**Authors Note: This was written in 2004. Naturally there have been changes in the team and the website. I thought it was time to publish it. TWA has several members who do not know the history of the team. By making this public, I hope to enlighten the "newbies" and refresh the memories of the "Old Farts"**
Thank You......TWA-CyberX

Team Whoop Ass Racing (TWA) was founded in 1998. The original founding members were: Hellafast, Flying-Farmer, Weaver (aka.Mr.Dirt), Arkansas & Cyber-X. All 5 still remain active members with the team.

In the beginning there was Dirt Track Racing (DTR), the demo version, and Gamespy Lite. By sheer coincidence, all 5 founders seemed to be on-line, racing at the same time, on a nightly basis. After a few weeks teams began forming and putting identifying initials in front of their names. It was Hellafast that first said, “Hey, we need initials in front of our names, so we can find each other easier”. After tossing around a few ideas, it was Hellafast that came up with TWA (Team Whoop Ass)

The rest, you can say is history. TWA-RACING was born and made it’s way into the sim-racing world with a full head of steam and never looked back.

Five years later, TWA-RACING is one of the largest, fastest and longest running sim-racing teams on the internet, spanning the USA and Canada.

TWA-RACING and its members cover several generations. The oldest being in their 60’s and youngest in their early 20’s. With each member coming from a different background, some race fans, some real life racers, some computer geeks and quite a few redneck hillbillies, brings the diversity needed to maintain a team of this stature for this long.

Over the years, TWA-RACING has seen many good teams fall by the wayside and disband. But, TWA has always had a solid and respected foundation throughout the sim-racing community. With a firm bond amongst its members.

Primarily based around the Ratbag dirt games (DTR, DTRSC, Leadfoot, DTR2 and Powerslide), TWA-RACING has been represented in well over a dozen racing sims.

TWA-RACING rarely, if ever, hosts or sponsors leagues. This allows for the members to freely race whenever and wherever they wish. It gives the members the freedom to join or run any league race without having an obligation to run TWA only events.

TWA’s web site at www.twa-racing.com, was created and is maintained by Cyber-X. Adorning the web site are the famous TWA logos. The legendary TWA mouse was created by Hellafast; The elaborate car hauler was designed by RoundBoy; The fancy can of WhoopAss was inspired by Flying-Farmer and the TWA banners on the site were created by Cyber_X.

The website offers a wealth of useful information. Including patches and upgrades to various sims, utilities that provide for voice communication and programs to help reduce lag and warp on-line. You can also download member’s car skins as well as programs to install custom car setups.

A popular area on the TWA website are the member pictures. Although some say you should not view these unless you have a strong stomach, the pictures truly show the diversity amongst the members. Along with the member pictures, there are family pictures and photos of some members homes, vehicles, toys and real race cars.

While at the website, you can also view a current members roster and the rules and regulations for becoming a TWA member. The site also features links to Ventrilo voice servers and the team’s message forums. Be sure to check out the TWA-News Gazette, on the site, for late breaking news and a little humor to brighten your day.

What is the glue that holds TWA-RACING together? This is surely a question that has baffled many teams over the years. One word answer: “FAMILY”.
Even though most members have never met face to face, they all know each other like they were blood relatives. They know each other by their real names, their occupations, wives, girlfriends, pets etc. There is a close, strong, bond between the members of TWA that is hard to describe. It is often they pitch in to help a fellow teammate with a problem.

Of course, with a team of this caliber, TWA has had many victories, league champions and accolades over the years. In September, 2002, TWA-RACING was voted “Best Team In On-Line Racing”. This was an independent poll taken by the good folks at Oklahoma R/C Racing (www.okracing.gmrws.com).

There are several members who have been very influential to TWA over the years, that joined shortly after the team was formed. Desperado, Slash, RoundBoy, Tex44 & Spider. These members, along with the original founders, comprise the Board of Directors of Team WhoopAss Racing.

As mentioned earlier, TWA-RACING is a family. With any family, there are short comings and hard times. Over the years, TWA members have helped each other through injuries, illness, family troubles & disputes, and loss of loved ones.

2003 marked a sad time for TWA-RACING, as they lost one of their own. In November of that year, the Lord took TWA-DESPERADO (Dave Simmons), to continue his racing in heaven. This was a sudden and tragic loss for the Simmons family, TWA-RACING, and the sim racing community as a whole. In his memory, TWA, in conjunction with several other teams, held a fundraising event. Spearheaded by Big Burd (Who was a close friend of Desperado) the “Desperado 100” was held in December 2003. This race became, to our knowledge, the largest single, organized event in DTR history. Memorial donations were collected and forwarded to the Simmons family. Desperado left behind a teenage son. With the outpouring of love and donations from TWA & many other teams and racers, hopefully gave his son some support through the holidays. A memorial page has been set up on the TWA-RACING web site. This page has pictures of Desperado in happier times, his car skins, and its own guest book where you can leave condolences.

2004 began a new year for Team WhoopAss Racing. The loss of Desperado took its toll, but the team survives and gets stronger everyday. The team and its website has been dedicated to the memory of TWA-DESPERADO.

The future is strong for TWA-RACING. NASCAR 2003 Season seems to be the sim of choice for most members at this time. But there are still the die hard Dirt-Trackers who still sling the mud.

It is a safe bet that we will see “Team WhoopAss Racing” as one of the elite on-line racing teams for many years to come.