Donkey Bop Racing Rolls Out Their Oval Drivers For A Great Showing At The 2021 iRACING Daytona 500
“It was reported in the paper that President Bush received a ‘warm reception’ from the Daytona 500 drivers. Well sure, the drivers had never met anyone who was sponsored by more oil companies than they were.”
Jay Leno
February 14, 2021
(Daytona, FL) – The international endurance racing powerhouse Donkey Bop Racing demonstrated surprising strength when it fielded it’s top NASCAR drivers for the 2021 Daytona 500. Six Drivers – Ken Soszka (USA), Zachery Robinson (USA) Guy Pitra, (USA), Jerry Foehrkolb (USA), John Hall (GBR), Kris Thompson (USA) and Chet Barkin (USA) competed in the premier iRacing NASCAR event of the year.
One of the more humorous stories about the Daytona 500 is the appearance of Dale Earnhardt Sr. on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1998 in a “Top 10 reasons” skit after finally winning at the 500. Dale was asked to list the top 10 reasons “why it took me 20 year to win the Daytona 500?” His answers:
#10 – “It took me 19 years to realize I had the emergency brake on….”
#9 – I finally rotated and balanced my moustache…”
#8 – “I quit training with the Canadian Snowboarding Team…” [the Canadian Snowboarding Team was all over the world media after getting busted smoking pot after winning the Gold Medal…]
#7 – “I stopped letting my 300 lb cousin Ricky ride shotgun…”
#6 – “New Strategy – I pretended I was Dave [Letterman] driving home on the Merrit Parkway”
#5 – “Who cares if it took 20 years, at least my name isn’t Dick Trickle….”
#4 – “I just figured out that if you mash the gas pedal all the way down, the car takes off like a son-of-a-bitch…” [and yes that was broadcast uncensored….]
#3 – “My new pit crew was the Spice Girls….”
#2 – “This year whenever I pass someone, I give them the finger….”
#1 – “My secret to success, one can of motor oil in my engine, and one can of motor oil in my pants…”
[May you Rest in Peace Dale Earnhardt]
As examples of Donkey Bop flexing its strength in stock cars, Ken Soszka – a very talented and successfully iRacing NASCAR driver – led the way and ran several iterations of the Great American Race. He scored a P3 in a race with a Strength of Field (SOF) 1618, finishing just 24 seconds behind the winner. He then followed that up with a P5 finish in an SOF 1690 race, just 7 seconds off the winning car.
Guy Pitra, John Hall, and Ken Soszka are the toprated NASCAR drivers on the team. All have oval driver ratings over 2,000 driving primarily NASCAR races – Hall’s irating is over 2,700. Pitra had a very impressive top 10 finish in an SOF 2325 race. He was right there with the lead pack at the finish, within 2.8 seconds of the race winner.
Brit John Hall finished a very strong P14 in SOF 2431 race – a race loaded with top shelf drivers. Jerry Foehrkolb had a P13 finish in an SOF 1963 race. Kris Thompson finished P15 in an SOF 1773 race. And Chet Barkin scored a very nice P11 in an SOF 1097 contest.
The Donkey Bop boys did have some fun with this race. Ken Soszka bragged on the team Discord Channel that he was running a Chevrolet Camaro Cup Car in the same color scheme as the Camaro he owns in real life.
Not to be outdone, Kris Thompson fielded his Chevy Camaro Cup Car in identical colors as his real-world Camaro, and Guy Pitra fielded a Ford Mustang Cup Car in identical livery as his real- world Mustang.
-Kris Thompson