Michael Conti is a name known in the sim racing community, especially in the iRacing and eNASCAR communities. Michael Conti is the 2014 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion, and one of the founders of Team Conti Sim Performance. Sim racing is a platform on a computer or gaming console that tries to emulate real world racing by adding real world factors into it, such as damage, tire wear, and car suspension settings.
“I was a little kid when I first started watching NASCAR races–5 years old was when I started,” Conti said.
He started his career early and his first sim racing game was NASCAR Racing 2002 Season. Conti then got into iRacing while in high school and started his path to the top.
But before he got to the top of eNASCAR, he had to go through the eNASCAR Road to Pro series ladder, which was different when he did it compared to now.
“It was very different. In seasons 1, 2 and 3, the top 10 from A open standings would be granted a pro license,” Conti said, describing the process.
Earlier this year, eNASCAR changed the process for entry into the Coca-Cola iRacing Series with the top 30 in the Contender Series being brought up into the draft for a seat in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
When asked about his thoughts on the change, Conti responded by saying, “I think it’s good and bad. It’s good in the sense that the teams have more options. I think that it might become a bit more problematic when you have more drivers than seats. Also, where it gets tricky is that the top 20 from the Coke Series aren’t locked in anymore.”
In 2014, Conti’s life changed–winning the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series championship while he was 17 years old.
When asked about how he felt when he won the championship, Conti said, “It was definitely a life long dream realized. It was ultimately, and honestly, the best thing that could’ve happened. It was the only option for me at that point.”
In 2019, there was a big change in the series with professional NASCAR teams such as JR Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and RFK Racing getting involved in the series.
“It was really cool for all of us and saw it as a way to legitimize the series. We knew it would expand the reach of the series. When the teams came in, we had to adjust our mentality and thought process,” Conti said.
Conti joined JR Motorsports, a team that is owned and run by NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Conti ran with JR Motorsports from 2019 until the end of his career in 2023.
In 2023, Conti announced that he would be stepping away from full time driving in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
“I felt a sense of peace. Going into ‘23, I wanted to make sure I went out still racing at the top of my game. There was some stress at the beginning of the year,” Conti said.
Conti had a great year–winning two races at The Milwaukee Mile and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With those two wins, Conti locked himself into the eNASCAR Playoffs. While the playoffs didn’t go as planned, he still finished 10th in the standings.
After the 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season ended, Conti founded Team Conti Sim Performance in November of 2023.
“We worked with a couple different separate setup shops in the past. We knew that Team Conti was a recognizable name in the community,” Conti said, when asked about the inspiration for starting his setup shop. Conti also said that he wanted to have a platform for sim racers that was different from other setup shops. Conti himself helps build setups and still races in his free time.
When asked about his thoughts on NASCAR’s new Next Gen race car and what iRacing and NASCAR have done well and not so well with the car, Conti responded, saying, “I think iRacing has done a good job with modeling the Next Gen car. When you’ve got these Next Gen cars that are low on power and have massive amounts of grip, what do you get? More pack racing.”
When asked about any advice he would give to anyone looking to get into iRacing or sim racing in general, he gave some great advice by saying, “I would say to number 1, start out with halfway decent equipment–have something that is reliable. Number 2, just because you get promoted to a better license doesn’t mean you have to move up to the next car right away. Lastly, when you get on iRacing, stay clean.”
You can watch the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series on all of iRacing’s social media channels, as well as highlights from the races on the official NASCAR YouTube channel. @iRacingOfficial on YouTube. @NASCAR on YouTube.