Love how GPLaps builds a story out of his sim racing. It's one thing to jump out on a track and do some laps, but another to build a narrative around it.

"If you're not spinning, you're pushing." Now that's a Richie Axelson quote if I ever heard one lmao

I really hope someday sim developers realize not everything has to be esports centric (Modern GT) and begin developing titles and experiences that celibate the history of motorsports. I’m not talking about the occasional single classic generic or real F1 car with no period correct track and generic livery. I’m talking titles that have full grids or close to full of classic cars and tracks. With features that allow the player to add the drivers names and liveries if necessary. It’s not like you have to laser scan Riverside or LeMans from the 80s.

Back when the sheet metal was so thick, it took a lot of rubbing to make a dent.

I gotta say I love your stuff. When many people ask why people would ever race AI instead of racing online against real people, this right here is exactly the reason. To people like you and I, they are not just AI, but the digital representation of our real life heroes. Legends larger than life, in an era otherwise only accessible through recollection of tales, dusty photographs and grainy old videotapes. Sim Racing allows us to experience the glamour and glory, the danger and drama, the cars and the stars. It provides us the ability to put our mortal selves against those who we revere like gods. It provides us with a snapshot of the era, a window in which we can better understand, and gain further respect for those who risked their lives. Not just preserving history, but allowing us to replay it, immerse ourselves in it, to almost travel back in time to a bygone era. I hope you keep up the good work! Hopefully someday I can do something even half as good as what you do!

1) The fact that you're building a story/career for your sim driver is awesome 2) Your knowledge of racing history, if this video is anything to go by, is exquisite. I can play nr2003 vanilla and know which drivers are around me, but picking out which drivers you're passing in this era is impressive 3) You definitely have great skill and car control, and that made this incredibly enjoyable to watch 4) This mod pack and this track look like they're a lot of fun to drive Looking forward to seeing what race Richie enters next!

Used to love to watch racing at Riverside. I sure do miss that track.

That was a monster effort. It looked very difficult, loads of off-throttle coasting through the tight stuff, unleashed for 20 seconds down the straight, and then pottering about again.

Very Awesome! I was an 8 year old boy and Dan Gurney was my hero! Great to see the old cars and hear those amazing Ford big blocks screaming! Thank you for this video!

Can't believe I watched the whole race... That was fun and exciting!

Sounds like someone is fishing for an Eagle-Weslake drive.

I miss Riverside and I never got to witness it live.

4th place for Axelson in his first NASCAR Grand National race!!! Methinks there may be offers for rides at a big oval race....

GPLaps is the zenith of sim racing content creators. Pure quality

Very, very cool! I was able to watch this race back in the day and you're correct, 500 miles at speed on Riversides very demanding track took nerves of steel and a physical endurance to match. IMO the true golden era of NASCAR, more compelling than today's product.

Fantastic race from last on the grid! No podium obviously, but that's impossible from 43rd on the grid - so many cars in this NASCAR race. Very enjoyable to watch, great commentary making me feel in the thick of the action with every lap!

I just watched the whole 1:39:38 minutes. Without pausing, going to toilet or much blinking and completely stunned by the way, you wrap all of this driving in a amazing storyline of the legendary driver Axelson. When he commented to Andretti, that "we should give him a break, cause he could be having a bright future ahead" (or something like this), I literally got goosebumps. GPlaps has such an outreach to the sim driver community (YT channels doing vintage racing popping out of nowhere, including my own) - and videos like this underline that this outreach is well deserved. And a personal note at the end: Watching and listening to your videos have distracted me from very dark thoughts over the last months. A distraction I really did need and which also inspired me at the same time.Thanks for that, very much! And never took the foot of the pedal. 🙂 Now I'm taking my flight to New Zealand. Have to catch a race there ...

Thanks for NASCAR history lesson. I really like this track. I was doing some racing in GT Legends in Corvette C2 today, That V8 sound makes me forget about the problems:) You are inspiration for me to try some old simulators. I really appreciate your work. Thank You:)

Nice story and fun to watch! 56 laps .. I've done the full race here with the 63 mod and boy was it long lol. I think it took me an entire Saturday to finish.

Really love that you are doing the older racing !! Glory days...hats off !

I was 16 when I went to this race. I was very anxious to get there ASAP so as to not miss a thing. My Dad wasn’t too interested so a friend of his took me with his kid who just wanted to be anywhere else. The dude picked me up late, then stopped at some out-of-the-way place for breakfast. When we finally arrived, the race was like 20 laps in, under a caution I think. I was PISSED. But the day was saved when my lifelong hero Dan Gurney won his fourth in a row. One small nit to pick, however. Riverside had half-buried white-painted tires at the apex of most corners. The FIA-style curbs in this sim were not yet devised at the time. Also, the comments indicated that Dan drove only Wood Brothers cars for the early wins. In 1963 he drove the #28 Galaxie which was a Holman & Moody ride normally associated with Fred Lorenzen.

