NSSCRA 9- Everything Thread (IC)

[Saint Kanye]

NSSCRA NINTH SEASON TO START THIS WEEK
It's time for stock cars to get back to the track

by the Kibitzer Research Department

Race fans in St. Kanye and beyond, get ready to quench your thirst for some high-octane action, as the ninth season of the Nationstates Stock Car Racing Association is soon to begin. The popularity of the NSSCRA has continued to grow, inviting new participants each season, not to mention new fans. Before each NSSCRA season starts, the Kibitzer takes a look at the teams that will make up the field, or attempt to do so. But to make things interesting for this edition, we've limited the descriptions to just one sentence each.

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GLORIOUS FREE REPUBLIC MOTORSPORTS

Origin: St. Kanye (STK)
Manufacturer: Chadwick
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #3 Skip Stiller, #18 Jeremiah Brooke, #46 Thea Alvarez
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: #19 Sage Caldwell
The team, in one sentence: Has won a lot of times, whether by dominating or sneaking by ("Yeezie magic"), but still currently looking for its first title.

INDEPENDENT RACING ASSOCIATION OF THE CHINESE TERRITORIES

Origin: The Sherpa Empire (SHW)
Manufacturer: AutoModi (#06), TMW (#89)
Tire: Highland
Chartered drivers: #06 Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal, #89 Liangmei Li
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: #40 Ongmu Yeti
The team, in one sentence: The current ROTY. a former Chaser, and a yeti - should be interesting to watch.

YULHA SHERPA COLLEGE FOR THE DEAF

Origin: The Sherpa Empire (SHW)
Manufacturer: TMW
Tire: Highland
Chartered drivers: #44 Kai Qiang
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: None
The team, in one sentence: Just one driver, but doesn't matter, it's the defending champ.

VILITA & TURORI MOTORSPORTS

Origin: Vilita and Turori (VNT)
Manufacturer: Dart
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #2 Centur Tiones, #14 River Suzgar, #41 Yraaga Gilli'i
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: #49 Lotara Novorali
The team, in one sentence: A very well-funded and accomplished operation, with three highly competent drivers running full-time, and several more waiting in the wings.

TEAM CASSADAIGUA

Origin: Cassadaigua (CDG)
Manufacturer: Blaze
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #4 Meghan Sharpe, #11 Jenna Logan, #27 Stacie Houston
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: #17 Tyler Abbott
The team, in one sentence: The 'Dagan stable kept its core for another season and will also aim to keep its reputation of being strong at home.

THE VALENTIANS

Origin: Valentine Z (VEZ)
Manufacturer: Eveline Motors
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #7 Clarissa Alanis Star, #15 Valentina Freya Yadana Aye (R), #31 Gwen Tracer Allison
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: #63 Jamie Maxie Clementine Eirian
The team, in one sentence: Big first season for the big drivers, hoping for big things in the future.

TEAM BLUE

Origin: Hapilopper (HAP)
Manufacturer: Preston
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #8 Frank Bronson, #73 Taylor Henderson (R), #81 Chris Holmes
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: None
The team, in one sentence: Another impressive newcomer who hopes upgrade to Super Skychief will work wonders for them.

JEBSLUNDER MOTORENWERKEN

Origin: Jebslund (JEB)
Manufacturer: Motores Agostinho (#1), BDA (#13), Sie Nah (#30), Nashorn-Motoren (#69)
Tire: Tropicorp (#1, #30), Fenghist (#13), Highland (#69)
Chartered drivers: #13 Eva Kerman, #30 Lexi Patterson
Unchartered drivers: #1 Vanda Rosa Cordeiro Kerman (R)
Part-time drivers: #69 Sofia Kerman
The team, in one sentence: May be of different species and use different cars and tires, but bonded by their love of all things technical.

HAMPTON ISLAND RACING

Origin: Hampton Island (HAM)
Manufacturer: ???
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #6 Alex Knight
Unchartered drivers: #22 Kevin Cosgrove, #23 James McCurty
Part-time drivers: #34 TBA
The team, in one sentence: "We don't need no Lexi Patterson, we can do just fine!"

KRD TEAM IONA

Origin: Xanneria (XAN)
Manufacturer: Knox
Tire: Rollie
Chartered drivers: #12 Roman Gwinnett
Unchartered drivers: #10 Eddie Walters Jr., #16 Gordon Orton
Part-time drivers: None
The team, in one sentence: Team from racing-crazy nation, doing everything they could think of to improve on their mid-pack finishes.

MEGATROPOLIAN TECHNOCRACY AND CORPORATOCRACY MOTORSPORTS TEAM

Origin: Esmerel (ESM)
Manufacturer: Chadwick
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #38 Elio Aaron (R)
Unchartered drivers: #20 David Rockingham, #45 Ben Carpenter
Part-time drivers: None
The team, in one sentence: The team formerly known as Atlas Phoenician Racing showed promise early in their debut, but sputtered out; perhaps a rebrand and a partnership with the Yeezies would yield results.

VANNISH MOTORS RACING

Origin: Vangaziland (VNG)
Manufacturer: Vannish Motors
Tire: ???
Chartered drivers: #25 Kev Schorebrook
Unchartered drivers: #50 Ellie Lindskog, #75 Floyd Hackerbee
Part-time drivers: #08 Phil Urnsen
The team, in one sentence: A team hungry to get back to its former glory after not doing much of note last season.

ROCKET MOTORSPORTS

Origin: Newmanistan (NEW)
Manufacturer: Rocket
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #48 Rockii Ezis
Unchartered drivers: #5 Bryan Harrison, #24 Kevin Daniels
Part-time drivers: #59 Ashley Matthews
The team, in one sentence: Traditionally a factory-sponsored team that's only starting to welcome corporate backing.

TEAM TROPICORP

Origin: Tropicorp (TRP)
Manufacturer: Dart
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #28 Cocoabo #28, #78 Cocoabo #78, #88 Anavella Ariiki
Unchartered drivers: None
Part-time drivers: #42 Euroli Islander
The team, in one sentence: Get backed by huge conglomerate, teach birds to drive stock cars, teach birds to win in stock cars, succeed, profit.

DIREWOLF AUTO TEAM

Origin: New Northwesteros (NNW)
Manufacturer: Chadwick
Tire: Tropicorp
Chartered drivers: #21 Paul Nystrom
Unchartered drivers: #9 Liuyong Xu, #33 Tyler Linde (R)
Part-time drivers: None
The team, in one sentence: Will new driver, sponsor and charter acquisitions be the key for them to be as successful as their Yeezie neighbors?

JIM LOWE MOTORSPORTS

Origin: Appalachian Nation (APY)
Manufacturer: Mercado
Tire: ???
Chartered drivers: #52 Jeff Shreeves
Unchartered drivers: #57 Troy Butterson Jr. (R)
Part-time drivers: #71 Brett Pickles
The team, in one sentence: This stable needs to become more, well, stable, before they could find long term success.

To be continued...

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Saint Kanye Network (SKYNET) will continue to broadcast all qualifying sessions and races live through SKYNET Sports Channnel 12; the streaming website also remains the same, at nsscra.skynet.stk.

NEXT RACE

Exhibition at The Proving Grounds Presented by Rocket Automotive

PAINTJOB SCHEDULE

#3: Skip Stiller School of Racing
#18: Vylet
#46: GGtech

[The Sherpa Empire]

Liangmei Li was the first of the Sherpa drivers to arrive at the track in Tundra Falls. Her car and Rinzi Zakhilwal's had arrived together since IRACT was coordinating logistics for both of them. The #89 crew had already unloaded their car and started setting things up in the garage; the #06 team's car and equipment was still neatly packed on the hauler. Rinzi wasn't there yet. "He probably missed his flight because he had to stop and pray on the way to the airport," Li joked smugly. Her crew chief smiled. He didn't mind that kind of mean-spirited humor.

Actually, Rinzi was taking a later flight because he wanted to have a little more of his mom's home-cooking before he left for the season. His religion had nothing to do with it.

Li was less sentimental. Home-cooked food was not going to help her win races. She wanted as much time as possible to prepare for the season, so she arrived at the Proving Grounds as early as IRACT could get their act together and deliver the cars.

Meanwhile, Kai Qiang was in Nanjing with his family. He had just come home from the dentist's office and his jaw was still sort of sore from the dental work, sort of numb from the novocaine. Qiang hated dentists, but his sponsors had told him it was time to do something about all his missing teeth that had been knocked out in crashes or fights.

He scooped up his daughter and said, "Kami, keep me company so I won't think about how much my mouth hurts." Kami giggled and waved her arms, happy to be picked up and totally clueless what he was talking about. They settled on the couch and Qiang watched the evening news while Kami looked for random things to put in her mouth. It was an election year, and the pundits were speculating about who was likely to run for office. Most of the candidates were people that Qiang had never heard of because he was not from Jiangsu. Tsering Chu -- who probably recognized a lot more of the candidates' names -- curled up beside him and turned closed captioning on so she could follow the news. Kami reached for the remote, probably intending to eat it. Tsering snorted and carefully pushed the remote out of Kami's reach.

Rinzi Zakhilwal arrived at the Proving Grounds with a big smile on his face and a beautiful woman on his arm -- the half-Banijan model Tashi Chokpa Sherpa. While Rinzi and his crew unloaded their hauler and checked to make sure everything had arrived in good condition, Tashi went over to say hello to the team from Banija. She had only been to Banija a couple of times, visiting relatives on her mom's side of the family, but she was still conscious of her roots there. It was hard to ignore when her dark skin and poofy hair set her apart from all the people she grew up with.

She would root for Rinzi more than anyone else, but she hoped Ozoemena would put in a respectable showing too.

Qiang was the last of the Sherpa drivers to arrive. He was accompanied by a gaggle of college students, who were participating in various NSSCRA-related internships. When the journalism students pulled out their cameras to document the teams arriving and setting up for the pre-season exhibition race, Beihua's TV crew gave them the stink-eye. Beihua had an exclusive contract with IRACT for the Chinese-language broadcast rights to NSSCRA races -- but they couldn't stop the college students from filming a Sherpa-language documentary.

Qiang felt weird about coming into the new season as the defending champion. He was proud of what he'd accomplished last season, but that was last season. This season was still a blank slate, and he was starting from scratch just like everyone else. Not everyone would think of it that way, though. People looked at him differently than they had a couple years ago. There were more reporters trying to get his attention for interviews, more fans asking for autographs, more people expecting him to win. There had always been pressure, but this was a different kind of pressure. When he started his international racing career in NSSCRA 6, it was the pressure to prove he belonged there, the pressure to make the most of that season because he didn't know if there would be another. Now it was the pressure of being the guy everyone wanted to beat.

He saw the Wreckerians with their battered old tools watching jealously as his shiny blue and gold TMW was unloaded from the hauler. He smiled and waved to them. He understood exactly what was going through their heads because he'd been in the same position just a couple of years ago. In a way, he felt he had more common with them than he did with the big teams.

Even after three seasons of NSSCRA, he still had trouble believing it was all real. He still found the crowds and excitement overwhelming. He still had random bouts of sticker-shock when he thought about the amounts of money he was handling. (It wasn't as bad when the prices were in coinyes or tures, and the exchange rate made it less obvious how much he was spending. When he got his bank statements and credit card bills with everything converted back to rupees, lakh, and crore -- that was when it really hit home.) Qiang never really got used to being rich and famous and having people recognize him everywhere he went.

He also wasn't used to having a full set of teeth. Now and then, he would run his tongue along the back of them, feeling where the missing teeth had been replaced.

