Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge
Encyclopedia
Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge is a video game developed by Distinctive Software
and published by Konami
and was released for PCs using MS-DOS
in 1990
, and the Commodore
Amiga
and Nintendo Entertainment System
in 1991
. A version for the Apple Macintosh
, announced for 1991, was also released.
A very similar game, Bill Elliott's NASCAR Fast Tracks, was released for the Game Boy
in 1991 by Konami
. In addition, a handheld
version based on the series was released in 1991.
This game is the first video game to ever secure the NASCAR
license. It features several real NASCAR tracks in the game, such as Watkins Glen
and Talladega
. This game is also the first ever to feature a real NASCAR driver in an PC game, Bill Elliott
.
Players could chose to run single races at each track, or run for the season championship. The race distance was chosen by the player, which ranged from 10 miles to the realistic distance of 500 miles for the superspeedway races. In the MS-DOS version, the championship consisted of a visit to each of the eight tracks. In the NES and Game Boy versions, the season championship consisted of each of the four tracks run twice, for a total of eight races. Championship points were awarded consistent to the real-life Winston Cup of the time.
Both the MS-DOS and Nintendo versions allowed the player to setup the car, with effects to be seen. Both of those versions also allowed the player to choose whether they would race with the effect of damage on their car or not. However, a large enough collision with another racecar on the track always would result in the player going out of the race in an out-of-control crash.
, Talladega
, Atlanta
, Bristol
, Sears Point
, Watkins Glen
, Darlington
and Michigan
.
Like the NES version, Bill Elliott won most of the simulated races. The "field" of 11 cars included nine fictional drivers:
Except for Mercury, all of the makes represented were in Winston Cup racing at the start of the 1991 season. Buick bowed out in 1991, Oldsmobile in 1994 and Pontiac in 2003.
The AI
of the drivers was largely spread out by speed, but did not have specific differences in driving style (all had the same aggressiveness, same driving lines, etc.) However, "Ted Alpen" often was among the top 5 drivers for races, as was, to a lesser extent, "Fred Forman". "Kent Steer" and "Iggy Nition" often were in the middle of the pack.
The MS-DOS version of the game also offered replay
functions, but no ability to save a replay.
In the NES and Game Boy versions, players competed against fifteen computer opponents, including Bill Elliott, who normally won races that the player did not. In rare cases, one of the other fourteen fictional computer opponents won races.
The "field of sixteen" included:
Players could chose to run a single race, or the season championship. The season championship comprised eight races, consisting of each of the four tracks run twice. The distances for the races was selected by the player, and ranged from 10 miles to 500 miles. Players received points towards the championship based on the points structure of the actual NASCAR Winston Cup series. Another separate game score was tallied inside the game, awarding higher points for longer race distances chosen. A bug possibly appeared in the game, as frequently when the full distance was chosen for the season championship, some races were run with extended distances.
Players could chose to drive three different cars, a Chevrolet Lumina
(#5 Mobil 1
), a Ford Thunderbird
(#11 Ford
), or a Pontiac Grand Prix
(#25 Melling Racing
). In real life, the #5 car was sponsored by Levi Garrett
. The sponsorships Budweiser
(#11) and Kodiak
(#25) are unbranded in this game. Also the #25 was actually a Chevrolet
in real life. The game also featured custom set-ups, although considerably less complicated than other games of the time. Car colors were used to distinguish one make from the other: All Fords were red (with a #9 decal on the back denoting Elliott's car, the only one in this game to use such a decal), all Chevrolets were black, and all Pontiacs were green and white.
The Game Boy version was very similar to the NES version, except that Atlanta replaced Talladega. Additionally, Pontiac was excluded and players chose between a Ford, Chevrolet or Oldsmobile
.
In 1991, Konami sponsored a contest where players could submit top scores for a chance to win a trip to the 1992 Daytona 500
to meet Bill Elliott, and other minor prizes (see image at right). To enter, a player was to send a 35mm photograph of his or her final championship score using full race distances, manual transmission and regular damage settings.
The contest allowed three grand prize winners, who would receive free airfare and hotel accommodations to the Daytona 500. At Daytona, these winners would compete against each other in a game playoff for a new 1992 Ford Thunderbird
Super Coupe.
The deadline for the contest, as advertised on boxes, was until July 22, 1991, but it was extended at least until November 25, 1991.
If there was a tie, the competitors would need to write a "50 word essay on the topic 'Why I should be a Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge' winner."
