By STEVE BARRICK

Since its inception, the PA Sprint RaceSaver 305 Series (PASS) has attracted drivers and team owners from any number of racing backgrounds, including 270 and 600 Micro Sprint hopefuls, former Midget racers, and a few competitors from the ranks of Sportsman Stock Cars.

Unique to the Series and to the sport in general is Tyler Schell, a 21 year old college senior who has entered PASS events for the first time this spring. Schell’s sole prior racing pedigree? He is a championship winning sim/computer racer, and one of the very best. In 2022-2023, Schell won the World Of Outlaws i-Racing championship.

Aside from a trophy, Schell earned over $10,000 ($8,000 after taxes) for the title, plus an all expenses-paid trip to Florida to be honored nationally. He is literally an i-Racing veteran and actual racing novice. Since receiving the big bucks, Schell has been working at putting together a traditional racing program, a 305

effort, which has now happened.

In his first two PASS 305 Sprint starts, one at Port Royal Speedway on April 19 and Selinsgrove Speedway on April 26, Schell just missed making the 24-car PASS feature, both times by just one spot, and each time with over 40 cars competing for A Main spots.

He just recently graduated from college in Penn State Harrisburg with a degree in accounting.

The budding career development by Schell is the story of the growth and influence of computer racing and how it has the capability of translating from the keyboard to the steering wheel. Not only is i-Racing here to stay, it has become a legitimate path to a future in motorsports. ­

“I started iRacing in 2017 when I was 14, and just for fun,” Schell told AARN. “Then when COVID hit, iRacing really took off. There were some big opportunities, some events that paid very well. In a sense, I had an advantage because of the time I had spent with iRacing that a lot of the other guys didn’t before the sport got so popular.”

Flush from i-Racing success, Schell, last summer, started planning a 305 Sprint career for 2025. “So far it’s been going pretty well and I’m looking forward to seeing how far I can take it,” he said. “All the exposure i-Racing in general has been receiving and because of the big World Of Outlaws i-Racing win I had personally earned, it kind of opened some doors for me and helped put the 305 Sprint team together,” Schell said.

“It’s certainly helped me build relationships.” Schell said that winning the big cash prize was a major influence in deciding to build a 3

05 Sprint team but he had harbored a desire to become involved in three-dimensional racing for some time.  “I had wanted to give it a shot, and the money I won made it a realistic opportunity instead of a dream,” Schell described. “I kind of felt like I had earned the right to try to fulfill a dream.”

The PASS 305 Sprint Series travels to many different tracks during a season. Schell said it will be his intention to focus on races are scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays. He has penciled in 26 such events throughout the season, and has allowed in that planning for a couple of off-weeks during the summer. The intention is into spread those races throughout year into October.

Schell is graduating from college this coming weekend. He has a post-graduation job offer from Miter, this following a college internship with the cutting edge manufacturing company.

Schell compared and contrasted the two distinctly different racing disciplines. “There are similarities in that you learn race craft and discipline with i- Racing. The biggest differences are the on-track sensations, what you feel and how you feel it, the nature of the feedback from the wheel and the g-forces you absorb,” Schell said.

He said heknows of others who have moved directly from sim racing into traditional racing pursuits. “Some friends I know have done it, but they have all gone into go-karts, not to full size Sprint Cars like I have,” he said.

Since acquiring a Sprint car, Schell, his father Mike, and a cousin have been working on learning the intricacies of the car. He said it hasn’t been widely publicized that he is a former sim racer now racing Sprints. “I have it on my profile but I don’t really make too much out of it really,” Schell said.

Mike Schell never raced himself but has aptitude and experience from helping several local race teams in their shops and at the tracks. Tyler Schell’s 305 ride is an RPM chassis built by Russ Mitten powered by a 305 motor built by Chris Fair, who also owns the car Schell is driving. The white, red and black No. 85 is being maintained and run out of Fair’s shop in Carlisle, PA.

To shore up the learning curve, Schell has studied his own movements in his Sprint Car by utilizing a Go Pro camera. “That helps a lot. I also like to watch as much in-car stuff as I can from other drivers. It’s like any other sport really where players watch what other players are doing,” he offered.

He still does some sim-racing but “just for fun” and not anywhere near the extent he did before. As for any long range plans, Schell anticipates continuing onward. “After the season, we’ll evaluate what we did and look ahead to 2026,” said.

Frank Burman, writer for the PA Sprint Series (RaceSaver 305s) contributed to this story.