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A Gentlemen's Drivers Club

   

In July of 2000, a gentleman by the name of Gregory Cooper placed a thread in the old Legends Central forum looking for like-minded people who were tired of the carnage and inconsiderate racing that was so prevalent in pick-up races on VROC. At the time, the only other venue for online racing was to join a League, which required active participation if you wanted to be successful. Greg’s idea was to form a Club where racers could assemble and compete, unhindered by the binding nature of being in a League, with a special emphasis on clean, gentlemanly, fun racing. The Average Driver’s Club was thus formed with the ambition of being adaptable with policy and open to experimentation while adhering to the goal of providing it’s members with rewarding racing.

Early race attendance was sparse. Often Greg and myself, Mark Casey, Robert Warfield, DoK Miller, Todd Scholl, and a few others in some combination would be the only participants. I apologize if I’ve omitted a couple of names, but that seems so long ago now. I can remember nights where a couple of us would sit there in chat just wondering if anyone would show up. Originally, we started with a two race, intermediate short format at two different tracks per night. That soon became a little hard to manage, as it’s hard to practice for two different tracks. We soon simplified it to just one Intermediate Long race, our current format. We also established a consistent track list, with a diverse selection of new and old, short and long tracks. The track list is, and will continue to be flexible to respect the varied interests of the ADC membership. With the much-appreciated Web presence established by DoK at vPaddock and later with DoK and Paul Jackson at Speedgeezers, we were able to start the use of a calendar and forum, and were able to keep the ADC membership informed and aware of issues pertinent to the ADC.

An indication of the adaptable nature of the ADC is evident in the way we’ve addressed growth issues. As time wore on and the reputation of the ADC spread, membership and participation grew as well. It soon became clear, partly due to time zone restrictions, that we needed to diversify. And due to the amount of growth, I also felt there was a need to establish an ADC “Board”, so we would have a small group of people that could work together for the betterment of the ADC. We therefore established the European Division, and Bernd Nowak accepted a nomination to run the Division. Due to our growing number of Australian participants, we realized that an Australian Division was needed, so that was established, and Mark Casey was selected to head up that Division. Then in 2002, the idea of the Average Division was proposed and established to help newer members and less experienced online GPL’ers to get quality track time against similar competition. Robby Canty was tabbed as the man to guide the Average Division. Later, we decided to that to help with some other projects, we would create a "Special Events Director" position, and we switched Robby to that. We then named Monte Smith as the new Average Division Director.

Early on, a gentleman named Don Chapman jumped on board to handle our hosting duties. That worked out great until membership increased and we outgrew the capabilities of Don’s server. We bounced around for some time from server to server, with Paul Smith, Markus Forstromm, Jason Murray, and a few others filling in the gaps (and they, along with Robby Canty, have been very reliable backups to this day). Then in 2003 Tracy Nolte (mogwai) joined the fold. Tracy showed us what it was like to enjoy reliable, rock-solid connections. Tracy continued hosting until job and personal concerns made it impossible. At that point, Bernd built and established our first truly dedicated server, and that server now handles all of our hosting duties magnificently. The ADC could not be where it is today without the help of all these fine gentlemen.

In the fall of 2004, in anticipation of the release of GTR, Bernd proposed to me the establishment of a GTR presence in the ADC. As by that time it was apparent the amount of impact GTR was going to have on the simracing community, it was decided to establish a GTR Division, and the first ADC GTR races were held in early December of 2004. Since that time, GTR has grown tremendously, and is now an integral part of our structure. Early on, Bernd recommended that a gentleman by the name of Andi Cole, who was an involved member of the GTR group, should be asked to direct the Division. Andi was then selected as the GTR Director, with Steven Scholten assisting, and has done a fantastic job, and is a key reason for GTR’s growth in the ADC.

The ADC now boasts a membership of over 120 active racers from 19 countries worldwide utilizing these two sims. I believe we are now one of the largest groups of it’s kind in the GPL & GTR communities. The ADC membership is a dedicated group that welcomes drivers who are interested in racing for fun, and who share in a desire to race with integrity.

David Fletcher
President ADC