Distinctive Software
Distinctive Software, Inc. was a Canadian software house established in Burnaby, British Columbia, by Don Mattrick and Jeff Sember. It is the predecessor to EA Canada....
and published by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
and was released for PCs using MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
in 1990
1990 in video gaming
-Notable releases:*Bonk's Adventure is released for NEC's TurboGrafx-16 and is the first US appearance of Bonk, the mascot of the TurboGrafx-16.*February 12 — Nintendo releases the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America...
, and the Commodore
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
in 1991
1991 in video gaming
-Notable releases:*Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game .*Electronic Arts releases James Pond 2 and Road Rash for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s....
. A version for the Apple Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, announced for 1991, was also released.
A very similar game, Bill Elliott's NASCAR Fast Tracks, was released for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
in 1991 by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
. In addition, a handheld
Handheld electronic game
----Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive electronic games, often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit. Rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they...
version based on the series was released in 1991.
This game is the first video game to ever secure the NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
license. It features several real NASCAR tracks in the game, such as Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen International is an auto race track located near Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. The facility is owned by International Speedway Corporation...
and Talladega
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, United States. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base just outside the small city of Lincoln. It was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in...
. This game is also the first ever to feature a real NASCAR driver in an PC game, Bill Elliott
Bill Elliott
William Clyde "Bill" Elliott , also known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville or Million Dollar Bill, is a part-time driver and former champion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Elliott was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on August 15, 2007. He won the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup...
.
Gameplay
Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge is a simulation of the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, and thus operates like a racing game. The gameplay action was always through an in-car perspective.Players could chose to run single races at each track, or run for the season championship. The race distance was chosen by the player, which ranged from 10 miles to the realistic distance of 500 miles for the superspeedway races. In the MS-DOS version, the championship consisted of a visit to each of the eight tracks. In the NES and Game Boy versions, the season championship consisted of each of the four tracks run twice, for a total of eight races. Championship points were awarded consistent to the real-life Winston Cup of the time.
Both the MS-DOS and Nintendo versions allowed the player to setup the car, with effects to be seen. Both of those versions also allowed the player to choose whether they would race with the effect of damage on their car or not. However, a large enough collision with another racecar on the track always would result in the player going out of the race in an out-of-control crash.
MS-DOS version
The MS-DOS version, released in 1990, featured eight tracks, which was more than the NES' four. The tracks were DaytonaDaytona International Speedway
Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, one of the most prestigious races in NASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, Grand-Am and Motocross...
, Talladega
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, United States. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base just outside the small city of Lincoln. It was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in...
, Atlanta
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Atlanta Motor Speedway is a track just outside Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles south of Atlanta. It is a quad-oval track with a seating capacity of over 125,000. It opened in 1960 as a standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track...
, Bristol
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961...
, Sears Point
Infineon Raceway
Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills...
, Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen International is an auto race track located near Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. The facility is owned by International Speedway Corporation...
, Darlington
Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed the "Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition"...
and Michigan
Michigan International Speedway
Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile moderate-banked D-shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than in Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is sometimes known as a "sister track" to Texas...
.
Like the NES version, Bill Elliott won most of the simulated races. The "field" of 11 cars included nine fictional drivers:
- Bill Elliott - Ford, brown #9
- "Ted Alpen" - Ford, blue #25
- "Barney Barnsdale" - Pontiac, peach #1
- "Fred Forman" - Oldsmobile, white #3
- "Tranie Blue" - Oldsmobile, red #10
- "Kent Steer" - Chevrolet, purple #8
- "Iggy Nition" - Chevrolet, yellow #7
- "Goggles Pizzano" - Buick, light blue #5
- "Rexx Karrs" - Pontiac, green #21
- "Axel Folly" - Mercury, lime green #22
- Player's car.
Except for Mercury, all of the makes represented were in Winston Cup racing at the start of the 1991 season. Buick bowed out in 1991, Oldsmobile in 1994 and Pontiac in 2003.
The AI
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...
of the drivers was largely spread out by speed, but did not have specific differences in driving style (all had the same aggressiveness, same driving lines, etc.) However, "Ted Alpen" often was among the top 5 drivers for races, as was, to a lesser extent, "Fred Forman". "Kent Steer" and "Iggy Nition" often were in the middle of the pack.
The MS-DOS version of the game also offered replay
Replay system
The Replay system is a little known subsystem within the Intel Pentium 4 processor. Its primary function is to catch operations that have been mistakenly sent for execution by the processor's scheduler...
functions, but no ability to save a replay.
