The final patch released by Papyrus. Updates v1.0 and v1.1 to v1.21
The patch was made available on the Papyrus website, any North American releases made after July 1995 were shipped with full v1.21 software.

Changes from NASCAR Racing v1.0 and v1.1:

TECHNICAL NOTES

*   Modem and direct connect players must both use the same version of
  the program (version 1.21).

*   Comm ports are now read from DOS, rather than assuming four specific
  port addresses.  Diagnostic messages when a modem connection cannot
  be established have been improved.

*   Palette setting problems on some video cards should be fixed.

*   New sound drivers have been added to allow the use of IRQs higher
  than 7 with certain sound cards.

BUGS FIXED

*   Computer opponents now suffer the same performance loss from damage
  as the player does.

*   Significant changes and fixes to yellow flags:

  *   Initial caution condition is now indicated by a held yellow flag.
       When the player takes the yellow at the start/finish line, the
       yellow flag will wave.  This was done to make it clearer when
       you've taken the yellow and are expected to slow down, stay
       behind the car in front, etc.

  *   Eliminated cheat that allowed player(s) to enter a closed pit
       and then drive all the way to the front of the field without
       penalty.  Now, when the "One Lap Until Green" message would
       normally appear, the player is given an "Entered Closed Pit"
       message and then told to fall behind the last car in line.
       This more closely follows the actual NASCAR rules.  

  *   Eliminated cheat that allowed player(s) to ignore the caution
       condition, speed past everyone including the pace car, enter
       the pits and then re-enter the track without penalty.  The
       player will now receive a BLACK FLAG stop-and-go penalty for
       passing under the yellow if he enters the pit lane while being
       told to stay behind any other car.  That means you have to be
       careful about getting too close behind the cars that aren't
       pitting.  Generally, you are considered to have entered the pit
       at the point where the pit wall starts.  It is the same
       determination that is used for pit speed limit checks.

*   A bug that caused crash-recovering cars to be improperly
  added into the caution line has been fixed.  This accounted
  for most of the problems with cars running slowly on the
  track for no apparent reason.

*   Cars with pits on the back straight are now forced to pit after
  the cars whose pits are located on the front straight.

*   Some crashes between opponent cars would cause the computer to hang,
  sometimes leaving sound running with a black screen.

*   Computer opponents are much less likely to abort their pit stops
  (by heading for the pit lane, then deciding to stay out) when
  pitting under yellow.

*   Pacing speed is no longer affected by the Opponent Strength setting.

*   The pace car should no longer get blocked by wreckage under yellow.

*   Qualifying speeds for computer opponents are now more closely
  related to the Opponent Strength setting.  (Note to advanced users:
  The RELS value in the TRACK.TXT files *no longer affects* qualifying
  speeds.  This will eliminate the need to adjust BLAP whenever you
  change the RELS.)

*   Speeds of computer opponents at Talladega are now being affected
  more by the Opponent Strength setting.

*   In modem races, the Dialer's Best Lap will no longer become
  corrupted.  If prior versions have already corrupted your record at
  a track, you may perform either of the following to fix it:
      *  If you have the CD-ROM version of the program, you can copy
         the RECORDS.TXT file for that particular track to your
         installation on your hard drive:
         1) Type "c:"
         2) Type "cd \nascar\tracks"
         3) Type "d:"
         4) Type "cd \nascar\tracks"
         5) Type "xcopy /s records.txt c:"
         NOTE:  This procedure assumes that your installation was to
                the \NASCAR directory on your C drive and that your CD-ROM
                drive is D.
         NOTE:  This procedure will overwrite any records you have set
                which were not corrupted.
     *  If you have the floppy version or wish not to overwrite any
        records that were not corrupted, you can edit the RECORDS.TXT
        file for each track and delete all but the first two lines of the
        file.

*   The Dialer in a modem race will no longer be penalized for
  non-existent pit speed limit violations.  This occurred mainly at
  Talladega.

*   Qualifying during modem play is now similar to single-player play,
  with a warmup lap followed by green and checkered flags.

*   The computer opponents will now race competitively if you are the
  polesitter.

