Nascar Racing 1994

[Tina Popielarczyk]

NASCARRacing was released in the fall of 1994 for DOS personal computers. It featured more than 25 of the 40 regular drivers in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Notable absences included Dale Earnhardt (who would go on to win the Winston Cup that year), Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty and Darrell Waltrip, although the latter's brother, Michael, was included. The PlayStation version features 20 of the 39 regular drivers from the 1996 season.

The game let the player race with up to 38 other cars (32 on shorter tracks like Bristol and Martinsville) and it also offered multiplayer action via direct links (one computer connected to another via a LAN) and also through an online system owned by Papyrus called Hawaii.

The CD-ROM version of the game also offered a SVGA graphics mode which was accessible through the command prompt (by entering "nascar -h"), but it was too demanding for many of the computers of its age, mostly 486 and early Pentium PCs. hardware accelerated versions were later created and bundled with the Matrox Millennium and Diamond Edge 3D.

Papyrus did produce a Daytona track only for use exclusively at a fan simulation game at the Daytona USA museum. In the PlayStation edition of the game, the player races as a rookie in the number 96 Papyrus car.

NASCAR Racing was a major commercial success.[4] Its sales reached 350,000 units by December 1995, following its October 1994 release,[5] and rose to 400,000 copies by February 1996.[4] In the United States, NASCAR Racing (bundled with its Track Pack add-on) was the 24th best-selling computer game of 1998, with another 225,737 units sold. Its revenue for that year was estimated at $2.28 million.[6] NASCAR Racing and its sequel shipped above 2 million copies globally by March 1998,[7] and shipments of the first game alone surpassed 1 million units by 2004.[8]

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, and stated that "it's the game's astounding ability to create a realistic feeling of speed that makes it an incredible hit. Flying around the tracks at 170 mph and up will make you respect those drivers who do this for a living. Definitely a winner."[3]

Declaring it "the best racing game ever created", the editors of PC Gamer US presented NASCAR Racing with their 1994 "Best Sports Game" award, and nominated it in their "Best Simulation" category.[9] NASCAR also won Computer Gaming World's 1994 "Simulation Game of the Year" award, tying with Aces of the Deep, and was a nominee for the magazine's overall "Game of the Year" prize. The editors opined that its "incredible graphics, sound and overall experience appeal to simulation enthusiasts and casual sports fans alike".[10]

The PlayStation port divided reviewers. Next Generation stated that "NASCAR Racing is for the die-hard stock car racing fan who loves NASCAR so much they don't care what kind of package it comes in." They cited dull visuals, the lack of a multiplayer mode, and inadequate attempts at realism.[14] In contrast, Jeff Kitts of GameSpot hailed it as "stock car racing at its most realistic", praising the authentic recreation of real life tracks, abundant options, realistic controls, and the accuracy of the PlayStation conversion.[13] The two sports reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly held more of a middle ground position, with Dindo Perez saying that the PC version was a great title but had been surpassed in the years it took the game to reach the PlayStation, and Todd Mowatt remarking that "this game won't win the checkered flag this time around, but it won't run out of gas on you either." Both commented that the frame rate and general excitement of the game were lacking.[12] GamePro's Dr. Zombie noted the realistic touches to the game and the merely adequate graphics, controls, and sounds, and concluded that "this game will appeal more to diehard racing aficionados than to the casual gamer cruising for speed and action."[15]

NASCAR Racing, a really nice racing / driving game sold in 1994 for DOS, is available and ready to be played again! Also available on Mac, time to play a licensed title, vehicle simulator, automobile and track racing video game title.

We may have multiple downloads for few games when different versions are available.Also, we try to upload manuals and extra documentation when possible. If you have additional files to contribute or have the game in another language, please contact us!

In 1994, Papyrus left IndyCar temporarily in the dust for the world of stock car racing. Nascar Racing (1994) brought the same attention to detail and emphasis on realism that had PC-owning racing enthusiasts revving their engines in Indianapolis 500: The Simulation to a game based on the 1994 Winston Cup Season.

