Screen Racer was a project started by Lugnut Studios. We enjoy playing many types of racing games. We had wanted to be able to run our saved replays and use them as screensavers. No game offers that option. I started Lugnut Studios to create a screensaver that would run a full 3D random race. No Race will ever be the same because all the cars drive using an AI system we have developed to be realistic and reflect the true nature of racing vehicles. We use the 3impact Physics engine to render our screensaver. It has turned out to be a very powerful rendering system!

Champion Motorsports Marketing, LLC contracted one of their Clients, Jeff Hammond, and then contracted Kenny Wallace to have them both work on this project together. This Screen Saver features the voices of both of these Broadcasters and really completes this Historic, Groundbreaking, Racing AI(Artificial Intelligence) Screen Saver. Jeff Hammond was recently nominated for an Emmy as the best Studio Analyst, 1st Emmy nomination in the History of NASCAR. His true professionalism came through on this ScreenRacer project. The end result really brings the experience together! Download the demo to see for your self!

The announcer feature that almost never happened…

It was a suggestion from my marketing agent, Ryan Johnston, President and Chief Executive of Champion Motorsports Marketing, to create an announcer feature. My first thought was that this is a screensaver, no one wants to hear people talking. But Ryan was certain that he could get some really talented people to record voices of the announcer feature since Champion Motorsports Marketing represents most of the Media in NASCAR. We added the feature and Ryan was able to get Jeff Hammond and Kenny Wallace to be the announcers for ScreenRacer.



Ryan and I rode together to Mooresville, to setup a recording session at the PIT Instruction & Training building. We arrived early to setup so we could get everything setup to allow Jeff and Kenny to come in and get started right away. I only had a one hour block to work with Jeff and Kenny. This was my first experience working with anyone of their stature. I was not worried about myself, I figured I would hang loose, and conduct my business as quick as I could. My biggest concern was that you hear of some entertainers that only act nice in front of the camera… Well, this is certainly behind the camera, so I didn’t know what to expect.



Jeff Showed up right on time, he was very polite and we talked about the ScreenRacer project some, to give him a better idea about the features of the screensaver. We got word that Kenny was running about 15 minutes behind, so we I suggested that we could get started with the one-liners. Just before he started to read off his lines, I didn’t know what I was going to get. And WOW, as soon as he hit the microphone, he instantly had energy and presence. I didn’t need to give much if any direction, we talked about the script as well, I pointed out it was a guild line, change it how you see fit. I was just amazed with what he was able to do.



Half way through Jeff’s lines, I could hear Kenny Wallace though my headphones, he was at the end off the hallway, and I could still hear him. After Jeff was done with his lines, Kenny came in and I gave him the same heads up that I gave Jeff. Kenny was no different then Jeff. As soon as he hit the microphone, Instant energy, and then some! I had to adjust the recording level just a bit lower for him. Kenny was also awesome to work with, a really great person that brought 110% to the task at hand.



The next part was getting both Jeff and Kenny setup to read the back-and-fourh lines. When they worked together they both hit it! I replied awesome or laughed after just about every line. For some of the intro lines, I wanted to break it up a bit, so I wrote something I could see Jeff and Kenny joke about, It was nice to see they enjoyed the humor lines I wrote for them. During the recording process we were all having a great time, I had a hard time not laughing when they were doing some of their lines, or breaking into song.



Something we tried at the end of the recording session, turned out to be really great. I fired up ScreenRacer on my laptop and turned it around so Jeff and Kenny could watch it, so they could call it like a real race. Again, it was astounding how they were able to just take it and run with it. Both of them interacted with each other flawlessly. They did this twice for about 6 plus minutes each time. They called the ScreenRacer race like it was the last few laps of a real race. I was able to use a bunch of the audio from this part off the recording session, so I decided to only include it in the full version. It gives the buyer something cool to look forward to in the full version!



I had a really great time working with Jeff Hammond and Kenny Wallace. I think they also enjoyed doing the recording session. We ended up going over our time by almost 45 minutes, and no one knew it. I am sure that anyone who downloads the demo will be able listen to the audio and know that we really had a great time doing this. In the end, I think it really brings the 3D racing experience together! Both Jeff and Kenny are true professionals at what they do. It was a pleasure working with them and I hope I get a chance to do it again.