[Abanhfleft]

So Abanhfleft has entered the realm of multiversal motorsports. It's not the biggest sport out here in the DemRep, but it is rising in popularity. Probably helps that the quality of our local motorsports has definitely improved over the past few years. Also the fact that we've had some nailbiting finishes in the past few seasons of both the Coalition Grand Prix Racing Association and the Abanhfleft Racing Truck Series. Stock car racing is still not as popular as truck and open-wheel racing but with Abanhfleft's entry into the NSSCRA, the premier stock car racing competition of the multiverse, it is expected that interest will increase. And the drivers about to participate in NSSCRA's ninth season are among the best our series has to offer.


Name: Guillermo "Gil" Archer
Number: 96
Sponsor: Mazetainment Games

To say that Guillermo Archer loves controversy is a bit of an understatement. The man thrives on controversy. In fact, if almost appears as if he needs controversy in order to bring out the best in him. Ever since Archer appeared in the Abanhfleft Racing Truck Series scene he has made a name for himself as being completely outspoken and unafraid to speak his mind. Haters love to say that Archer has got #nofilter on his mouth, while his fans believe that every single thing that Archer says is a carefully calculated statement designed specifically to make his opponents angry and unable to think clearly. It appears that Archer used this strategy to great effect in order to win the ARTS Championship last season from right beneath Wilma von Cärinthen's nose, although von Cärinthen's own dip in form in the tail end of the season surely helped Archer's cause. But whether Archer's switch to his current "Straight Pride" paint scheme midway through the season merely coincided with von Cärinthen's dip or was the very reason for said dip remains to be seen.

"I'm not here to make friends; I'm here to win races. I've got the best chassis Abanhfleft can produce and I'm going to take it to the absolute limits. This series needs a bad boy and I'm ready and willing to be that bad boy."


Name: Wilhelmina "Wilma" von Cärinthen
Number: 98
Sponsor: Lesmash (Lesonetsk Machine Building Enterprise)

Wilma von Cärinthen appeared on the ARTS scene at the same time that Guillermo Archer did, and since then it appears that their fates have become intertwined. von Cärinthen won the ARTS Rookie of the Year in 2022 and immediately entered into a rivalry with Archer, the previous season's ROTY. It was a rivalry that everyone loved, but in their early years it wasn't really a championship-level rivalry, although von Cärinthen did have Archer's number for quite a few races over five seasons. von Cärinthen has also attracted her fair share of controversy, mostly relating to her openness about her sexuality (she is pansexual BTW). Aside from that though she has used her fame as a platform for her advocacies and to raise awareness for the country's LGBTQIA+ community, something that has earned her much praise outside of the racing community.

"Of course I want to do well. Who doesn't? But I don't want to do well just for myself. I want to well for the country and for all the queer folks out there and let them see that someone like them can make it big in the multiverse."


Name: Leonidas "Leo" Baxter
Number: 80
Sponsor: Pixylight Industries

Now this is a name you didn't expect to see in a racing article, didn't you? It's no secret that aside from basketball, motorspors and racing are top of Baxter's list of interests. Everyone knows about Baxter's impressive collection of cars, both classic and modern (and even some unique and bizarre ones too) but what they don't know is that he actually dabbled in actual racing a few times during his most impressive basketball career. He has to do something during the offseason and when he's been laid off due to injury, right? The incredible thing is that even though we've only seen him race trucks a few times, he seems quite good and adept at it. Definitely a midfield contender, at least in ARTS. Taking Baxter into NSSCRA over the likes of Hudson Mariano, Yasir Nasri, and Agata Kosaryova might seem like a headscratcher for some, but you have to take into account that this is a concerted effort to increase stock car racing awareness in the country. And what better way to do that by bringing in a name that everyone in Abanhfleft knows by heart?

"Me, I'm just happy that I'm being given the chance. This is NSSCRA; this is the biggest stock car thing in the multiverse. It's just like being in the IBC again; you get to meet people from all over the world with the same general interest as you. The only difference is that everyone races cars instead of playing ball. It's gonna be a fun experience for me, I'm sure."

All three Fleftic racers are going to race under the banner of the Stock Car Department of the UrGa Motorsports Division. They will drive a race version of the Luxur Emperor, one of the most successful luxury sedans in Abanhfleft. Their engines will be supplied by UrGa and are derived from the engine of the UrGa Ultima 1000 truck. Paintjobs are courtesy of Saint Kanye's Multiversal Automotive Coatings.

The Cars

Guillermo Archer #96 "Straight Pride"


Wilma von Cärinthen #98 "Vampire Hellbat"


Leonidas Baxter #80 "Hot Box"

[Vilita and Turori]

Vilita & Turori Motorsports, Rockii Coast, Vilita :: With the 9th NSSCRA Season looming on the horizon, Vilita & Turori Motorsports has followed suit with many of their rivals in the NSSCRA making minimal changes to their lineup for the upcoming season. All three full-time drivers will be returning for Vilita & Turori Motorsports with Centur Tiones returning to drive the #2 Dart, NSSCRA Season 6 Champion River 'Shark' Suzgar returning behind the wheel of the #14 Dart and Tropicorp-backed Yraaga GIlli'i maintaining their spot behind the wheel of the #41 Dart. A number of other teams are also returning the same drivers from NSSCRA Season 8 with Silly Season being a bit of a let down for fans of drivers changing teams. Glorious Free Republic Motorsports are returning with #3 Skip Stiller, #18 Jeremiah Brooke and #46 Thea Alvarez though there have been some rumors that this will be Stiller's last full time season behind the wheel as they have one foot into retirement with the opening of the Skip Stiller Driving School. It will be more of the same out of Cassadaigua as well with Meghan Sharpe, Jenna Logan and Stacie Houston returning to don the pink and fly the flag for the Matriarchy. Hampton Island Racing, KRD Team Iona of Xanneria, Vannish Motors Racing, Rocket Motorsports and Team Tropicorp all add to the list of teams not expected to make any changes for the new season. Perhaps the biggest news of the offseason came out of the Sherpa Empire where the experienced Liangmei Li earned the right to represent the IRACT alongside Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal with her #89 replacing the #79 of Dinggu Wang.

For many it could make the marketing and statistical analysis easier though there will still be some minor assorted changes to some of the challenger teams on the grid including Valkyrie Motorsports who will see the popular Jolyn replaced by Valentina Freya Yadana Aye who will compete for Rookie of the Year against Team Blue driver Taylor Henderson from Hapilopper who takes over the #73 ride that had been driven by Chet Byrd and Vilita and Turorian Juracai Klianiota during NSSCRA Season 8.

Perhaps the only other noteworthy story out of the silly season is that Jeff Shreeves has for the moment managed to secure a Guaranteed Charter driving the #52 Mercado out of the Appalachian Nation. The team is expected to struggle especially with someone like Shreeves behind the wheel but there will be no saga on pole day for the former Central Shanesvillite.

With the ever increasing level of competition and sanctioning body enforced limitations on the number of cars entered by a single team to no more than 3+1 on any given race weekend, large operations like Vilita and Turori Motorsports have an abundance of equipment on hand. The team had considered putting an open charter vehicle together for #87 Jama'obo Pegasii for the Tundra Falls Exhibition but there was some confusion as to whether they had missed the application deadline for the event. The team is also making the rounds in the garage area to see if any of the new teams on the circuit are interested in purchasing or leasing older Vilita & Turori Motorsports Chassis and establishing a satellite partnership between the teams where Vilita & Turori Motorsports could help the newer team find speed with setup and preparatory knowledge sharing agreements.

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If early projections are anything to go off of, The Sherpa Empire's Kai Qiang is the odds-on favorite to repeat as NSSCRA Champion as the driver of the #44 TMW is the most popular choice amongst entrants to V&T RACER's NSSCRA Season 9 Pick 'em Competition. There is still time for that to change however as entries for the competition don't close until the end of Qualifying for the Tundra Falls 500. Hapilopper's Chris Holmes is a popular underdog pick leading the selections in the Second Tier while unheralded Banijan driver Jelan Ozoemena has been a popular Tier 5 choice with many seeming to buy into the concept proposed by the Regional Transit Corporation that focusing on a single entrant during their debut season on the circuit is the best path to success.

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[The Albali Republic]

Astra Hopes to Prove Itself as a Competitor
12/02/2020 | NSSCRA

Astra Motorsport CEO Marten Laas says "Astra will surprise the other teams" in NSSCRA's ninth season - but just how realistic are Astra's goals this season?

It is no secret that Astra Motorsport has been incredibly successful in Albali's domestic racing scene; they have been able to compete at the top of Albali's orbital racing series for several years, and just four years ago they added 'stock car racing' to their growing CV. In their first season they finished 6th as a team in the Albalian Stock Car Championship. Now, Astra Motorsport's upper management have seen fit to step onto the international stage and compete against the multiverse's best in NSSCRA. "It is a move that we have been preparing for, for several years." Astra's CEO said to me, and I am inclined to believe them. They have managed to recruit two solid drivers in Waltteri Lehto and Teija Kuusela, and have spent ludicrous sums of money designing and building a racetrack that is 'fit for purpose' (estimates go up to ₪53 million).

And yet, there are those who are rather sceptical of Astra's lofty goals. Stock car racing is still a new field to them, and they are competing against teams and drivers that have been participating in NSSCRA for several seasons. Many experts on the sport claim that such experience is difficult to beat, especially as a new team. Still, CEO Marten Laas insists that Astra can be successful in its first season in NSSCRA - "We would not have joined if we didn't think we could compete with the other teams."

The team's drivers were announced several weeks ago; #32 Waltteri Lehto and #53 Teija Kuusela. They were both relatively successful drivers in their own right, though they have made more of a name for themselves in other forms of motorsport. Waltteri Lehto made his debut in prototype endurance racing in 2011; he has claimed eleven race wins between 2011 and 2016. Since 2016, he has been racing in the Albalian Stock Car Championship (ASCC). We asked him for his thoughts on Astra's ambitions for this season: "I think fans of NSSCRA are being too dismissive of the team, and of myself and Teija as drivers. We have plans to stun the entire series, and that is what we will aim to do. We, our engineers and technicians, have not worked for years only to be dismissed before the season has even begun." Bold words, but could they be true? Time will only tell.

In addition to revealing their ambitions, Astra Motorsport has also revealed the first images of their cars, and their drivers' helmets.

[Filindostan]

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MOTORSPORT
NSSCRA: Badai Angin to focus on one full-time entry

SAN MARCO - Badai Angin Tim Motorsport (BA Tim) has decided to reduce their operation to a single full-time entry.

After a disastrous debut season in the NSSCRA series, the board of directors at Badai Angin decided to reduce their participation in the multiverse's premier stock car competition to a single full-time entry. Hana Bhe, the best-placed of the three racers, will keep her drive in the #0 Kecepatan for this season, and the other two drivers, Ilham Lukas Jenie and Franklin Egar, will be deployed to the GT program of BA-supported Monghit Motorsport in the Hodori GT Championship.

Joko Ajartambun, majority owner of Badai Angin, explained to the media that they need to scale back operations as the return of investment in fielding three full-time teams is very small. This was attributed to an underperforming package resulting to poor performance, and resulting to NSSCRA eventually forfeiting all of the charters by Race 11. Since then, all the entries failed to qualify due to the competitiveness of the field, except for the event at Esmerel when Egar brought home the #80 Descension* Kecepatan to a 36th place finish, the best finish of a points paying race by a Kecepatan.

With the open charter also not possible for BA Tim, contrast to what the team announced, they could fully focus on the #0, and vow to improve from their average finish of 40.58 last season. Despite the woes of the NSSCRA operation last season, Descension as well as other sponsors will return to sponsor the #0 this season, with the multinational company sponsoring 27 of 37 races, Solymok sponsoring 5, VeniLoans 3, Zalada 1, and Badai Angin sponsoring the #0 at Yoggy Oval, which will also be sponsoring the race itself (Badai Angin 500 at the Yoggy)

Alexandrea Figuerroa will be the crew chief of the #0 team, while Muhidin Setiawan Makatindu will be doing the spotting duties for the team.
Written by FSNA Staff.

