Get to Know: Justin Osborne

Born and raised in Georgia, 25 year old iRacer Justin Osborne may appear to be your average sim racer, but there is more to him than meets the eye. On iRacing, he has been very impressive since joining the service in May of 2009. He has won 10% of his 241 career oval starts, his first win coming on just his second day on the service. Osborne’s best year on iRacing was his rookie year, when he won six races and had 15 top five finishes in 31 starts. Still yet to visit victory lane in 2014, his best outing this year came in the form of a second place at Daytona International Speedway in January.

When Justin isn’t sim racing, he is studying mechanical engineering at Gordon College, and looks to transfer to Georgia Tech. You can learn more Osborne in this week’s edition of Get to Know…

You’ll never guess the identity of Osborne’s favorite driver . . .

Q:    How long have you been sim racing?
A:    I started about 10 years ago. Me, my brother and my dad all got NASCAR Racing 2003 season and started racing together in LAN races. We did that for about four years before life got in the way and my brother’s computer went out. I then started racing in a league named FFRL (Friends and Family Racing League). I raced there for about a year before moving on to iRacing and I’ve been here ever since.

Q:     How did you get started in iRacing?
A:    While I was racing in the FFRL I knew a couple of guys who were members of the early days of iRacing and I got to talking with them and seeing how it was and what it was all about. I looked at the iRacing site and, I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical at first. The subscription platform didn’t appeal to me, but after some time, I went ahead and tried a month subscription and I never looked back.

Q:    Which race car driver in any racing series do you like the most?
A:    My favorite driver is Jeff Gordon. When I was a kid and my dad took me to my first race at Atlanta in 1994 and as a kid I loved bright colors and stuff like that. Well I didn’t know any of the drivers at the time so I picked the most colorful car and that was Jeff Gordon in his Rainbow car. I stuck with him throughout the ‘90s and ‘00s and I realized that he is a great driver and a great champion. Therefore, I still root for him today until he retires.

Q:    What type of hobbies do you do outside of iRacing?
A:    I’m quite a bit of a nerd so I love video games and movies. I’m an avid movie goer. I try to go and see the biggest movies out. I also play a lot of video games. It doesn’t matter if it’s on PC or PS4, I play whatever the best games are, but that doesn’t mean I’m stuck in my room all day. I do love to go hang out with friends and family. I enjoy company and having a great time with people, and of course I love going to as many NASCAR races as I possibly can.

Q:    What is your most memorable experience on iRacing?
A:    Oh man I have quite a few of them but if I had to pick just one, it would have to be getting my first oval track win in the Legends. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a great race between me and two other guys. We battled for the lead the whole race and when I got the lead, I had to hold them off for the win. It was a proud moment for me in my sim racing career.

While Osborne’s cars may not qualify as Rainbow Warriors, they are colorful . . . and fast!

Q:    What car and track combination on iRacing would you like to drive in real life?
A:    I would love to drive the Cup car at Talladega. I know people condemn that kind of racing but I love it. It’s my favorite kind of racing and Talladega in my favorite track. I’d like to see how it really is in the draft and how everything works compared to iRacing. I loved watching Dale Earnhardt and how he drove in those races at Daytona and Talladega.

Q:    What car and track combination on iRacing would you like to drive in real life?
A:    I would love to drive the Cup car at Talladega. I know people condemn that kind of racing but I love it. It’s my favorite kind of racing and Talladega in my favorite track. I’d like to see how it really is in the draft and how everything works compared to iRacing. I loved watching Dale Earnhardt and how he drove in those races at Daytona and Talladega

Q:     What type of racing do you like to watch on TV?
A:    Obviously I watch NASCAR but I love watching all motorsports. I watch anything that is on. Formula 1, Moto GP, Indy, V8 Supercars (if they are on), any of the GT series, pretty much everything. I’m just a big fan of motorsports in general.

Q:    How do you think your fellow iRacers see you?
A:    I hope it’s good!  Seriously I try to race with as much respect as I can. I enjoy racing with everybody and I usually don’t rough someone up that much. However, I am aggressive sometimes when I want to be.

Q:    What are three things that people on iRacing probably don’t know about you?
A:    First and foremost I am hearing impaired, caused by medical malpractice. I’ve worked hard throughout my life to get my speech pretty good and to develop skills to help me hear well.

Second is I am also visually impaired as well. I was born prematurely so I developed an eye condition called lateral nystagmus, so it makes hard to read and see things clearly. I can’t see or hear worth a darn lol.

Third is I’m actually a pretty good dancer lol. I love to dance and I love music.

“I just love to race and have fun with all the folks on iRacing.”

Q:    What is your favorite racing series on iRacing and why?
A:    The Cup car (A class oval). It’s just like driving the same cars and tracks that the big boys run on Sunday. It’s a challenging car to drive and I like that.

Q:    If there was one thing you could change about iRacing, what would it be?
A:    The one thing I hate about the service is the safety rating and how easy it is to wreck someone. What I mean is in real life if you watch for example, a short track race at Richmond or Bristol, you see guys banging off each other and racing hard without wrecking each other. On iRacing, the slightest touch can send someone spinning and I think that makes people somewhat afraid to race in fear of wrecking themselves or someone else. Also, you can touch someone slightly and get a 2x or sometimes a phantom 4x which is frustrating. I think iRacing needs to work on the net code a bit more.

Q:    What is one thing that you love the most about iRacing?
A:    The best thing about the service for me is the authenticity and how iRacing strives to be the most authentic and most realistic sim out there. Of course it’s a work in progress, but to feel like you are racing cars on tracks exactly how the real guys do is what brings me in to iRacing.

Q:    Overall, how do you rate your success on iRacing?
A:    I think I’m a fairly decent driver. I usually finish in the top half of the field mostly with a few wins here and there. I know there are plenty of guys that are a lot better than me and I don’t mind that. I try to challenge myself against them to become a better driver, but overall, I just love to race and have fun with all the folks on iRacing.

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