Awesome. I never did get a copy of NASCAR legends back in the day. GPL took up my sim time

Thanks for showing the car before the race 😁 those old stockers look like they would be a lot of fun

The Galaxies from that era are high on my favorites list. This race really makes me wish this type of modding was available on consoles.

It took me 3 nights to get through this episode, but it was quite entertaining. This whole 66 series has been great! Thank you GP.

i'd love to see a full NASCAR season from Richie!

I like these videos the comentating is on point. A history of motorsport that isn't to familiar to me. Looking forward for more, who doesn't love the sight of old school muscle going toe to toe!

Oh man, I miss NR2003, played it online hours on end every day until 2008, we were a great group of guys, most every race was 42 car grids where atleast 90% knew what they were doing and everyone was on Ventrilo (back then), and it was moderated heavily so no shennanigans were going on, a far cry from todays Forza lobbies. Great vid, I watched the whole race. :D

Wow! I did watch all the race after all. You just gained a sub, very good video. I gotta say I loved the gameplay and the excellent commentary, I love the way you mix a bit of history with the race, I can sense the passion when you talk about these former pilots... feels like you were racing them for real!

riverside was an awesome track! much more ineteresting tha Sonoma! If my memory doesn"t fail me, Dan Gurney raced for the last time in RIVERSIDE IN 1980

Your right about those early Nascar road races. The actual race took just over 5hrs.

Great knowledge and great enthusiasm...Nice one, enjoyed it.

I remember running this track on INDY 500 EVOLUTION That was a great game , all the Indy cars from 1960 - 1970 & a few of the tracks they ran ! Thank you for a sweet video... I love old, historic, classic races cars.... doesn't matter what series ✌😎

Spectacular! Love seeing the varied types of races.

Love the series! It would be awesome to see Richie race at something like the Milwaukee Mile or Indy (Although that would conflict with Monaco). Don't know if it would be possible because although there's a 1970 USAC carset for GPL, I don't believe there's one for 1966, even though the AI drives surprisingly well on ovals from doing my own runs with them. Maybe if there's something in rFactor AMS or Assetto Corsa. Either way, love watching your videos, keep up the great work. EDIT: I did some looking around and Jonny'O on the forum did do a carset for the 1966 USAC season. Just something to think about, love the videos :)

Wonderful race, you have got a good pace during the race. Nice to see Nascar on a road race...🏁

Oh sweet this is a continuation of Richie Axelson's 1966 F1 season? Very cool. If you impress Dan Gurney maybe he can hook you up with an Indy 500 seat?

This was awesome, hope to see more of Richie Axelson in NASCAR

Really enjoyed this. I could watch you race at Riverside forever and not get bored. Such a great track.

Racing is supposed to be boring. You make it fascinating. Thank You. this was amazing.

When I think of this track, I think of Jim Busby on street tires, and Rolf Stomelen hitting the wall. Thank You. I'll cry later.

You have an amazing talent at telling stories. I just love the intros that you do for each video.

What a great race, I'd love to see more of this

That there 18 car is ol' Stick Elliott from Shelby, North Carolina there son. Car owned by Toy Bolton. Only in 1960's NASCAR can you get guys named "Stick" and "Toy."

This was too sweet 👌. Really enjoyed it , Your driving and commentary were awesome..And that 63 mod for NR2003 is amazing ..But, the custom physics shouldn’t be kept secret ...it TRUELY makes the race. Thanks again and look forward to Axelson getting another invite to run heavy metal on a road course..

Great driving Axelson, those stock cars are almost as unwieldy as they are powerful which is saying alot. Definitely requires patience and forethought to get the best out of them, the markings of a good driver.

love the narrating, keep it up, super compelling, i vote for races at oxford, lee, and slinger!

More Grand National races would be awesome. Great drive!!

Great video you're a stories teller man!

Almost 13 k congrats! The difference from the 1st to the last qualifier is huge. After this im gonna watch again "Winning"!

40:00 coincidentally, that situation led to a famous accident in an IMSA Camel GTP race 20 years later. Lyn St James was driving a very laggy 4cyl turbocharged Ford, and she was slow coming off that corner so Doc Bundy impulsively decided it was his best chance to pass. He took it 3 wide into that left hander in front of the pit wall, visibility was very bad in the IMSA cars and I don't think either of the other 2 drivers knew he was there. James ended up upside down and on fire, fortunately she was able to get out. The car was barbecued.