* - Since the #0 failed to qualify, Descension sponsored the #80 car at the race. (Retcon)

[Terre Septentrionale]

Northern Motorsports making it's debut in NSSCRA

Trzebiegoszcz, Pomorze, Terre Septentrionale - Yesterday in Trzebiegoszcz, the 2nd largest city in Terre Septentrionale, the newly created Northern Motorsports revealed their team and cars. Northern Motorsports, also translated as Sports Motorisés Septentrionaux in French or Północne Sporty Motorowe in Polish, is a new NSSCRA team manufactured by local manufacturer Chèvrefils. All cars will use Tropicorp instead of a local tire company. Spokeperson Marianna Diaz said: "We like Tropicorp's experience, and tires are a very important part of the car in a NSSCRA race, so it was a no-brainer to use Tropicorp instead of any Septentrional tire manufacturer". Only one driver, Katarzyna Owczarzak-Kostrzewska, has a guaranteed spot and the other two drivers will have to qualify. Here's a presentation of all 3 Septentrionaux drivers, car pictures are a courtesy of Saint Kanye.

Northern Motorsports

Base: Szczuczyn, Łużyce, Terre Septentrionale
Manufacturer: Chèvrefils
Tire: Tropicorp
Guaranteed drivers: #77 Katarzyna Owczarzak-Kostrzewska
Needs to qualify: #04 Félix-Antoine Constantineau and #55 Rosalie Presseault-Espinoza
Opened: 2025

#77 - Katarzyna Owczarzak-Kostrzewska

Status: Guaranteed driver
Age: 25
Birthplace: Krzczonow, Mazovia
sponsor: Przepisy Kulinarne Gastronomiczny (also known as Recettes Gastronomiques in French) - A prepared food company

#04 - Félix-Antoine Constantineau

Status: Needs to qualify
Age: 20
Birthplace: Lac-des-Neiges, Charlevoix
Sponsor: Groleau Vitres d'auto - Specialised in repairing car windows

#55 - Rosalie Presseault-Espinoza

Status: Needs to qualify
Age: 23
Birthplace: Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Haute-Yamaska
Sponsor: Chien Géant (aslo known as Giant Dog in English) - A retail company

All pictures by Saint Kanye

Groleau Vitres d'auto 500

Race 13 of the NSSCRA schedule will be held in Terre Septentrionale at Przemyslaw Kuczkowski Raceway located in Szczuczyn, Łużyce. The race is sponsored by Groleau Vitres d'auto and will be called Groleau Vitres d'auto 500. The race, which is race 13 of the NSSCRA calendar, will be held on sunday may 18th 2025 in Terre Septentrionale's calendar.

[Cassadaigua]

Fire Up The Engines!
By Stacie Houston, Driver, #27 Five Star Mobile Blaze

Good morning from Newmanistan everyone! I am thrilled to be at this amazing race track at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds for speedweeks. This facility is incredible in all that it offers, and it doesn’t matter how many times I come here, it seems like I am always noticing something different about it. As soon as I made it here, the adrenaline started pumping, making the off-season a memory and the new season what it is all about. It’s extra special to come here as a returning former champion, but a little different then the being the returning defending champion.

Once all the haulers were parked on this massive infield, I made my way up and down the garage to see familiar sights and new sights. The Hyde Ryde of my close friend, Jeremiah Brooke of Saint Kanye. The Vilitan colors of fellow former champion River Suzgar. The catchy paint scheme of our champion, Kai Qiang. All cars that I am used to racing often at the front of the field, and look forward to racing them once again. The 46, the 3, the 41, and many more, all I needed was to see those colors and rides to get myself excited. But it’s not just those rides, it’s cars like the 0 of Hana Bhe, a determined driver who struggled last year but still wants to hope for improvement. The 52 of Jeff Shreeves. Two seasons ago, especially, we always saw that race car go out there, fail to qualify, and go home. You expected it as a competitor but deep down there was an admiration for them. They could have taken the easy route and called it quits, but they were determined to make it happen and when they eventually did qualify, I couldn’t have been happier for them. Now, Shreeves has a charter, so he will be able to stop worrying so much about qualifying and be able to focus on being a race car driver. I am sure he can’t wait.

Last year, we met some new competitors who turned into stars. Valentine Z and Hapilopper each made a great impression and won races. Now, they are back, and hope to take the next step forward and to win a championship. Knowing what they did last year makes you wonder what may be possible for some of our new drivers. After all, we have highly respected nations like Banija and Abanhfleft now taking part in this. They are both known to produce champions, so I would expect nothing but the best from them. Terre Septentrionale is sending cars, and so to is Bolgano. Two more nations who are doing everything they can to build their resume in the world of sports. It was hard to win races last year. Now, with even stronger opponents, it will become even tougher.

I sit here now in my hauler, closer to qualifying for the exhibition. I have been able to chat with many of the drivers in this spot that I call friends and look to make more. But I have also been grateful for my Five Star Mobile race team who come along with me. It is such a cliche to hear a race car driver say this, but it is completely true and must be said. I am just the driver, an important part of the team, but so many other women and men work hard on this race team to make me a competitive driver in this series. I know that Meghan Sharpe, and her Spacebook Blaze, plus Jenna Logan, and her Pink Love Blaze are also excited to get things going. I am just as excited about racing them as I am against racing the greatest drivers in the world.

It all starts tonight, right here at the Proving Grounds where drivers look to prove that they have what it takes, or they still have what they have proven in the past. Take nothing for granted, and get it done. It’s a long season, we’re racing 37 times this year and Five Star Mobile has some exciting things planned. They are certainly well aware that the regular season is 27 races long, and are prepared to capitalize on the marketing opportunity. There will be a bigger announcement in the future. The Five Star Clash will be back, and the opening race will be the first race in that. I will talk to you a little more about that after the exhibition. Right now, let’s turn our phones to race mode and get fired up!

[Newmanistan]

Exhibition Qualifying @ Tundra Falls Proving Grounds
Lap Record: 56.342

Qualfying:

1 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                                    56.707
 2 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                                 56.724
 3 #27- Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                                  56.734
 4 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                          56.777
 5 #14- River "Shark" Suzgar (Vilita and Turori)                      56.789
 6 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita and Turori)                              56.832
 7 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                                 56.884
 8 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)                     56.903
 9 #4- Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                                    57.016
10 #88- Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)                                   57.060
11 #12- Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                                     57.210
12 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)                             57.218
13 #81- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                                     57.222
14 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z)                             57.264
15 #22- Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island) *Q*                           57.294
16 #5- Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan) *Q*                               57.306
17 #48- Rockii Ezis (Newmanistan)                                     57.331
18 #11- Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                                     57.341
19 #23- James McCurty (Hampton Island) *Q*                            57.366
20 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita and Turori)                            57.391
21 #10- Eddie Walters Jr (Xanneria) *Q*                               57.418
22 #45- Ben Carpenter (Esmerel) *Q*                                   57.440
23 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                                       57.454
24 #6- Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                                   57.455
25 #8- Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                                     57.479
26 #3- Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                                     57.553
27 #89- Liangmei Li (The Sherpa Empire)                               57.589
28 #32- Waltteri Lehto (The Albali Republic) *Q*                      57.611
29 #53- Teija Kuusela (The Albali Republic)                           57.694
30 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                                         57.719
31 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                                 57.783
32 #71- Brett Pickles (Appalachian Nation) *Q*                        57.965
33 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                                       58.007
34 #77- Katarzyna Owczarzak-Kostrzewska (Terre Septentrionale)        58.021
35 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia) *Q*                                 58.160
36 #09- Daniel Cretton (Bolgano)                                      58.178
37 #24- Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan) *Q*                               58.205
38 #54- Scott Hawking (Wreckeria)                                     58.256
39 #35- Melissa Nilis (Bolgano) *Q*                                   58.263
40 #1- Vanda Rosa Cordeiro Kerman (Jebslund) *Q*                      58.287
41 #26- Roger Bipacks (Bolgano) *Q*                                   58.320
42 #21- Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros)                              58.434
43 #33- Tyler Linde (New Northwesteros) *Q*                           58.436
44 #59- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *OCQ*                           58.462
45 #55- Rosalie Presseault-Espinoza (Terre Septentrionale)  *Q*       58.476
46 #00- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                                      58.492
47 #16- Gordon Orton (Xanneria) *Q*                                   58.523
48 #75- Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland) *Q*                             58.542
49 #15- Valentina Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)                      58.573
50 #52- Jeff Shreeves (Appalachian Nation)                            58.660
51 #50- Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland) *Q*                              58.736
52 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                                     58.854
53 #38- Elio Aaron (Esmerel)                                          58.890
54 #01 Cristensen Kalsters (Islas Aaland)                             58.950
55 #99- Jelan Ozoemena (Banija)                                       58.985
56 #25- Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)                                 58.992
57 #20- David Rockingham (Esmerel) *Q*                                59.136
58 #03 Alfred Histerg (Islas Aaland) *Q*                              59.138
59 #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                                 59.212
60 #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*                          59.219
61 #57- Troy Butterson Jr (Appalachian Nation) *Q*                    59.262
62 #36- Taras Lakrov (Ceroat) *Q*                                     59.430
63 #39- Rustam Ilyich Yudin (Ceroat) *Q*                              59.465
64 #04- Félix-Antoine Constantineau (Terre Septentrionale) *Q*        59.477
65 #02 Maksimuma Rapideco (Islas Aaland) *Q*                          59.487
66 #37- Pyotr Lavrentiev (Ceroat)                                     59.613
67 #66- Hengxing Tian (The Northern Chinese Republic)                 59.620
68 #80- Leonidas Baxter (Abanhfleft) *Q*                              59.665
69 #9- Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros) *Q*                           1:00.173

About the Exhibition: This race (which is tomorrow) will not count in the point standings, and is just a way to begin RP'ing. It also provides an opportunity to note any errors I may have made in the scorinator with drivers without it costing anything during the season.

Open Charter: Had Bryan Harrison not qualified on speed, he would have used the open charter and not Ashley Matthews. Since he did qualify, Matthews uses the open charter. Kevin Daniels doesn't get afforded the same opportunity by Rocket Motorsports.

[Hapilopper]

Pit Road, The Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
Qualifying for the Exhibition Race
Chet Byrd stood in an empty pit box as drivers took their qualifying runs around the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds. A stopwatch in his hand, he was patiently, yet quietly, tabulating the speeds of each of those going out for their runs. To say the least, he was a lot more relaxed than he was this time last year, when he failed to qualify for a handful of early-season races. All three Team Blue drivers were locked into the show, so today was more about finding a good starting spot for the race on the famous Proving Grounds superspeedway.

Chet was also wired into the team’s radio system, which allowed Team Blue drivers to chat amongst each other, as well as receive information from their crew chiefs and spotters, their eyes in the sky to watch out for any trouble. Taylor Henderson hit the track, and as she got her car warmed up on the first lap before taking the green flag, he worked to reassure her for her first lap.

“Just stay smooth,” Chet calmly said. “Don’t make too many motions and you’ll be good. You got this.”

“10-4, Chet, thank you,” Taylor responded over the radio.

Her lap, a 57.783, ended up 31st fastest, and would put her 29th for the race.

When she got out of the car, Chet came over and reassured her that her run, all things considered, wasn’t all bad. Sure, she’d be starting 29th, but she was in the show, and that’s all that mattered.

