iRacing Staff Member Profile: Media Producer Cory Vervynckt

For this week of the iRacing Staff Member highlight series, we’re heading into iRacing’s broadcast department to speak with one of the sets of hands behind the production of many of the official iRacing eSports shows.

When it comes to many of the races you’ll find on the official iRacing channels, between the sim and what get on the broadcast screen, a lot of things in-between likely has iRacing Media Producer Cory Vervynckt’s fingerprints on it.

• Who are you, and what is your job title at iRacing?

I am Cory Vervynckt, I am a Media Producer who works for iRacing’s in-house broadcast team.

• How long have you been working at iRacing?

I started at iRacing in September 2021, not long after I graduated from Ball State University. I’m coming up on three years here, which is hard to believe.

One of the many different stations inside the iRacing Broadcast room that Cory handles through any given eSports broadcast.

• What got you interested in working for iRacing?

I had known about iRacing as far back as 2010, when as a kid. I had heard about Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning an online NASCAR race, which turned out to be the first ever eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

I would hear about iRacing here and there through the years, but I really became heavily interested in iRacing through YouTuber Jimmy Broadbent. Jimmy rekindled my passion for racing and got me interested in sim racing as a genre.

Everything with COVID happened, and I got to watch all the races iRacing put on with NASCAR and IndyCar that were produced by my now boss and co-worker Drew Adamson. After those shows, I was lucky enough to be told about a possible opportunity to work those shows for iRacing. I had to jump at the chance, and now I’m here.

• What does your job entail, from daily tasks to larger projects?

Specifically, my job is to help create the assets that we use on the eSports broadcasts, as well as working all the shows themselves. Anything pre-production, like the graphics we show on screen, the camera angles we use on shows, the video pieces we air during eNASCAR Countdown to Green, I help get all of that together along with the others on the broadcast team.

For the shows themselves, I am usually wherever I am needed, sometimes I run the audio, sometimes I run the cameras, other times I’m the technical director who is pressing all the buttons to make the show happen. I like being versatile in what I do, so I am always useful in whichever way my team needs me that night. Outside of the main stuff I do for the broadcast team, I also on occasion help with content release videos around build time, or I am filling in as an extra driver when content needs help filming, like with new cars, tracks, or even with the soon-to-be released remake of the driving school.

A wider angle look at the broadcast room. During the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series finale, Cory and the broadcast team worked in-tandem with the NASCAR team in Charlotte to bring the live-event to life.

• Are there any projects you’ve worked on that stand out above any others? Something you are proud of?

I think specifically from my time at iRacing, it’s hard to top the two live eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series finale events that we’ve done from the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Live LAN events are big in the eSports space, and it was super cool to get to be involved in our own version of that. It felt like going back to my roots working in real world production, while still being an eSports event. I’ve gotten to be a part of three eNASCAR finale shows now, and each year they’ve progressed more and more, which has been really fulfilling to be a part of.

Outside of what I have done at iRacing, another very proud moment for me was the time I held my first production book as the producer for an ESPN broadcast when I was in college. I still have that production book framed at home on my desk.

• Are there any future projects that you can’t wait to jump on?

As an Indianapolis native, I’d be hard pressed to find something I’m more excited to be a part of than the return of the iRacing Indy 500 this year. I am personally very excited to be in the Director seat for the iRacing Indy 500 broadcast coming up in a couple weeks.

Growing up in Speedway, Indiana, not even a mile-and-a-half from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the place where I can now say that I got engaged to my amazing fiancé last year, this particular event is very near and dear to my heart. Getting this opportunity to be in charge of the direction of this show specifically is a tremendous honor. I look forward to everyone enjoying that broadcast on our channels, and for all the other time slots we don’t broadcast, keep an eye out for a hard charging green #12 Dallara iR-18 on track!

If there are any Open-Wheel races at Indianapolis happening, there’s a good chance Cory will be trying to race it.

• What are some of your favorite car and track combinations on iRacing to participate in?

Those who know me, know that I am Mr. Open-wheel, and also iRacing’s resident street circuit aficionado. It will come as no surprise that the iR-18 at Long Beach ranks at the very top on my list of car and track combinations. Others combos that I really enjoy include the Lotus 79 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Mercedes W12 at Spa-Francorchamps, anything in the new Porsche 911 GT3 R (992),the NASCAR Xfinity machines at any superspeedway track, and the Late Model Stock at any road course.

• Are there any other video games, racing or not, that you enjoy playing currently?

I am a big sports gamer. NBA 2K, PGA Tour, and FIFA are all go-to games for me, if I’m not racing. I used to be ranked pretty highly in FIFA Ultimate Team, but I had to hang it up and stick to just career mode now that I have an actual job, but anyone can still get the smoke on FIFA online if you’re feeling brave.

I’ve also been playing a lot of Helldivers 2 with my friends back home in Indy. I’ve got to make sure I’m spreading Democracy throughout the galaxy.

• Outside of iRacing, what other hobbies do you enjoy?

Outside of iRacing, I like to golf, build LEGO car sets, listen to my vinyl collection, go to races, and spend time with my lovely fiancé Olivia and our wonderful miniature poodle named Senna.

The LEGO McLaren F1 is Cory’s latest build, and can be found among a number of other motorsports memorabilia at his desk.

• What are some of your goals you hope to achieve, either at work or outside of it?

The only goal I have in life is to provide my family a comfortable life. Outside of that, everything else is gravy.

• Anything else we should know about you?

I have a controversial hot-take. I am a Pocono five-turn truther, and I will die on the hill that Pocono Raceway is a 5-turn race track.

• They always say “What Turn 4” but I agree. Five turns makes sense if you think about it.

It was designed by taking turns from other tracks and stitching them together to form the triangle shape we know today. Therefore, if we follow the silly oval racing corner naming convention of “one big corner equals Turn 1 and Turn 2”, Pocono should be a five-turn race track.

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