Today I have the honor of sitting down to chat with one of longest friends I've had, the very reason I got into league racing to begin with. He is a former champion in the SCRL Tim Horton's Canadian Series, has collected 10 wins in his SCRL career, and runs his own YouTube league, the ISCR(International Stock Car Racing), he is the one and only NR Leagues, better known as Chris Kyle.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN RACING?
"Hard to remember but my dad told me he was flipping through the channels and then NASCAR pop up."
ON THAT SAME SUBJECT, WHAT GOT YOU STARTED IN MAKING AN OFFLINE LEAGUE?
"I used to watch a channel called 24Camshaft24. He ran a forum based offline league called Sunset Racing. He posted race recaps on his channel. I though it was the coolest thing everyand it look fun to do. So I started my own channel and league and went on from there."
YOU HAD ALREADY BEEN DOING YOUR OWN LEAGUE FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS WHEN YOU WERE INVITED TO COMPETE IN THE THEN ONL'S NASCAR LEGENDS SERIES DEBUT SEASON. AT THIS POINT THE SEASON HAD ALREADY STARTED AND YOU MADE YOUR DEBUT IN THE SEASON'S SEVENTH RACE AT TALLADEGA, YOU WOULD START 18TH AND FINISHED 16TH. HOW DID IT FEEL TO GO FROM RUNNING A LEAGUE TO COMPETING IN ANOTHER BEHIND THE WHEEL?
"Well I've competed in other leagues before so it wasn't new to me. I've believe I joined an offline league before starting my own. Officially at least."
DESPITE MISSING SIX RACES, YOU WOULD FINISH 10TH OVERALL IN THE FINAL POINTS, WITH A BEST FINISH OF 2ND AT BRISTOL. WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS YOU HAD SET FOR YOURSELF IN YOUR FIRST SEASON BEHIND THE WHEEL?
"Well like most things, doing something for the first time you can't really set any high expectations. Just go out there and have fun."
SPEAKING OF BRISTOL, IT WOULD BE IN YOUR 36TH CAREER START IN YOUR SECOND SEASON THAT YOU WOULD SCORE YOUR FIRST CAREER SCRL SANCTIONED WITN AT BRISTOL. HOW DID IT FEEL TO GO SO LONG WITHOUT A WIN, BUT WHEN IT FINALLY DID COME, IT WAS AT THE SAME TRACK ONE YEAR BEFORE YOU FINISHED RUNNERUP AT?
"I wouldn't say long. I say it's just about right. But like always it felt great to win and even better at a legendary track like Bristol."
THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER YOU HAVE TRAILED THE FIELD A TOTAL OF 10 TIMES, RANKING YOU 5TH ON THE ALL TIME LIST. IT'S NOT SOMETHING MOST WOULD BE PROUD ABOUT, BUT SOME DAYS IN RACING YOU FINISH FIRST AND THE NEXT YOU FINISH IN THE TAIL END OF THE FIELD. HOW DOES A RACER BOUNCE BACK SO FAST?
"Well racing, all types of racing, it is impossible to predict how things are going to go in a race. I could finished last 5 times in one season and still win the championship. I could 10 races in one season and lose the championship. But of course there are other reason like the type of track, how good the setup is or even the weather can be a factor."
OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST SIX YEARS, YOU HAVE COLLECTED 10 WINS IN THIS LEAGUE, WINNING ON ALL DIFFERENT TRACK TYPES SUCH AS SUPERSPEEDWAYS, SHORT TRACKS AND ROAD COURSES. FOR YOU, WHAT IS THE MOST TOUGHEST AND HOW DID YOU GET TO BE SO SKILLED ON WINNING ON ALL SURFACES WHILE OTHERS STRUGGLED?
"Well toughest no doubt would be road courses. Racing in multiple leagues, series and all sorts of tracks helps out a ton. Most tend just stay in one series one league and one type of car."
SPEAKING OF MOMENTS, OF THOSE 10 RACE WINS, WHAT RACE WIN WOULD YOU SAY WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOR YOU?
"Well it would be my first one. Yeah, Trois-Rivieres is in Canada but it's not in Ontario."
YOUR BIGGEST MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER OBVIOUSLY HAPPENED LAST YEAR WHEN YOU JOINED THE EXCLUSIVE CLUB OF WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP, BUT IT HAPPENED IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY OF CANADA IN THE SCRL TIM HORTON'S CANADIAN SERIES. COULD YOU HAVE ASKED FOR A BETTER PLACE TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY, AND HOW BIG WAS IT TO COMPETE FOR FIVE YEARS AND FINALLY GET YOUR FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP?
"Couldn't ask for a better place to win a championship and it was really big to win it all in Canada."
OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS OF COMPETING IN THE SCRL YOU'VE ALSO BEEN RUNNING YOUR OWN LEAGUE, THE ISCR, TO QUITE A SUCCESSFUL LEAGUE. WHAT IS IT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR OWN LEAGUE THAT SEPARATES YOURS FROM THE OTHERS OUT THERE THAT RUN THEIR OWN?
"I think the one biggest thing that separates my league from the rest is amount of fictional series I used to run. Such as the Superspeedway Division. The most popular. Even though I don't run the division anymore I believe it gave a big boost to the league. Also expanding to rFactor 2 for Formula and Road racing. Haven't seen some one do that."
YOU HAVE BEEN COMPETING ON AND OFF FOR OVER SIX YEARS, IN OVER TWO HUNDRED RACES AND IN NEARLY EVERY SINGLE SERIES, HAVE PICKED UP 10 CAREER WINS AND ARE A FORMER CHAMPION, WHEN WILL IT BE THE TIME FOR YOU TO HANG UP THE HELMET AND GLOVES FOR THE FINAL TIME?
"Hard to say. When it comes to competing I haven't really thought of retirement. So I guess as long you keep hosting, I'll keep racing."
To go support Chris's league go like and subscribe to his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw8pnLUYxQyqVnvd-OCNENA
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