“Look, at a place like this, it’s not about where you start,” Chet said with a smile on his face. “You can gain a bunch of spots in a hurry. All you need is a good drafting partner or two. Just hitch yourself on someone and ride their draft up to the front, and you’ll make it. You’ll be fine.”

“So you’re not worried?” Taylor asked.

“Naa,” Chet replied. “This ain’t my first rodeo, Taylor. I know that you can win from any starting spot at a place like this.”

At that time, Scott Hawking, driving an orange-and-black Super Skychief, drove past, his qualifying run about to start. Chet looked over to see five individuals wearing matching orange-and-black crew shirts, reading “HAWKING RACING #54,” looking nervously at stopwatches and at a monitor on pit road.

“How the hell did they get a Super Skychief?” Chet asked rhetorically.

They looked like they were more suited to crewing a late model stock car somewhere at a local short track rather than working on a car competing in the biggest motorsport series of them all, but here they were, trying their luck in the NSSCRA. As the car flashed past for its warmup lap, the engine sounded unlike any of Team Blue’s cars, sounding instead like a buzzing hornet as it flew past. It wasn’t a sound that Chet had heard from a V8 engine since the early 1980s, and he thought back fondly to those days. By the time the weekend had ended, Chet had decided he was going to introduce himself to the Hawking crew. After all, they had to be fun people, right?

Meanwhile, Chris Holmes was idly killing time on the qualifying line, having not yet gotten into his car to qualify. He noticed a couple of Team Blue crew members working inside the passenger window of Frank Bronson’s car. Frank was in the car, watching the work go on. He had something in his hand, and instantly, members of Team Blue instantly became suspicious of what he was doing.

“What are you doing, Holmes?” a crew member asked.

“Wanted to check something,” Chris replied with a very serious tone of voice. “Something with the ignition. I was having ignition trouble this morning and I wanted to make sure Frank wasn’t having the same problem.”

“I’m not having ignition problems, Holmes,” Frank replied, almost annoyed. “There’s nothing wrong with my ignition.”

“Just checking,” Chris replied, looking as serious as ever, and actually looking kind of annoyed at Frank. “My problem was the things weren’t wired properly. Yours looks fine.”

Chris, however, was actually not checking the ignition system. He was checking something else that was next to the ignition system. In fact, it was something similar to a product that Drake Stevenson had surreptitiously put in Chris’s car before a race last season as part of a prank that backfired horribly.

Frank Bronson’s car
Ten minutes later – time to qualify
Frank turned on the engine, and about as focused as ever, and sped out of pit road and onto the race track. His goal was very simple. Go like hell and run about as fast as he could for a good qualifying spot. As he came around to take the green flag, crew chief Sal Freeman instructed him to haul ass, and Frank put his right foot as hard as he could. That’s when a strange song started playing, on repeat, on Frank’s radio.

Unfortunately for him, the song was also playing outside the car towards the infield at full blast. Frank’s Super Skychief had previously sounded like a roaring, thundering 200 mph monster. Now it sounded like the world’s fastest ice cream truck. As he roared out of the last turn and onto the front straight, the entire pit road was serenaded to the strains of a song that usually signified to neighborhood youths on a hot day that it was time for some icy refreshment.

Unfortunately for Chris Holmes, the song was also playing over the PA system at the Proving Grounds, and over the Team Blue radio channel. Sal Freeman and Chet Byrd threw off their headsets in anger as the song continued to play on repeat. Consequently, Frank did not know until after he got out of his car how fast he had run, with no speedometer or stopwatch in his car.

When he got out of his car, he was steaming mad with this song having played in his ear on repeat for the last five minutes, and Chet, having spotted Chris Holmes howling in laughter, grabbed Chris by the back of the shirt collar and presented him to Frank Bronson.

“I think I have your ice cream man, Frank,” Chet said angrily. “Holmes, you have anything you want to say for yourself?”

“I’d like a triple-decker ice cream sandwich,” Chris replied with a huge smile on his face, before exploding with laughter again.

Frank didn’t give him that triple-decker ice cream sandwich, giving him a knuckle sandwich instead. As Chris recoiled from the shot to the face, he staggered a bit to his car, getting ready to car. To him, the prank was worth it. Of course, Frank would respond with a prank of his own in due time, but so would a group of other people, who had also been impacted by the practical joke.

[Xanneria]

Team Iona shows speed amongst controversy.
Lee Iyokoka

NEWMANISTAN - Xannarian Hawkeyes were some of the quickest cars in the qualifying session for the Exhibition @ Tundra Falls. But it wasn't without controversy. A misunderstanding over has seen the KRD team Scramble and driver Gordon Orton fail to make the non-points race. Team owner Derek Iona has sent out a statement about this kerfuffle

I don't know why they didn't specify the definition of the word "team" in the charter rules. We were under the impression any team with a driver in the top 25 would have at least have two cars with charters. I doubt we could put enough money to run two non-charter cars consistency in qualifying, We might have to look into alternatives with the team this year. If they had been clearer we would have obviously tried to run two cars with more money going towards the each teams development. Your seeing a lot of newer teams do this in hope of finding more speed with more money with fewer cars to spread around to, I feel this is the way of the future with NSSCRA,and I would love to have tried it out.

The issue Iona has involves a rule about charters thats states

Any race team (i.e. owner points, not necessarily driver points) that finished in the top 25 of points will be allowed to return without need to qualify in.

While the wording is a bit weird,but as a member of the press, we were never told directly last season about how the owner points were tallied, and from the sound if it neither were the owners made clear of this. So we will see where develops.

Meanwhile, our friends at the Mercado had a rougher day at it. Of the 69 cars to time in 67th fastest was Hengxing Tian, the son of a Banker in Northern China near the Sherp' border he struggled with the new Mercado luxury car he drover, but he will be in the race along with Jeff Shreeves who layed down a decent lap of 58.660 50th fastest and admittedly Shreeves said he wanted to get a feel for the car and since he had a charter he ran the car easier than if he hadn't had one. Troy Butterson Jr had a lap 59.262 going, but coming into the third turn he pushed his car a lil too low on the banking and got on to the painted line his car took of after a wobble from getting on the slick paint, and went hard into the outside wall. Butterson Jr was ok but clearly shaken, we've heard he has apparently decided to step out of that car permanently till he can garner more experience on larger tracks.

[The Sherpa Empire]

Kai Qiang hadn't been able to post on twii.tur or Spacebook for the last month or so. He had been busy traveling back and forth between Guilin and Nanjing, visiting different people and making sure his personal obligations were taken care of before he left the country for the new season of NSSCRA -- but that wasn't the only thing that stopped him from posting. Qiang had offended the Censorship Department by sharing embarrassing stories about the Duke of Guilin's love life. The Censorship Department had deleted Qiang's Twatter account and his entire posting history. They couldn't delete his accounts from twii.tur or Spacebook because those were foreign websites, but they did block Qiang's ability to access his accounts from anywhere in the Sherpa Empire.

However, with the start of the new season of NSSCRA, Qiang was traveling again, and he had access to Newmanistanian internet. The night before qualifying for the pre-season exhibition race, he had a little free time, which he used to catch up on his twii.tur feed and post the following:

强凯 - Kai Qiang - काय च्याङ
@QK98

---

NSSCRA is back!

Sorry I don't post for a long time. In Sherpaland we don't have freedom of speech. I don't shut my mouth, so government blocked my social medias. Only now I travel for new season NSSCRA, I have Newnanistan internet, I can post again.

#NSSCRA

[Saint Kanye]

(OOC: This happens during race day.)

The following transcript is taken from the SKYNET Sports Channel 12 broadcast of the Exhibition at the Proving Grounds. The commentators are Shaun Pitt and Carl Tanner, both former professional stock car drivers in St. Kanye.

---

Welcome back to the beautiful Tundra Falls Proving Grounds in Newmanistan, this is the NSSCRA on SKYNET Sports 12. I'm Carl Tanner.
And I'm Shaun Pitt. The Exhibition at the Proving Grounds is about to begin, first race of the season. Our ninth, and fourth of the Chase era.
No points yet, but the first points-paying event is also here. Next week. The Tundra Falls 500. But first, this race. Shaun, let's take a look at the starting lineup for the Exhibition.

Alrighty then, Carl. The Vilaye Energy Drink Pole Award goes to Thea Alvarez, driving the #46 GGtech Chadwick for Glorious Free Republic Motorsports. GGtech, new sponsor, one of several picked up by GFR in the offseason.
St. Kanye's very own. And we know how strong she is at qualifying here, she got the pole at the opening points race last season. The exhibition polesitter, that was Kai Qiang.
Speaking of Qiang, he's our outside polesitter, second place qualifier. On your screen you can see that blue and gold TMW, number 44, beside Alvarez's car, it's our defending champion's car.
And it's sponsored by Khamdo Electronics, so we got some sponsorship rivalry going on at the front of the field here.

Moving on. At the second row, third position on the grid, we got Stacie Houston in the Five Star Mobile Blaze for Team Cassadaigua, number 27.
Houston was the champion of the seventh season. Great driver. Great with fans.
And beautiful too.
Right, Shaun. Alongside her at fourth is the #13 BDA, driven by Eva Kerman of Jebslunder Motorenwerken. Jebslund's team. Eva was promoted to brigadier general just this offseason. Congratulations to her!

Third row. Fifth and sixth, we got a couple of drivers from Vilita & Turori Motorsports, that's River Suzgar on the inside, number 14, Centur Tiones on the outside, in the 2.
We got the past three champions in the first three rows here. The Shark, that's Suzgar, he won it all in the sixth season.

Okay. Fourth row, qualifying seventh, another driver from St. Kanye, Jeremiah Brooke.
The series' very own good guy. Brooke also has a new sponsor on his #18 GFR Chadwick, Vylet Internet.
Another strong driver at this track, but in terms of finishing. Sixth at last season's Exhibition. Third at the Tundra Falls 500. Winner of the Proving Grounds 500, the season finale.
Beside him is Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal of the Sherpa Empire, our reigning Rookie of the Year. Number oh six AutoModi, sponsored by Mayhem.
The deodorant?
Yeah.

Fifth row, we got Meghan Sharpe, Stacie Houston's teammate, driving the spacey Spacebook Blaze, car number 4. Ya know, Carl, this is my daughter's favorite car.
And beside Sharpe, Team Tropicorp's Anavella Ariiki in the #88 Dart.
Well, those are our top ten starters for the Exhibition at the Proving Grounds. More after our break.

---

The following is a transcript of a video recorded in the days before the race. The SKYNET Sports 12 crew went around the streets of St. Kanye, asking people: "Who's one foreign NSSCRA driver you like, and why?" These are some of the replies.

"Stacie Houston, of course. I'm a Jeremiah Brooke fan first and foremost, so naturally my number two would be his close friend." - Carlo Blanco, 28, accountant

"The new driver of the 63, Jane something? I saw videos of her online and she has a very sexy accent." - Matthias Greenway, 29, factory manager

"Gotta be Leo Baxter. I wanna see if he'd be as good of a racecar driver as he is as a basketball player. He was always a factor for the Rebs and gave the Surge quite the challenge. Let's see if he'd be a worthy competitor for GFR, too." - T.J. Shepard, 35, computer technician

"Ty Linde, the new kid in the Norwestie team. I actually raced karts with him when we were 6. Kid was always hard to catch." - Andre Gabriel, 19, university student

"Zakhilwal. You don't see many Muslims in motorsport, so he's kinda an inspiration." - Jamil Bridges, 26, sporting goods employee

"I'd say my favorite foreign driver is Gordon Orton. He drives the 16, my birthday is the 16th, so there." - Brittany Garvey, 24, bartender

"Kai Qiang! Ain't a bandwagon either, I've been following his career since the sixth season and just thought he'd be something special." - Sarah Palmer, 32, bank teller

"Clarissa Alanis Star. Seven is my lucky number, and I like the color blue." - Harold Finley-Cook, 23, delivery driver

"Kev because I love the taste of REDUP." - Dean Dillinger, 30, pet store employee

"Christopher Holmes. I dunno, I just feel some kind of connection to him." - Christian Holmes, 14, student

[Valentine Z]

The Valentians – Qualifications / Post-qualifications @ Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan

The Valentians came around on a bigger plane this time. This time, it was one that could fit the dear old Valentina who is standing at 60 meters tall. Special arrangements and everything else aside, the Valentians made it to the Tundra Falls once again, with Clarissa and Gwen more than familiar with the place. Valentina nervously got out of the plane, trying her very best not to step on anything or anyone for that matter.

