When I run netstat -o I noticed that there is an established connection to host.chicagovps.net via http that only occurs from the pid's of my war3 servers. I would like to know is this is normal in that other users are seeing this too and what it is.

The only thing I can think is that it is simply a plugin update check or something. I do know that sometimes forums.alliedmoders.net gets called for that reason.

I run netstat -o every few weeks to ensure that there is nothing running on my box that should not be and contacting the internet thus posing a security risk.

so, the war3 mod automatically does persistent stat  collection per each race?

what if a server owner makes a custom race, or edits the existing ones?

...

zero, there might be a SLIGHT problem.

its hard to tell whats custom and what's not