Creek Speedway built by Doug “Flash” Forgue. Practice for this NASCAR Heat supermodified sim race begins at 8:30pm, with the Drivers Meeting taking place at 8:45. There are no preliminary events scheduled before the feature which is set to start at 9:05pm. The feature race will use a special format to set the starting line-up based on the original join date of each SUPRS member in attendance. The driver in attendance with the oldest original join date will start on the pole position. The full race format and schedule of events is available on the SUPRS schedule page.
The race is part of the SUPRS/HeatFinder.net Supermodified Challenge and is open to the public for anyone that has registered at SUPRS.net, filled out a Join Form, and has the mod and track prior to race time.
Watch SUPRS 18th Anniversary Special Live
SUPRS first broadcast dates back to 2006 with a radio call of the Randy Witkum Memorial. The tradition of bringing live supermodified sim racing action to the fans continues with the 18th Anniversary Special on Tuesday, November 2, 2021. Follow your favorite SUPRS racers while you view timing, scoring, and live streaming video of all the supermodified sim races from Camp Creek Speedway by Doug “Flash” Forgue @ 9pm est via the SUPRS LIVE! page.
The SUPRS LIVE! experience includes in-car camera views as well as the main video screen and it’s a great place to spend you evening after voting where you can learn more about supermodifieds and the original supermodified sim racing sanction.
SUPRS is Social
Online sim racers, gamers, and supermodified racing fans can all learn more about the original supermodified sim racing sanction by visiting www.SUPRS.net, “Liking” SUPRS on Facebook, Following @SUPRSOnline on Twitter, and Viewing SUPRS videos on YouTube. We’re also on Instagram @suprs_online, and don’t forget to check out our live streaming video throughout the season via our SUPRS LIVE! page and Twitch.
SUPRS 18 Year Statistics
- Number of Races Sanctioned: While it’s not an exact count, to the best knowledge currently available, SUPRS has sanctioned 974 confirmed races as of November 1, 2021. With six complete years of Silver Crest, and one non-wing season of Gold Crest data missing, and a handful of NASCAR Tour-type modified races thrown in, the figure is most likely another 150 races over what we can confirm.
- Total Amount of Drivers Receiving SUPRS Points: 167-again based on data available
- States Represented by SUPRS Drivers: AL, AZ, CA, CT, DE, GA, FL, IL, IN, KY, ME, MO, MA, MI, MN, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, PA, SC, TX, WA, WI
- Canadian Provinces Represented by SUPRS Drivers: ONT, QUE
- SUPRS Youngest Winner: Stephen Ritskes-age 16
- SUPRS Oldest Winner: Carl Becker-age 76
- SUPRS Driver with longest continuous, uninterrupted membership: Steve Callahan-Original Join Date of March 6, 2005.
- Current SUPRS Driver with oldest Original Join Date: Gary Waldron-January 5, 2004
