As the dust settles on the Callum Cross2 saga, collectively everyone involved with SIMRACE247 regret the reference of iRacing staffer Nim Cross as the cheater’s father.
It was an error made while reporting a breaking news piece we wrongfully made this connection based on a tweet and a second source.
Our reliance on this source, which was later confirmed to be false by an individual close to this parody account, brought unnecessary backlash upon Nim Cross which should never have come about in the first place.
For this, we sincerely apologise to Nim Cross for the damage done to his good name by this saga.
By all accounts, Nim Cross does a fantastic job as iRacing’s Chief Steward and we can only apologise for suggesting otherwise and would be more than happy to convey this on a one-to-one basis.
Measures are now in place to ensure that this does not happen again in the future. It could be said we were ‘played’ but only until, within hours, we realised the gaffe and immediately changed the post and proffered the first apology.
As a news outlet, it is never our intention to misinform our readers, spread ‘fake news’ or tell downright lies.
Our job as both journalists and members of the simracing community is to get the story straight first-time, failing that correct and acknowledge any mistakes as soon as they come to light.
For the record, it must be noted, this site began as a portal to aggregate sim racing news and build a reporting base for our own unique content headed by Editor Sam Tomlinson. The objective to cover races, do interviews, reviews etc.
Not once did we dream that there was this ugly underbelly of deceit going on in our games which these days are big buck ventures, no longer three guys in a garage making a sim which 5,000 people buy.
The community came to us and exposed this information. All the info collated in all our reports on cheating would not happen without direct community input. Right now resources do not permit us to go find stories so we appreciate the initiatives by simmers who send us information.
Which, in turn suggests that a full-time reporter should do what few have done before in sim racing: report real news, not just aggregate press releases and game updates as is the trend in the current virtual racing media landscape.
While an early gaffe has set us back, we are compelled to continue this expose which is yet another worthy cause to watch, as the 150k visitors voted with their clicks and said out aloud: we want to read this kind of news.
We shall oblige. (Paul Velasco & Sam Tomlinson)
[Note: This apology was not sought from us by Nim Cross or any other party. But rather a conscience-driven necessity.]