I love the story in the beginning

This is what modern sims miss, a story. Most people don't have time or skill or money to invest into online MP racing, but would enjoy some career rpg campaign with a real or made up story.

Carroll Shelby on the phone watching this race: Ken, I think I found your co-Driver for the Daytona 24.

Ayyyyy Buddy Arrington and JD McDuffie.

Impressive performance by Mr. Axelson!

Love, absolutely LOVE the cars and the racing from this era. I think they’re the most beautiful cars, and hold a special place in my heart. I wish the Devs would come out with a more modern version of these cars, imho I believe Sector 3 with RR, would be a excellent fit...now just to convince them lol... I have GT Legends which is set back with similar series/era cars but haven’t touched it I. A couple years as I couldn’t get my pc/wheel to work properly with it...got frustrated, and gave up. You’ve given me a renewed inspiration to give it another go, and try to get it working. Awesome work man, glad I found your channel, sub’d and liked. Cheers

That engine sounds so fuckin' good

Dick Wallen would have caught that spin on lap 36....lol

Man love2 run this race

500 miles on a road course is crazy. The sonoma race this year was about 220 miles for comparison. Bristol dirt was about 135 miles

Pleas more more this is great!!!

You may not know this,but the #22 that you were chasing for awhile,Billy Foster, was killed at Riverside the following year in practice.

My all time favorite GPLaps vid... hands down, bar none. The sound of these cars alone gets me hot and bothered... heheheh Wouldn't it be cool if you could do a series with these cars/drivers? A long oval (Atl., Mich.) a short oval (Dar., Bris)... etc...

Papyrus NASCAR. Nothing has held a candle sense.

This is really cool.

The love bug was on this track, too ;-)

Bravo! Good race. Never saw you pass Petty.

This Is really amazing And realistic concept. Honestly Hope if you were to take on some WSC races, maybe even 66 LeMans!

Can't wait to see what you Richie gets up to in the month of May🤔

GPLaps goes land yachting.

This was amazing to watch! Now i have to reinstall nr2003. The engine sound is amazing which sound mod is it?

I thought John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, bought the rights to Nascar 2003 and sued all the modders to make them stop. Geoff Crammond wanted the N2003 engine to start building iRacing with. That is what I recall.

That tracks shaped funny. What are those right turny things

Wendell Scott cameo in the #34

These cars, at those cornering speeds, for that amount of time, would drive me insane lol - well done on surviving it! I have to admit I skipped the middle sections; if Gurney passed you on Lap 14 and then passed you again with 3 to go, how did you only end up 1 lap down?

I'm seeing a 1963 Ford and 2 1963 Dodges (# 6) at 1:02. Easier to call it the 1963 Motor Trend 500? I was there.

Can we have a race series with the old nascars ? I love this series and channel

Haha if you have closed captioning on the captioning refers to the whine of the engine at full throttle as music lol you're damn right KZfaq

Nice

It's strange not having those infomese "half buried " tires at this track. Growing up near Riverside I attended a few races. I've seen the tires in other tracks you have raced, but not here?

What soundpack is this? This sounds amazing

33:00 Doesn't matter if it's for position... just pass (carefully) the guy ahead...

1:34:58 those two cars outside the track lol

Great vid. If I can make one request, could you please up the levels on your mic? You're getting drowned out by the engine noises and as much as that's awesome, it'd be nice to have the game sound levels reduced just a bit. It's hard to hear your commentary over the game sounds.

What car set is this? Seems more like 1964 instead of 66. I'm seeing a lot of round tail lights......lol.

Hey GPLaps. Really cool game. Just was wondering. Is this on the newest nascar game? or how would someone like me be able to play it? Just asking. But really enjoyed the whole playing of the game. You done a fabulous job.

What mod and sound pack is this ? Looks and sounds great.

Sucks that this place is just a neighborhood now 😞

Was this the GN63 mod on sports car physics?

Is there a custom sound pack you're using here? If so, where can I find it

is #4 Jack sears? the British tin top champion?

So, NR2003 is Papyrus and its engine is an evolution of the GPL's one, right? But, wasn't there also a NASCAR game which had the IS engine, used in... ISI's F1C franchise, published from EA too in thoose years? How was it named?

Everything about this sim is legendary but the AI is still near unrivaled in modern sims.

Would they have had a pit lane speed limit in 1966?

Lets do Daytona 24 in GTR2. Ford vs Ferrari

Is this a mod or is the original game like this?

What sim is this?

Where do you get this game?? it's not on steam or Epic like wtf?

Engine sound was way too loud for me ...