One after another, young drivers from every imaginable racing series punched up their favorite racetracks and turned laps in the heart of the Orange County Convention Center. No helmets or firesuits required for these races at the Performance Racing Industry trade show.

The high-speed runs were on two advanced racing simulators set up by iRacing.com. These are not video games but technically sophisticated computer equipment that are powered by state-of-the-art software. Up until now, this kind of high-tech racing simulation has been restricted to big dollar Formula One teams, such as McLaren Racing and Ferrari. While iRacing.com’s software is not cheap, it is affordable compared to say hauling a stock car several hundred miles to test a rookie driver for a couple of days. The company was co-founded in 2004 by programmer Dave Kaemmer and John Henry, who owns the Boston Red Sox. Henry bought half of Roush Racing this year.

Now that the software has been perfected, iRacing.com is beginning the hard sell in the motorsports community. All levels of racing have been targeted, from Late Model racers all the way up to Sprint Cup. Among those who tried their hand at the PRI simulator Friday was David Gilliland, who drives the # 38 Yates Racing Ford. The company is negotiating with several Cup level teams right now. Once accepted into stock car racing, iRacing.com hopes its software will become standard equipment at all NASCAR race shops.

Daytona Beach News Journal