May as well make Indy 500 winners swig orange juice in Victory Lane or have the track install lights for a night race. Heck, make it the Indianapolis 350. None of it could have been worse than big, bad NASCAR storming into their city - an open wheel city.

It's time to pucker up and kiss the bricks once again when NASCAR runs its 20th Cup race Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are as much a slice of Indy racing history as A.J. Foyt and Rick Mears.

"You have the Daytona 500 and then the Brickyard 400," Gordon, a four-time Indy winner, said. "Some people may rank it different than that, but that's how I look at it. There was a time, maybe back in 1994, where I would have ranked this No. 1."

Then the next big thing in NASCAR, a 23-year-old Gordon won the inaugural race in 1994. An estimated crowd of 250,000 fans absolutely jammed the place and Gordon recalled the die-hards lined up 10 deep around the garage just to get a peek at the drivers that would soon usher NASCAR into a boom period.

NASCAR's Winston Cup championship, which only two weeks ago

looked as if it had been locked up by Dale Jarrett, has turned

into a crapshoot with 10 races left in the season. Jarrett

hemorrhaged more of his points lead on Sunday by finishing 16th

in the Southern 500 at storied Darlington Raceway, giving him

back-to-back bobbles in eight days. On Aug. 28 he came in 38th

after wrecking on the 188th lap of the Goody's 500 at Bristol

and dropping out of the competition. "One more like this, and

the race is on," said Mark Martin on Sunday after closing to

within 168 points of Jarrett with a fourth-place finish.

Before the Bristol race Jarrett had 20 top 10 finishes--the key

to winning the season title--in 22 races and led Martin in the

standings by 314 points. At his current rate of erosion (an

average of 73 points a race), Jarrett would fall behind Martin

after three more races. Bobby Labonte, 320 points behind in the

standings after the Darlington race, would catch Jarrett in five

races.

Jarrett was doomed in Darlington when a flat tire caused his

Taurus to spin out during last Friday's first-round qualifying,

which meant he would start 36th in the 43-car field. "The

qualifying effort just killed us. We didn't realize how much of

a disadvantage that would be," Jarrett said after the race,

which was shortened to 369 miles because of rain.

Jeff Burton loved the drizzle--the win was his second in a

rain-shortened race at Darlington this season. "I've been called

Rain Man all my life," he said jokingly, referring to the

autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman.

Last Friday, after Ernie Irvan had tearfully announced his

retirement from NASCAR racing because of a series of head

injuries, his wife, Kim, explained the simple arithmetic of the

decision: "He's like a cat with nine lives, and he has used up

eight of them."

Irvan, 40, sustained what doctors termed a mild head injury in a

crash at Michigan Speedway on Aug. 20--five years to the day

after he had suffered life-threatening head and chest injuries

at the same track. The night of the 1994 accident, Irvan was

given only a 10% chance of survival, yet he was up and about by

October and resumed Winston Cup racing a year later. Then last

October, in a crash at Talladega, Irvan suffered a concussion

and missed the last four races of the season.

In the wake of his most recent accident, Irvan asked his

personal physician to evaluate his condition. "The doctor said

that the first time I came back to racing was a full-fledged

miracle," Irvan said. "Then he said, 'How many miracles can you

have?' That woke me up. I don't want to retire, but it's the

smart thing to do. I don't know if I could survive another wreck

like the two I've had at Michigan."

A sign of the times: A.J. Foyt, arguably the biggest name in the

history of Indy car racing, will field a NASCAR Winston Cup team

next season and is looking for a driver. Although Foyt says

he'll keep his IRL team going, he will attend "99 percent of the

NASCAR races." Given a Winston Cup schedule of 34 events, Foyt

clearly won't have much time left to focus on Indy cars.... CART

CEO Andrew Craig was to meet with San Francisco mayor Willie

Brown this week to discuss a possible downtown street race,

beginning next year.

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