NES and Game Boy versions
The NES version featured four tracks: Daytona, Talladega, Watkins Glen, and Sears Point, the latter two being road courses.In the NES and Game Boy versions, players competed against fifteen computer opponents, including Bill Elliott, who normally won races that the player did not. In rare cases, one of the other fourteen fictional computer opponents won races.
The "field of sixteen" included:
- The player-controlled car, and
- Bill Elliott
- Amory Jackson
- Bo Johanson
- Buddy Kiss, Jr.
- Cole Mattrick
- Cooter Davis
- Curtis Colwell
- Danny Yates
- Doc Jones
- Jason Williams
- Jim Bob Lee
- Lamar Stevens
- Mick Jacobs
- Ray Parson
- T-Bone Henry
Players could chose to run a single race, or the season championship. The season championship comprised eight races, consisting of each of the four tracks run twice. The distances for the races was selected by the player, and ranged from 10 miles to 500 miles. Players received points towards the championship based on the points structure of the actual NASCAR Winston Cup series. Another separate game score was tallied inside the game, awarding higher points for longer race distances chosen. A bug possibly appeared in the game, as frequently when the full distance was chosen for the season championship, some races were run with extended distances.
Players could chose to drive three different cars, a Chevrolet Lumina
Chevrolet Lumina
The North American Chevrolet Lumina sedan , coupe and minivan were first introduced in 1989 for the 1990 model year as a new range of vehicles from the Chevrolet brand of General Motors to replace the Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Celebrity sedan, and the Monte Carlo coupe. The Lumina was an answer...
(#5 Mobil 1
Mobil 1
Mobil 1 is a brand name developed by the Mobil oil company and now marketed by ExxonMobil.It was introduced in 1974 as a 5w single viscosity fully synthetic motor oil advertised for use up to 25,000 miles. Later, the miles-specific recommendation was dropped and the product reformulated in other...
), a Ford Thunderbird
Ford Thunderbird
The Thunderbird , is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States over eleven model generations from 1955 through 2005...
(#11 Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
), or a Pontiac Grand Prix
Pontiac Grand Prix
Picking up where the Pontiac Ventura model left off, the Grand Prix first appeared in the Pontiac line for 1962. It was essentially a standard Pontiac Catalina coupe with minimal outside chrome trim and a sportier interior...
(#25 Melling Racing
Melling Racing
Melling Racing was a NASCAR team that ran from 1982 to 2002. The team won the 1988 championship with driver Bill Elliott.-History:Owner Harry Melling first became involved in NASCAR when his company Melling Tool sponsored Benny Parsons in 1979. The team began in 1982 with driver Bill Elliott by...
). In real life, the #5 car was sponsored by Levi Garrett
Levi Garrett
Levi Garrett is a brand of chewing tobacco. It has a noticeably salty flavor....
. The sponsorships Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
(#11) and Kodiak
Kodiak tobacco
Kodiak is a brand of dipping tobacco manufactured by American Snuff Company, a U.S. smokeless tobacco manufacturer that also produces the Grizzly tobacco and Levi Garrett brands...
(#25) are unbranded in this game. Also the #25 was actually a Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
in real life. The game also featured custom set-ups, although considerably less complicated than other games of the time. Car colors were used to distinguish one make from the other: All Fords were red (with a #9 decal on the back denoting Elliott's car, the only one in this game to use such a decal), all Chevrolets were black, and all Pontiacs were green and white.
The Game Boy version was very similar to the NES version, except that Atlanta replaced Talladega. Additionally, Pontiac was excluded and players chose between a Ford, Chevrolet or Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
.
Amiga version
Visually, the Amiga version was much closer to the MS-DOS version than the Nintendo ports.Contest
1992 Daytona 500
The 1992 Daytona 500 by STP was held February 16 at Daytona International Speedway. Sterling Marlin won the pole award for Junior Johnson in the #22 Maxwell House Ford. Richard Petty gave the command to start the engines from the cockpit of the famous #43 STP Pontiac in his final appearance in the...
to meet Bill Elliott, and other minor prizes (see image at right). To enter, a player was to send a 35mm photograph of his or her final championship score using full race distances, manual transmission and regular damage settings.
The contest allowed three grand prize winners, who would receive free airfare and hotel accommodations to the Daytona 500. At Daytona, these winners would compete against each other in a game playoff for a new 1992 Ford Thunderbird
Ford Thunderbird
The Thunderbird , is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States over eleven model generations from 1955 through 2005...
Super Coupe.
The deadline for the contest, as advertised on boxes, was until July 22, 1991, but it was extended at least until November 25, 1991.
If there was a tie, the competitors would need to write a "50 word essay on the topic 'Why I should be a Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge' winner."