Playing can drive a NASCAR win (Boston Globe)

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | July 31, 2006 The car that Denny Hamlin drove to victory in a NASCAR auto race in June costs around $150,000. But Hamlin paid a lot less for the other machine that helped him win -- a good personal computer with a make-believe steering wheel attached. The 26-year-old Hamlin has been driving race cars ever since he discovered go-karts at age 7. But that's still not enough practice for flinging a NASCAR Nextel Cup car around a racetrack at nearly 200 miles an hour ...