Clarissa Alanis Star Breya Coraline Harumi: Ahh, smell that fresh air, Valentina! This is the very place that all the NSSCRA drivers go to for qualifications! And the very first race, of course!

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: Only this time, things are different for me, hah! No more relying on qualifications too much, I would say.

Clarissa Alanis Star Breya Coraline Harumi: That is indeed correct!

Valentina Freya Clarice Constance Judy Yadana Aye: I have to be honest… I feel a little weird over here. It’s like… without Valentijn and you all being bigger than me, I feel very, very big! Almost as if I am a hazard!

Along with the three (well, four… but Jamie is currently in Valentine Z) drivers are the mix of Valentians who are there to help out and be the crew. They are none other than:

Marcus Alan Ariel Maximillian Swifty Felix Reynolds.
Mandy Juliet Voorzicht Stephanie Madison Rose Bertillon.
Markus Tom Lincoln Schillinger Lewis Joyelle Wei Gunnarsson.
Jenny Claudia Joy Lena Linette Tanya Hoshiko Radiance.
Germaine Athena Mercy Sylvi Angelina Lauran Tschanz.
Jared Kev Jensen Benedict Angus Steven Van Den Borre.
Gustav Ernest Desmond Canice Vytautas.
Joshua Kelly Allen Valench Rashid Olwethu Nkokheli Mthobeni.

Despite the military ranks and everything, they have assured the rest of the NSSCRA team and the crew that they are not here for coups, or to have fights, or anything else along that line; they simply are the Valentian personnel from the Valentian Defense Forces – the main characters of Valentine Z that has their very own civilian lives, but are very proud to wear their military ranks. That aside, one would see a bunch of tall folks coming out of the plane, along with one giantess that felt like she was very out-of-place, what with the way she was dressed, as well as her height.

Markus Tom Lincoln Schillinger Lewis Joyelle Wei Gunnarsson: All right, Valentina! Welcome to the very first race, so… it’s obvious that you cannot join the race in this current form. You will be shrunk down by your own magic. Don’t worry, we have read through it! How would this work? Here’s how!

Operation: Shrinkage.
Due to the current size of Valentina Freya Yadana Aye rendering her impossible to participate in races, the Valentian staff must adhere to very, very strict set of rules and instructions to shrink her down. These are the procedures.
In this list of rules, X = Time of the race / Time where Valentina Freya Yadana Aye stepped onto the track.

• The magic of shrinking Valentina Freya Yadana Aye from 60 meters to 9.5 feet works wonders. There are no side effects as far as we are concerned.
• This magic works for 24 12 Earth hours. Afterwards, Valentina Freya Yadana Aye will grow back to her original height in the span of 4 seconds. This is EXTREMELY hazardous to both the Valentians and the fellow racers, to the point of potential DEATH and chaos. We don’t want that! ABSOLUTELY NOT.
• Valentina Freya Yadana Aye must be imbued with this magic at X – 30 minutes. That is, 30 minutes before Valentina enters the track.
• Valentina Freya Yadana Aye must NOT be imbued with the same magic twice, i.e. the first effect must wear off completely. Adverse effects involves shrinking to a mere 4 cm for 24 hours.
• The Valentians must have a reminder at 60 minutes before Valentina Freya Yadana Aye grows back. At the 15 minute mark, Valentina Freya Yadana Aye must be isolated in a 60 m x 60 m x 60 m space (preferably an open field) so that she can grow freely. She can also grow back in a Valentian plane in a sitting position if the host nation does not permit an open space.

For this time, the Valentians proceeded to shrink Valentina exactly 3 hours before the qualifications. It would be rather fine, since the qualifications are going to be rather short. The shrinking worked!

Valentina Freya Clarice Constance Judy Yadana Aye: Just like I remembered! This is pretty amazing, hm hm! Ooooh, I am as tall as anyone else here now!

Joshua Kelly Allen Valench Rashid Olwethu Nkokheli Mthobeni: Nothing short of amazing, heh! Now we go!

---

The Valentians – Interaction with Saint Kanye

Soon the three drivers were talking towards the sign-up post. Valentina is still in her magical medieval outfit, Clarissa is in her dress, and Gwen is in her Cadet Outfit (something that she wore from her Overwatch times). The sign-up went swimmingly well, and they even met back a few of their fellow friends. Jeremiah Brooke, Skip Stiller, Thea Alvarez… all the familiar faces. The most common question they got was: Where is Jolyn? And Adriana? One was well-known for her amazing races and finishes, another for being a friendly and 11-feet tall robot that stands at the pit stop.

Jeremiah Brooke: Yo, Clarissa, how you doing!

Clarissa noticed someone calling her name, and she was happy to see them as well.

Clarissa Alanis Star Breya Coraline Harumi: Ahh, hello there! Thank you very much for asking! I am doing fine, haha! Good luck with the qualifications today!

They would be scheduled in for some timeslot, 1 hour from that moment. They were ahead of the Hapilopperians in terms of schedule, so perhaps the Valentians could watch the qualifications.

Clarissa switched from her formal dress to her NSSCRA outfit, Gwen went to the women’s room for a change, and so did Valentina. Valentina’s outfit had to be made ahead of time given her size, and she was told to take it off and wear back her normal outfit before she grew back, lest the clothes rip.

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: You know what I mean, right? These are unlike the magical clothes that you have… you need to take them off and wear your own clothes before you grow or… you know… you know the rest, Freya.

Valentina Freya Clarice Constance Judy Yadana Aye: Ohh dear, that would be very, very awkward! Oh no! [She blushed upon the thought of it]

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: Ahh, don’t worry, you will be fine.

---

The Valentians’ qualifications went rather well for Clarissa and Gwen. They were used to this track, they were used to the techniques, and they were used to the mishaps that could happen. Clarissa placed 12th for Qualifications, while Gwen placed 14th. On the other hand, Valentina made it to 49th overall, 37th if excluding all the other disqualified drivers. Both Clarissa and Gwen were aware that this race does not count in the point standings, and they assured Valentina that she is doing great for someone that came from a world with magic and without cars.

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: Ahh, don’t sweat it. You will do fine!

Clarissa Alanis Star Breya Coraline Harumi: Listen to the Gwen! You will be okay!

They then made their way to the stadium’s seats, watching the other qualifications going on. So far, it seemed to be going well. A mix of happy faces, neutral faces, disappointed faces… even angry faces. A few of the familiar faces waved at the three Valentians and the crew.

Mandy Juliet Voorzicht Stephanie Madison Rose Bertillon: This is pretty amazing! My second time in NSSCRA, a very familiar place.

Gustav Ernest Desmond Canice Vytautas: I should participate in something like this back in our home. It’s… the sounds are amazing.

Joshua Kelly Allen Valench Rashid Olwethu Nkokheli Mthobeni: We should chip in and have our own domestic races now and then. It would be fun, I can imagine.

While they are all having their own conversations, the Valentians heard a rather… strange tune. It’s not sinister, it’s not evil, it’s not ominous. It’s… very out-of-place.

Clarissa Alanis Star Breya Coraline Harumi: Is that? [Shrieks of excitement] ICE-CREAM, woo-hoo! Ohhh, I would like some, thank you!

Clarissa got off her seat and bolted off, seemingly towards the track.

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: Oh goodness, Clarissa, no!

Markus Tom Lincoln Schillinger Lewis Joyelle Wei Gunnarsson: Clarissa, that’s not an ice-cream truck!

Jenny Claudia Joy Lena Linette Tanya Hoshiko Radiance: [Starts video-taping Clarissa running off]

However, Clarissa was not that completely that absent-minded. She stopped at a row of empty seats before the pit road, confused for a good while. She noticed that the ice-cream truck song was playing from a car in the distance, but also on the PA System. Gwen and the others followed Clarissa.

Clarissa Alanis Star Breya Coraline Harumi: Aww, haha! That’s not ice-cream! … Oops, that was… that was someone else?

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: Looks like they are tied to that one car… See that over there?

Chief Technician Jared Kev Jensen Benedict Angus “Technisch Wonder” Markeith Steven Maurice Mel Van Droogenbroeck Thorbjørn Miller Clement Samuel Joey Luca N X. Wout Van Den Borre: Holy moly, what car was that?

Mandy Juliet Voorzicht Stephanie Madison Rose Bertillon: [With a pair of binoculars] That’s a #8… ahh, hmm, Frank, is it? From Hapilopper?

At that moment, Gwen would start laughing uncontrollably.

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: HAHAHAH, it’s them! It’s freaking them! Oh my goodness, they never ceased to entertain us! [Screaming] Wooo-hooo, go guys!

---

The Valentians – Interaction with Hapilopper

The three Valentian drivers would go to the Hapilopperians and congratulate on the job well done… and also the prank well done. They might notice Chris with a bit of knuckle sandwich on him.

Gwen Tracer Fate Hepburn Eveline Allison: Hi guys! Nice job out there, haha! Oh and guys, this is Valentina, our leader Valentijn’s genderbent version from another world. Valentina… meet the friendly Happilopperians!

[Filindostan]

Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Newmanistan
Exhibition Race Qualifying

It was a sunny day at Tundra Falls in Newmanistan, and Hana and her team waits for their turn to put in laps for the qualifying session. It was a different vibe compared to last season, with much fanfare about the Badai Angin entries last year, Hana was able to concentrate on the tasks at hand, after missing the cut for the last eighteen races of the season, no one are expecting things from the Filindostani team this time around. Media outlets are even disappointed that the #0 team reclaimed their charter this season after losing it at Vilita due to poor performance, despite the heavy investment from the sports car company and their sponsors.

She was due to leave the team at the end of the season and was expected to be replaced by Chiemi Hino, which would signify the return of the FIlindostan-licensed Ajian driver to the successor of the #0 Kissan Kamikaze three seasons ago, but any move did not materialize, and Hino was instead packaged with fellow former NSSCRA chase driver Eiji Ibi to drive the Kecepatan K6 at the Hodoran GT600 championship for Monghit Motorsport. It was ultimately decided that Hana would keep her seat in the #0, and focus all the resources to this team.

Badai Angin poured their resources on improving the horsepower of their BA90008S engine, which it sorely lacked last season, resulting to the team only mustering a best finish of 37th at Newark Aristocracy, and the engine embarrassingly failing at their home race at Yoggy Oval. Solymok improved the strength and tyre life of their Megfogo STx, and Hana took to the tracks at Yogyakulta and Kimantara to improve her driving skills testing aboard the prototype K6.

Now back in the Kecepatan, she focused on getting a fast laptime on her run in the car, and was able to set a lap time just around a second slower than polesitter Thea Alvarez, it was a bit slower than last season by a few hundredths, but she was elated anyway despite clocking 30th fastest of around 69 cars.

"Hey, Hana, good run out there, just keep up this performance and we'll be slowly climb up the NSSCRA ladder." Alex Figuerroa, her crew chief, said in the radio. Upon returning to the pit road, she put out a thumbs up to the pit wagon where Alex was sitting, before going back to the garage.