*   The joystick calibration has been changed to allow pedals to be
  more reliably recognized in the Set Controls menus.


GAMEPLAY ADJUSTMENTS

*   Damage realism has been enhanced for both player and computer
  opponent cars.  With Damage On it is now much easier to damage a
  wheel or the engine.  The front wheels are somewhat easier to damage
  than the rear wheels.

  We expect that this will cause some controversy as not everyone
  will agree with the new damage levels.  However, with the damage
  levels in 1.0 and 1.1, it was quite easy for the player to run
  much faster laps by slamming into the walls instead of staying on
  the track.  Impacts of 120mph or more resulted in mere sheetmetal
  damage.  While not a major problem in single-player mode -- after
  all, if that's how you want to play, it's your game -- it turned
  out to be a severe problem in multi-player sessions where the
  only thing that matters is beating the other players.

  Rather than have a separate damage level for multiplayer, we felt
  it best to adjust the standard damage level to be more realistic.
  Note that this damage level is STILL not completely realistic, as
  in the real world impacts of as little as 10 or 15 mph can cause
  serious damage to a stock car.  We decided to be a little more
  forgiving than that.

  We feel that the damage level in version 1.2 strikes an appropriate
  balance between realism and playability.  You may find the change
  shocking at first, but we ask that you give yourself some time to
  adjust to it before passing judgment.

*   Grip levels have been increased at Darlington and Michigan.  The
  original grip levels were set so that lap speeds would be closer
  to real-world speeds at those tracks.  In practice this caused
  the grip to be so low that gameplay suffered and the computer
  opponents tended to behave poorly.  Just think of these tracks
  as having been resurfaced.

*   Engine power on super-speedways has been reduced to a more
  realistic level.  There are new Ace and Qual settings to match
  this change.

*   The drafting effect has been reduced to a more realistic level.  You
  will be able to pick up a draft from farther back, but the maximum
  effect is much less.  This makes passing much more of a challenge at
  Talladega.

*   Erratic weaving of cars in the pits has been significantly reduced.

*   Cars will no longer try to draft with lapped traffic at Talladega,
  including cars that they are about to put a lap down for the
  first time.

*   Pit stop times are now much more variable for both the player and
  the computer opponents.

*   The duration of caution periods on some tracks (notably Talladega
  and Watkins Glen) has been increased slightly.

*   New tires start at 120 degrees instead of the ambient air
  temperature.  This more properly reflects the fact that black tires
  sitting in the sun on a hot track are hotter than air temperature.
  This also improves the grip on the first couple of corners.



ENHANCEMENTS/FEATURE ADDITIONS


*   Computer opponents who have spun out but are able to continue will
  suffer a delay before recovering.

*   Computer opponents who are on the lead lap will choose to pit under
  a caution period only on the first lap that the pits are open.  Cars
  that are 1 lap or more down must wait until the second lap to pit.
  This rule is not enforced on the player.

*   Computer opponents are now more active and slightly more aggressive.
  They are less likely to follow one another single-file lap after lap
  and will race amongst themselves more.  They're also less likely to
  back off or move aside when you pull up next to them.  They're no
  more likely to hit you, but they might not give you as much room as
  before.

*   In addition, the Aggressiveness values in the DRIVERS.TXT/DRIVERS2.TXT
  files now have a greater effect on the behavior of individual
  opponents.  Drivers with high Aggressiveness ratings are more
  likely to cut you off or refuse to move off their chosen line.

*   During modem play, an elapsed time is now displayed indicating the
  length of the telephone call.

*   Due to gameplay changes, two additional settings files (.stg) have
  added to the Talladega track.  These are Qual12 and Ace12.  These
  settings should be better for use with version 1.21.



PAINTKIT CHANGES

*   More fonts have been added to the paintkit.  They may be accessed by
  clicking with the right mouse button on the Text Tool.  Use the
  arrows to scroll through the fonts.

*   Exporting a .pcx file now includes both the decals and the underpaint
  colors of the exported car.  This will make it easier to share car
  designs with friends and modem opponents.