Jeff Gordon NASCAR (Johnsonverse)
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Jeff Gordon NASCAR (formerly Dale Earnhardt NASCAR) is an American racing video game series developed by Papyrus Games for Johnson Games. Named after four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon, the series has sold more than 250 million copies. It began in 1983 with the first game, Dale Earnhardt NASCAR, which was released for Commodore 64 and was endorsed by seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt. Until his 2001 death, all games in the series had Earnhardt's endorsement, as well as his image on the front cover.
Games for the series have been released on various consoles since the series' inception. Beginning in the 2004 installment, the series has been developed by Papyrus Games, superseding the NASCAR Racing series; prior installments were produced by Johnson Games New York and later Johnson Games North Carolina. Despite the release of the video game Ultimate NASCAR in 2015, there are no plans to end the Jeff Gordon NASCAR series, but rather position it as a cheaper alternative.
Overview
Voice commentary
Commentary from real-life NASCAR broadcasters allows the player or watcher to hear the race being called as though it were a TV broadcast. From 1996 to 2000, the game featured commentary from the NASCAR on CBS team; Ken Squier served as the play-by-play announcer in the 1996 and 1997 editions before Mike Joy replaced him from 1998 to 2000. Ned Jarrett and Buddy Baker provided commentary for the game as well. From 2001 to 2013 the NASCAR on Fox team did the commentary with Joy, Larry MacReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. Starting in 2014, WBC's broadcasting staff from NASCAR on WBC took over. Squier, Jarrett, Baker and David Hobbs lent their voices before Baker passed away in 2015. Beginning in the 2016 game, Wally Dallenbach Jr. replaced him.
All broadcasters recorded thousands of lines for each installment. The
Series overview
From the beginning, the series has always used real-life NASCAR drivers and teams.