[New Northwesteros]

(OOC: No OOC offense meant.)

Paul Nystrom, of New Northwesteros' Direwolf Auto Team, qualified his #21 Argoil Chadwick for the Exhibition at the Proving Grounds in thirty-fourth place. As a new charter holder, Nystrom just focused less on speed in qualifying and more on keeping the car in one piece. Unfortunately for him, this also seemed to be the strategy for Jeff Shreeves. Like Nystrom, Shreeves also acquired a charter, and is now driving the #52 Mercado for Appalachian team Jim Lowe Motorsports. And Shreeves will be starting thirty-eighth, just two rows behind him.

Nystrom was annoyed. During last season's finale, at this same track in Tundra Falls, Newmanistan, Nystrom had a run-in with Shreeves and ended up being classified last. This caused the former to punch the latter in the face, shove him to the ground, and call him things like "rolling roadblock" and "walking meme". Now Nystrom thought that he had to get to the front as soon as possible so he won't get stuck with Shreeves. And if the walking meme tried his old BS again, he's going to kick his ass after the race.

Nystrom's teammate Liuyong Xu, who drives the #9 Prime Insurance Chadwick, was also frustrated. He has failed to qualify for back to back Exhibitions. Three seasons ago, when he was still racing for his native Sherpaland, he was able to qualify third. Today he was the slowest of everyone and the only driver with a lap time above one minute. He had no excuses this time. Last season he was still new to Direwolf and the Chadwick. But now he has a condo unit in New Northwesteros, splitting time there and the Empire, and he has spent a lot of time with the Chad, even in IRACT (the Sherpa stock car league). Not to mention, this is the same car used by St. Kanye's team, and they had loads of wins last season. One of them, Thea Alvarez, won the pole. Beside her was Xu's former teammate Kai Qiang, who's also the defending champ. Xu found Qiang after qualifying and asked him "Come on Qiang, what's your secret? You're in your element today."

Tyler Linde, Direwolf's rookie, didn't qualify either. The driver of the #33 Apocalypse Pest Control Chad was upset at first, but then saw the DNQ as an opportunity to put in more work for next week's Tundra Falls 500, so after qualifying, he marched back to Direwolf's garage area and hit the simulators.

Meanwhile, back in New Northwesteros, the top dogs (more like wolves, amirite) of Direwolf sent in a request to NSSCRA officials regarding the open charter in the race at the Lannisburg Complex. The team didn't have a part-time driver, only two unchartered drivers, Xu and Linde, who are attempting the full schedule. This is what they came up with:

If only one of Xu or Linde qualify, the open charter spot goes to the other.

If neither qualify, the open charter spot goes to the faster of the two.

If both qualify, the open charter spot will be given to the fastest among the remaining unchartered drivers.

(OOC: Hope it's not too complicated)

[Abanhfleft]

"All right, Gil, this is it. The last lap. The final three and a half miles. Two straights, two turns. Keep up the pace and the title's yours. Cärinthen's ten cars back, and Mariano's giving her a hard time getting past him. You can do this, Gil. Let's do this."

"Copy, James," Guillermo Archer replied. "All right, boys, here we go! Let's win this thing!" He then gunned the throttle of his Minchev Bobcat right underneath the white flag signifying the last lap of the race.

"And now it's the last lap of the BDEnergy 400 here in Selid, and Guillermo Archer is leading the pack! Right on his tail are Yasir Nasri and Koshiro Kawai, and Wilma von Cärinthen is stuck in 11th place behind Hudson Mariano! Cärinthen knows that she has to get through ten cars in order to get her hands on a third straight ARTS championship but can she do it in time? Looks like Archer's already breaking away from the rest of the frontrunners... Oh, boy! Is it redemption time for the #69?"

When the 2028 season of the Abanhfleft Racing Truck Series started, everyone thought that the title was Wilma von Cärinthen's to lose. von Cärinthen, descended from Ixanian royalty who had fled to Abanhfleft following the 1971 socialist revolution in the former, had won back-to-back ARTS championships and looked on course to win a third straight title, becoming the first ever driver in ARTS history to do so. Her closest rival to the title in the past few seasons, Guillermo Archer, had been very much a non-factor the previous season due to reliability problems with his truck, and at the start of the 2028 season it looked like more of the same for Archer and his team, and von Cãrinthen stormed to an early lead.

Then Archer surprised everyone by winning the FCP 350 in Effelenendro, and soon after that he began making up ground on von Cärinthen, whose situation was not helped by her own maintenance problems and a number of race-ending crashes. By the time of the BDEnergy 400, the curtain-closer for ARTS since 1990, Archer and von Cärinthen had gone level on points. Whoever won, or even just placed higher than the other, would take home the title. And right now Gil had a sizeable lead over Wilma on the field.

"All right, Gil, the track is yours," Archer's spotter said. "Take her home."

Archer pushed harder on the accelerator, building up as much speed as he could before getting to the first curve. And then, as his Bobcat began to bank into the turn, instead of slowing down as common sense would suggest, Archer actually kept his foot on the throttle. It was a secret that Archer had discovered during simulator training for the Selid Oval, something that he had used to his full advantage in the past few seasons. Archer had won at the Selid Oval four out of eight times he had actually been on the track in his ARTS career.

"Steady as she goes, Gil," Archer's crew chief James Santiago said. "Steady as she goes. Don't burn that engine out. Like Ricky said, you've got more than enough room in front of you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Archer replied. "Ricky, where's Wilma?"

"Still quite a few cars behind, Gil," the spotter replied. "She's in eighth place but she's backed up. You're still home free."

"Good to know," Archer said.

The turn flattened out into the next straight, and now Archer had all the room to really increase the gap between him and the rest of the chasing pack. Any space between him and the others would do wonders for him in keeping his lead, and it also would prevent the others from getting into his draft and using it to their advantage.

"Gil, watch out; you're getting to the backmarkers," Ricky called out. "Roger roger," Archer replied even as he laid eyes on the tailgates of the Bobcats bringing up the rear. He took his foot a tad off the accelerator and sighed. He knew just how dangerous backmarkers could be, having been one himself before. He even had first-hand experience in being the backmarker who cost a certain driver or two a race win and even the ARTS championship itself. It was one of the reasons why he kept friendly or even just cordial relations with the backmarker drivers and teams, so they wouldn't intentionally mess up his race. Of course, there was no telling when one of the backmarkers would suffer an incident, but that was one thing Archer had no power over. If it happens, it happens.

"Gil, Clarke just clipped into Strecker!" Ricky the spotter shouted into Archer's ear, surprising him. "Both of them just bumped into Becker, and—oh, shit! Ludden just got caught up in it!"

"Yeah, Ricky, I see it! I see it!" Archer shouted back. He weaved his way around cars trying to avoid the debris and spinning cars and even those cars that were also trying to avoid the other things. "Any yellows? Any yellows?" he asked. "Yellows" was shorthand for the yellow caution flags waved during accidents and incidents on the track.

"Yeah, no, I don't know. I don't think so," Ricky replied. "Don't worry about it. Just keep racing! Cärinthen's right on your tail!"

"What!? How the fuck did that happen?" Archer tried to crane his head around to look behind him because ARTS trucks didn't have rear-view mirrors, but that proved to be impossible as well, not least because he was still dodging cars himself.

"I don't know how she did it," his spotter replied. "She just blew through the field. Watch it; I think she's trying to get a draft off you."

"Oh, no, she won't," Archer muttered to himself, and as soon as he was through the field of cars he began weaving his truck back and forth to break up the airflow that he was producing. But soon that familiar black and red #98 Bobcat was alongside him. He looked to the right and locked eyes with Wilma von Cärinthen. Brown eyes stared back at blue ones, and right then both Archer and von Cärinthen knew that the other was not going to give up the championship without a fight.

THe last straight on the oval opened up before them, and both Archer and von Cärinthen pushed their pedals to the metal. The BDEnergy 400 had turned into a drag race to the death, and everyone was absolutely hooked. Nobody dared sit down; nobody dared to breathe. Both trucks were neck and neck; neither one of them looked like backing down, nor did any of them have any intention to do so.

Gil Archer barely even noticed the checkered flag waving. Once he got past the flag, he just went on, not even bothering to take his foot off the gas. Whatever James or Ricky or whoever else was saying to him through the radio, Archer didn't hear. He just wanted to bring his truck back into the pit lane and take a deep, deep breath.

Cameras were waiting for him at his pit stop as Archer went in, but there were also cameras at von Cärinthen's pit stop so Archer didn't pay them any attention. Archer climbed out of the truck and walked past the cameras with helmet still on. He went past his pit crew, past James and Ricky and the others, and immediately reached for a bottle of water in the cooler. Whenever he had the nerves, he always felt thirsty afterwards.

Only when he had gulped down over half of the water in his bottle did he begin hearing again. Yet even then the sounds didn't make any sort of sense until his crew chief James Santiago walked up to him and said, "We won."

"What?" Archer asked.

"We won, man! We won!" Santiago repeated. "You're the champion! Second title!"

Guillermo Archer heard the words coming from his crew chief's mouth, but he wasn't listening to them. But eventually, his mind finally understood. "No way!" Archer shouted.

"Yes way!" Santiago said. "You did it, man! Came from behind, went all the way!"

Only then did Archer allow himself to celebrate. "Woohoo! Yeah! Whoa!" His shouts could be heard all the way to pit lane. Eventually, he was finally calm and collected enough to come out to face the cameras again, and he stepped out in time to see the freeze-frame of the moment when he and von Cärinthen crossed the finish line. Both of their trucks were level with the line, at least to the naked eye, but technology now allowed the officials to determine who had crossed the finish line first to the millimeter. And there, just by a single hair—literally, was Archer's truck breaching the plane of the finish line right before von Cärinthen's.

"Get out there and do your donuts, man!" Santiago said, and Archer was more than happy enough to oblige. Once the smoke from his tyres had cleared, Archer made his way to victory lane to take the top step on the podium, collect the trophy for both the race and the ARTS championship, and drink that sweet, sweet champagne.

Archer was sure that he was interviewed a couple of times on the way from victory lane back to the pits, but once again everything passed by in a haze, and he couldn't remember anything he had said to any of the reporters. He did remember facing the cameras with his family, even kissing his wife to the cheers of everyone present.

But barely had his second reign as ARTS champion even begun before Guillermo was faced with a new challenge almost immediately. He was carrying the ARTS trophy and the empty bottle of podium champagne when James intercepted. "Hey, Gil, glad I found you," James said. "Listen, something just came up."

"Really? Already?" Gil asked back. "Isn't it a little too early or too late or whatever for something to just come up?"

"Well, here it is anyway," James shook his head. "Some bigwig from UrGa wants to see you."

"UrGa? Like the guys that own Minchev and Luxur and make the army trucks?"

"Yeah, I know, right?" James shrugged. "She's over here."

"She?" A smile formed on Gil's face. "This should be interesting."

"Hey, man, don't get any ideas," James warned him. "Don't mess this up. This is really, really big. I'm telling you, you can't afford to mess this up. We can't afford to mess this up."

"All right, all right, I'll calm down," Gil said. He and James then went into a conference room tucked away deep in the Oval, and there Gil was surprised to see Wilma von Cärinthen and her crew chief. But an even bigger surprise was the presence of yet another driver inside the conference room: Leonidas Baxter, the retired basketball player turned part-time racing truck driver. He was in the conference room with his crew chief as well.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here now?" Gil asked.

"I asked the same thing you're asking right now, Archer," Wilma replied. "And I've got the same answer: nothing."

"Hey, man, Paddy just told me that the lady from UrGa wanted to see me," Baxter added. "I had no idea they were bringing you and her in." He pointed at Gil and Wilma to make his point.

"And where is this UrGa lady?" Archer asked. "I keep hearing about the UrGa lady and yet I haven't seen her anywhere here. Where is the UrGa lady?"

"The UrGa lady is right here," another female voice called out. Into the room stepped a woman of short height and a stocky build that hinted at some sort of exercising in her spare time. Her suit definitely flattered her... somewhat. She still looked quite small no matter the pinstriping on her clothes.

"Well, then," the woman said. "Lady and gentlemen, I am Olga Semyonovna Gatutina, and I am the head of the UrGa Stock Car Department."

"Excuse me, the what?" Gil asked. "I didn't know UrGa had a stock car department. I thought you were only involved in open racers."

"Yes, Mr. Archer, as of 48 hours ago you would have been correct in saying that there was no UrGa Stock Car Department," Gatutina said. "Congratulations on your second ARTS title, by the way. But getting back to my point, have any of you here heard of NSSCRA?"

"Uh, yeah," Wilma nodded. "I mean, who hasn't?"

"Um, me?" Leo chimed in. "What the heck is Nesskra or whatever you just said?"

"NSSCRA," Gatutina repeated. "Nation States Stock Car Racing Association. It's only the biggest stock car racing series in the whole multiverse."

"Oh, makes sense why you wouldn't have heard of it," Leo's crew chief told him. Stock car racing was definitely not the most popular racing series in Abanhfleft. Even truck racing was not yet that popular in the country, but it was definitely on the up.

"As I was saying, the NSSCRA is the biggest stock car competition in the multiverse," Gatutina continued. "And UrGa thought that the time was ripe to make our grand entrance. And you three, you are going to be our drivers for the new NSSCRA season."

[The Northern Chinese Republic]

Lei Tian was a billionaire, one of the richest men in China. He dabbled in many industries. He relied on other people to manage the more technical aspects of his businesses, but he always learned enough about the companies and their products to make sure he wasn't getting scammed. He was on the board at Hebei Bank. He liked banks because there were no confusing product lines and manufacturing processes to learn -- just money and basic math.

He also liked cars. His most prized possessions out of all his vast fortune were a 2000 year old bronze urn and an AutoModi 6. His newest toy was an overpowered Super Skychief that he couldn't drive at full speed because China had speed limits. He also had beautiful old cars made by Chadwick, Dart, Blaze, Rocket, and Beiyang, among others. Many of the cars were rare and valuable, but the AutoModi was his favorite because it had been the one he was driving when he met his wife.

Lei Tian had three children -- Hengxing, Houyuan, and Liwei. They had all grown up around his cars. The family mechanic Zhongcheng Bao was like an uncle to them. They affectionately called him Baozi, which meant "Master Bao," but also sounded similar to the Chinese word for steamed buns -- his favorite snack.

Hengxing especially shared his father's fascination with cars. For the last several months, he had begged his father to get him an NSSCRA charter the same way that a boy from an ordinary family might beg his parents to buy him a pet. And just like all those parents who go out and buy a puppy because they don't know how to say no to their kid, Lei Tian went out and got an NSSCRA charter for Hengxing.

While his brother was buying out and liquidating failing companies and his sister was studying civil engineering, Hengxing Tian was in Tundra Falls kicking off his first season of NSSCRA. It didn't get off to a good start. He had one of the slowest lap times in qualifying and he would be starting his first race at the very back of the grid. It was a slap in the face. He knew what everyone was going to say: he was only there because his father had bought him a charter, and he didn't deserve it.

When he put the team together, he had fantasized that he would turn out to have a surprising talent for racing, and he'd be the next Kai Qiang. Now he was learning the hard way that reality didn't conform to his dreams. Qiang's lap time was almost 3 seconds faster than his -- a huge difference when multiplied over several laps in a long race.

Tian needed to do better.

[Hapilopper]

Pit Road, The Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
Some time after the Holmes ice cream music incident
Chet Byrd and Frank Bronson noticed the Valentians coming towards them. The friendly Valentians were in the same boat as the Hapiloppians last year, new to the NSSCRA, and what a magnificent impression they left on everyone. To say the least, Team Blue was pretty happy to see them come back. Chet was, at least. Ever since the giant bed situation in Valentine Z last year, Chet had raved about how he had gotten the best sleep he had ever gotten with that gigantic Valentian bed, even if it meant destroying the master bedroom of his house to fit it in the house.

While Chet and Frank had been in a less-than-positive mood after the ice cream music blasted through their eardrums during Frank’s qualifying run, just seeing the Valentians made them a bit happier.

“Hi guys! Nice job out there, haha!” Gwen Tracer Allison said to the two. “Oh and guys, this is Valentina, our leader Valentijn’s genderbent version from another world. Valentina… meet the friendly Happilopperians!”

“Great to meet you, Valentina,” Chet replied. “Glad to have you a part of NSSCRA. If you’re congratulating us for the ice cream music, however, you might want to thank that happy jackass over flailing his arms away and whooping and hollering. He’s gonna get his.”

“Glad you guys came back,” Frank said to the Valentians. “Y’all helped make last season a lot of fun.”

Meanwhile, Chris was walking to his car, almost doing a dance along the way. Even getting punched in the face didn’t really impact his mood. It was time for him to qualify.

As Chris got into his car, Frank and Sal Freeman, his crew chief, made their way to the Team Blue Center. They were clearly up to no good and decided they had to get back at Chris right then and there.

After Chris got out of his car, he got his phone out from his firesuit pocket and made an ill-advised post to twii.tur, not realizing that other members of Team Blue were less than thrilled with his stunt. It was hardly the worst thing he had ever done at an NSSCRA race weekend, but it was still incredibly annoying, to say the least. Now here he was bragging about it.

Chris Holmes
@CHolmes81

---

Hey Bronson, I still want a triple-decker ice cream sandwich. @Frank_Bronson

#NSSCRA #GoBlueGo

Frank, standing in the dining area of the Team Blue Center, was not happy when it looked to him that Chris was actually bragging about this stunt he had pulled.

Frank Bronson
@Frank_Bronson

---

.@CHolmes81 Bite me, Chris. I'll get you for this.

Frank was plotting revenge, but he didn’t want to reveal his hand until, to him, the time was right.

[Appalachian Nation]

^Thats what I was planning on doing with the 71 and 61 entries

APPALACHIA RUNS INTO HUGE SNAG IN NEWMANISTAN, BUTTERSON GETS THE YIPS!
By Delma McDuffie-Hylton

NEWMANISTAN - The Exhibition race in Tundra Falls is a great tune up for the season, but for some it can be hell. For Appalachias Jim Lowe it was hell. While the team entered two cars, Xannerian own-driver Brett Pickles was entered as a third car for Jim, albiet mostly prepared by Brett's crew. Brett showed speed but his 32nd fastest time was not enough to qualify. This has clearly shown that there is speed in the Mercado Trubador now that the weight reduction plans have been fulfilled. Unfortunately 32nd wasn't fast enough to qualify as the cutoff was 21st place Xannerian driver Eddie Walters Jr a mere half second off. Jeff Shreeves, the lead driver at Jim's team qualified at 58.660, a much much more conservative run but intentionally run at a conservative pace to save the car for Sunday. Also in a Mercado was the #66 of a Chinese entry of Hengxing Tian who looked a bit nervous out there, but will make the show in 44th.

Now for the fourth driver Troy Butterson Jr it was an eventful day. The son of an Appalachian sports writer Troy Butterson, had a scary accident in qualifying. His car lost it in turn three when two of his tires got on the paint that diveds the banking and clobbered the wall in turn three. the wreck carried so much momentum that the car wouldn't stop until near the start finish line. It was brutal crash and reportedly it scared Butterson who was reletively fine, but now the 57 is without a driver at the start of the season AGAIN!. Rumor has it that Knox the parent company of Mercado will switch Gordon Orton from the 16 car over to the #57 Mercado as the Xannerian team is looking to drop weight and the 57 is clearly looking to get a driver who doesn't get the yips at high speed. The race coming up is a great test for the Mercados, and with the season opener a week away we will be able to see how the new Trubadors fair in race conditions. THere's two lap speed but how does it fair on the long run?

[Jebslund]

Lexi was disappointed in herself. Her qualifying run had been terrible, enough that the pit crew were looking over her car to make sure that nothing was wrong with it, and it was far from what she had come to expect from herself. While it was true that this wasn't a points race, it was also true that there was no excuse for treating it as less serious, and that her performance here was not unimportant, and Lexi was up early the next morning reviewing the footage to see what she might have done differently to better her performance, her other studies put on the back burner for now.

Vanda Rosa, meanwhile, was more willing to chalk her performance up to a combination of still not quite being used to competing at this level and the fact that there were many good drivers out there. She had much to learn about international racing, and she needed to get a grip if she was going to see much time on the track this season. That meant spending time getting herself used to thinking of the pressure as no big deal, and polishing her skills so she had less to be nervous about. Mindfulness and meditation would help, as would studying the track and watching the other racers, something Die Sportler were happy to help arrange.

Eva, meanwhile, was happy with her fourth place start. So long as she could avoid dropping back, it would make a strong finish much easier, as well as give her better odds of winning the exhibition. That said, there was little reason for her to slack off, and so she did not waver in her routine, and the next morning saw her squeezing in a bit of last-minute prep for the exhibition proper as she wolfed down her breakfast and got ready for the race.

---

[Translation: I didn't qualify for the Exhibition race today, but that just goes to show how little room for mistakes there is at this level. Hopefully, I'll do better on the qualifier for the points race!

[Wrecker]

The infield, The Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
Some time after qualifying for the Exhibition Race
Scott Hawking opened up a lawn chair and cracked open a beer. The sun was starting to set over the Proving Grounds, and he and his five friends had done about as good as they could have possibly have done on this wonderful afternoon. They had qualified 38th fastest, which, for a first-time team in the NSSCRA, was a really good showing for their first time, especially considering the resources they had at that point. They couldn’t afford a hotel room, so they found a motorhome and stayed there in the infield for the evening.

The five friends gathered around outside the motorhome, grabbing a beer and relaxing, for the first time in what seemed like forever. They had worked for weeks in their spare time getting ready to compete in the biggest racing series of them all, the NSSCRA, and the first qualifying session seemed to indicate that they had done pretty good for themselves. There would be a race the next afternoon, but for the time being, it was time to relax. They had done all they could do.

Wayne Snider, one of the five crewmen and Scott’s spotter, set up the grill for the evening. While some teams may have a full-fledged catering staff, as Team Blue was rumored to have, all they had was a grill, some hamburgers and some beer.

“You know, a lot of people were impressed with what we did out there,” Wayne said as he sat the fire for the grill. “I don’t know what kind of stuff everyone else’s got, but I think we can be competitive out there.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” said mechanic Roger Thorne. “This is just the exhibition race, too. The multiverse will be watching, and so will Wreckeria. We’ll get those resources we need. Trust me.”

“I sure hope so,” Scott said. “Not a lot of people will be focused on us to start the season. The IRACT guys, GFR, Team Blue, that’s where all the attention will be. If we improve every week, though, there’s no reason to think we won’t be up there eventually.”

The five friends agreed.

“By the way, uh, someone from Wreckerian Sports News came by this morning,” Scott said. “Apparently, a lot of people were interested in supporting us. Something about wanting to know where and how people can donate to sponsor our car.”

“Woah,” one mechanic responded.

“Do we even have anything set up right now? I mean, that’d be nice, but…”

“Not yet,” Scott said. “Wait until we get back from Newmanistan for me to figure that out.”

“Hey, did anyone see that little guy waving at us this morning?” one of the mechanics asked. “Wasn’t that Kai Qiang?”

“I think so,” another responded. They were both in awe that such a megastar just stopped and waved at them.

“Yeah, he seemed like a nice enough guy. Scott, you spoken to him yet?”

“Not really,” Scott replied. “Haven’t really talked to anyone, to tell the truth. I’ve heard good things about him, though. Heard good things about a lot of guys out here.”

The mood was light as the sun went down. It had been a good day at the Proving Grounds. The next day would prove to be quite interesting.

[Banija]

Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, post exhibition qualifying meeting between the head of RTC Motorsports and Jelan Ozoemena

Lemuel Abesalom was the Chief Marketing Officer of the Regional Transit Corporation. The man was fresh into his new role as Chief Marketing Officer, one that worked well in hand with the EVP of International Expansion. Of course, the #1 goal of the Regional Transit Corporation was to make money, and attract attention to their core business- public transportation. But it was a much more difficult thing to market internationally. This wasn't like a car company or a restaurant business, where you could just show up in a country, set up shop, and appeal to individual consumers. With public transportation, there was no such thing as a 'small entry' to a market. Entry had to be large, and it had to be overwhelming- you needed to be able to come in with a plan to hit the ground, because such an important responsibility rested on your shoulders.

Of course, the RTC has used the idea of sports sponsorship of trying to increase their brand. Increasing your brand would ensure that you could get in more contact with local governmental officials across the multiverse, that there would be opportunites for them to contact the RTC, to see that their lives would be better if the Regional Transit Corporation was running their public transportation services. At its core, of course, every business needed to make money, and the RTC was trying to muscle their way up the Rosaria Stock Exchange.

And this was reflected across the multiverse- there were a variety of sports teams and leagues, in different regions across the multiverse, that had the Regional Transit Corporation listed as a premier sponsor. The Regional Transit Corporation had been an important sponsor of both World Cups hosted by the Kingdom of Banija, as well as a sponsor for World Cup 80. And that had translated to increase success in other places in the multiverse. They were one of the biggest providers of public transportation in Qusmo, especially when the spotlight was on their country as they hosted the 24th Copa Rushmori. They had the Brattleboro Regional Transit Arena, a major footballing stadium in Cassadaigua. Even though, disappointingly, the stadium did not get to host World Cup 84 matches, they still got positive reviews for their operations of Brattleboro's public transit system during that World Cup. There is the RTC Damukuni Football League as well.

But this idea was very radical. And when he took it to the RTC's Board of Directors, there had been pushback. Taking a team to the NSSCRA directly? But the idea was simple. "We do not operate in a single NSSCRA country." He told fellow board members all those months ago. "This is the potential for a great market- hitting just a couple of markets within the NSSCRA will make the investment more than worth it. And beyond that, we'd have the opportunity to compete, and continue to diversify the company. If we made the approach to Jelan Ozoemena, I'm sure that he'd be both ready and willing to go all in with us." Of course, nobody in that room had any idea who Jelan Ozoemena, since they were not HASCAR fans, and Abesalom had to fill them in on the details. But he did fill them in on those details. It was a close vote- but a singular vote, decided by the Board's Chairman and, more famously the World Cup Committee Vice President Adama Sowe, gave him the go-ahead to establish a motorsports team.

With only months to work with, he had to hastily throw what he had together. Fortunately, setting up a race with Ruwani Motor Speedway wasn't that hard- Banija would be hosting the fifth NSSCRA race of the year, the RTC 400. He had to throw an actual motor sport team together, get his driver a new car, and all that good stuff. He had been working seemingly around the clock on this venture. The Regional Transit Corporation, although purchasing the Sentoza Speedhawk they were driving from a Kanye manufacturer, had generally rejected the idea of joining some sort of a team or alliance. But that may have been a mistake.

"Lemuel," Said Jelan, walking up to him after finishing his race. "Look at the cars these people are driving." And the gap between the Banijan startup, RTC Motorsports, and the rest of the competition was apparent the moment Lemuel had walked onto the ground. All sorts of data being crunched by different computers, these massive crew teams, people generally fraternizing with each other, and even some cross collaboration. But outside of the polite hellos, the Banijans didn't really have anybody. And even looking at the cars- it was clear that they were in an arms race where they were quickly behind. "These cars have all kinds of crazy technology." Jelan continued. "We have a great car- this speedhawk blows away anything I ever drove at Ruwani, and even blows away what I was driving in HASCAR, to be honest, but man... This is going to be an intense competition."

"You know, we may have made a mistake here." Lemuel said. "Should have given you one more year in HASCAR. At worst, give our team a little bit of time to figure themselves out before coming up to this level of competition. But what's done is done." He sighed, and continued. "Fifty-fifth in qualifying? I understand that this is only an exhibition, but... We're behind. There aren't any illusions of going out and winning a bunch of races this season, of course, but we got to get better, fast. We need to, at the very least, put on a competitive showing at Ruwani. That's the biggest race of the year, for us. That's the most important one. That's our best chance to capture a domestic audience. Better for you. Better for us. Better for the sport in Banija. But unlucky- it's not like we got 20 races to figure it out. We're race #5."

"Lemuel, didn't you say no to any sort of alliances earlier?" Jelan said. "If we continue saying no, we don't have the expertise, man. We're just gonna get rocked. If we finish in the bottom third of the table in Ruwani... Well, we're finished."

"I may have to rethink that." Lemuel said. "I also may need to hire a direct racing consultant. Of course, I still have my own day job- but running RTC Motorsports in addition to being the Chief Marketing Officer might be a little too much off my plate. And we'd probably need somebody with NSSCRA experience, as well- get that good data, better train our engineers, better train you. Go back to the hotel- you have a big race tomorrow." Jelan left for the hotel. The next day's race was an exhibition, and thank the heavens. In the meantime, Lemuel booked himself a flight back to Rosaria. A Board of Directors meeting was upcoming, and he'd need to get the OK from the higher-ups before pursuing any alliances. And he needed to make sure that he'd get it...

[Tropicorp]

Team Tropicorp return with Rising Expectations

NSSCRA Tundra Falls Exhibition, Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Newmanistan :: Just one season ago, Team Tropicorp came to the Tundra Falls Proving Ground looking to do just that - prove themselves. After a largely experimental debut campaign during NSSCRA Season 7 using hand-me-down equipment from Vilita and Turori Motorsports, Team Tropicorp had constructed their own custom Dart chassis for their two Cocoabo drivers, Cocoabo #78 and Cocoabo #28 who had returned after missing much of the NSSCRAs 7th season due to injuries suffered early in the season at the Toys '4' All 500. At that time, no one had really taken Team Tropicorp or their Cocoabo drivers too seriously. They were a novelty in the sport, a team run by a company that had pumped endless funding into the sport to develop the best Tyre Compound on the market. A team full of Cocoabo who were just there as an advertisement to Cocoabo Park and the Cocoabo Preservation Society. At least, that was what the impression was.

That would all change during the Exhibition at Tundra Falls. From the drop of the green flag Cocoabo #78 was fast. Team Tropicorp had already demonstrated the ability to have a competent speedway program after inexperienced Simulator trained engineer Euroli Islander nearly stole a win at the Pencurve Electronics 500 at the Jalton Superspeedway during NSSCRA Season 7, but now they were proving that those performances were not a fluke with both Cocoabo #28 and Cocoabo #78 running well in Tundra Falls. Late in the race, the two Cocoabo working together clawed their way through the field and made their push past the lead duo of Vilita and Turori Motorsports drivers River 'Shark' Suzgar II and Yraaga Gilli'i. The move cost both Cocoabo #28 and Yraaga Gilli'i their position near the front as they battled to disrupt each others air. However, Cocoabo #78 stayed resolute maintaining their position over the final two laps and holding on to claim the first ever checkered flag for Team Tropicorp or for any Cocoabo in Stock Car Racing.

Cocoabo #78 lead the Tundra Falls Exhibition during NSSCRA Season 8, holding off the field to give Team Tropicorp its first ever Victory

It was a scene of jubilation as Cocoabo #78 was helped out of the Cocoabo Park Team Tropicorp Dart and let out an expressive display of celebratory caterwauling. It was a sign of things to come for the Calania based team that had formerly been focused only on Research and Development. They had signaled their intent to compete for Race Victories and did so in the most statement defining fashion, winning the first event of the season. While Team Tropicorp couldn't claim victory in the Regular Season in order to claim a spot in the NSSCRA playoffs, both Cocoabo #78 and Cocoabo #28 would find Victory Lane during the chase sending another message to their competition that during NSSCRA Season 9, Team Tropicorp is not only a threat but could very well become a championship contender.

It will be a long road to repeat as Exhibition victor for Cocoabo #78 who will roll off the grid in 30th position but the Cocoabo won't be terribly bothered by their mediocre starting position once they get tagged up with teammate Cocoabo #28 who starts a few rows ahead in 22nd position. Leading the way however for Team Tropicorp was Anavella Ariiki. Considered the third wheel on the all-female team from NSSCRA Season 8, Ariiki has shed her Rookie Stripes and now looks well positioned to repeat the achievement of Cocoabo #78 from one season prior as she looks to break through with her first ever visit to Victory Lane in the NSSCRA's pre-season exhibition event.

[The Albali Republic]

It was over - Teija had crossed the line. All she could hear was the steady roar of the engine and her own breathing. She was more nervous about getting her results than she was about driving a car at 320 km/h just inches from a wall... just any time now would be great, crew chief...
"Teija, uh... it's Robin." there we go! But... it didn't sound like he had great news to give to her. "You are P29. P29."
'That's great!' she thought to herself - no need to be worried at all. "P29 is still ahead of our target, yes?"
"We were aiming for P34 or better; P29 is a decent starting point."
"And... Waltteri did better, right?" Maybe Teija let her hopefulness get the better of her. She wasn't prepared to have her hopes dashed in such a fashion.
The crew chief sighed sadly. "Waltteri finished P28, but he was the sixth-fastest of the chartered drivers. He won't be joining you on track tomorrow."
"W-what? But that's... but that's ********! Complete ****, mate!" The guys in the editing room must have had a fun time editing out her swear words.
"I understand Teija, but we will talk later. Bring the car in, and we'll go from there."

Soon, Teija was out of her car and walking towards the garage - she had reason enough to happy with her own performance, but to be the only one from Astra to be racing tomorrow was going to be hard. All of the pressure was no longer shared between her and Waltteri; now, she was responsible from Astra's success or failure in the race. Sure, part of her could play it off as a simple exhibition, but... her performance here is going to be what she will be measured against for the next few races. It will show the multiverse whether or not Astra is even worth watching or supporting. She is no stranger to pressure if the rest of her career is anything to go by, but... never anything like this. Possibly the fate of the entire team rested on her performance.
Ah, maybe she was overthinking it. Astra is too big to just fail outright, right? Too much work has gone into this. When she walked into the team's garage, she was met with the sight of mechanics working on Waltteri's car - possibly trying to find something, anything wrong with it just so they had a reason for losing half their lineup for tomorrow. At the back of the garage sat Waltteri himself, with his helmet still on his head and his head buried in his hands.

"What's the problem, Waltteri?" Teija wanted to be there for her teammate; some were competitors who rarely got on, but Teija very much wanted the team to succeed against all odds. Personal goals can come later...
Waltteri looked at her, and it was almost like she could see his sour expression through its opaque blue visor. "I can tell you what the problem is, I've fucking failed to qualify." He sighed, full of pent-up anger. "You're the only one who can show what the team is capable of, for now. So go out there and put on the best performance of your entire life, yeah?"
"Of course." Teija gave her teammate a consoling pat on the shoulder before moving on... it was time to prepare for next time.