Wireless Wednesday for 2/18/15: NASCAR Technology for 2015

The NASCAR season is about to get underway.

Rick and Mitch look at some of the new technology in NASCAR for 2015.

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1.  NASCAR will use 45 remote HD cameras to record every pit stop

This year, NASCAR will use 45 remote HD cameras to record every pit stop and automatically check for rules violations such as the pit crew entering the pit stall too early, equipment leaving the pit stall and drivers pitting outside their stalls.

The cameras will feed into a trailer in the TV compound at each track, where eight NASCAR officials will sit at workstations with two computer screens each, and double-check the penalties. If a violation is found, it will be radioed up to NASCAR race control in the timing and scoring area. Race officials will then enforce the penalty per NASCAR's rule book. The officials in the trailer will be assigned pit stops randomly.

Shawn Rogers, NASCAR's managing director of business operations, said the sanctioning body evaluated 18 proposal from 31 companies, including defense contractors and sports technology firms, before teaming up with Hawkeye Innovations as its development partner for proprietary technology.
The new system was tested over the final 11 Sprint Cup races of 2014.

 

2.   Spacers and Rear Spoliers

NASCAR unveiled a variety of new rules designed to save teams money. The sanctioning body will use tapered spacers to reduce the flow of air and gasoline into the engines to cut nearly 175 horsepower down to 725. That should make engines more reliable while reducing any advantage by an engine manufacturer.

NASCAR also hopes to make the cars harder to drive by reducing the rear spoiler from eight to six inches to make it more difficult for anyone to get separation from the pack. Drivers also will be allowed to make adjustments to the set-up from inside the car and the Sprint Cup Series will use rain tires at its two road courses.

 

3.  NASCAR to use tablets for car inspections

NASCAR unveiled a technology that lets officials see whether inspection is running on schedule, using a real-time app created by Microsoft and a "tablet."  They don't publicize what tablet it is, but it's a Microsoft Surface 2 Pro or Surface 3 Pro.
On a tablet device in the NASCAR hauler office, Sprint Cup Series director Richard Buck can monitor each inspection station, see which cars have been tagged for infractions and track the individual progress for each car.

"It allows real-time management of a very dynamic world," Buck told USA TODAY Sports. "We're time-certain. ... Once that (inspection) process starts, we've got multiple elements — templates, laser inspection station, engine stuff — all going on at multiple times. This allows me to manage those to where we shouldn't get behind."

4.  Nationwide Series now the Xfinity Series

 The Nationwide Series, the second-tier in NASCAR, will have a new name this year — the Xfinity Series. Xfinity is owned by Comcast, which also has NBC in its group. By coupling with a cable company, it could be easier to promote the series on network and cable outlets.

 

5.  Say "Farewell" to the Souvenir Trailers at NASCAR Races

Fanatics (Fanatics.com)  has acquired certain exclusive rights from NASCAR and NTP that will make the company the primary retailer of NASCAR, team and driver merchandise at all 38 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekends.

Fanatics, the market leader for officially licensed sports merchandise, powers the e-stores for hundreds of the top sports leagues, teams and schools, including a long history running NASCAR's e-commerce business. The NASCAR at-track deal expands Fanatics' growing in-venue partnerships.

The new trackside retail model, which will replace the traditional souvenir trailers so popular among fans for many years, will be phased in at NASCAR events over the course of 2015. It will evolve from using solely haulers for each specific team or driver to displaying all merchandise in a climate-controlled superstore retail environment supported by, in instances, smaller satellite retail touch points around the track. The new model will feature the following options for fans.

 

** App of the Week

Fox Sports "GO" app
- Free for iOS and Android users

Fox will continue to carry the first half of the NASCAR season including the Daytona 500 and Atlanta's, "Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500."  

For the second consecutive year, "The Great American Race" is streamed live in both English and Spanish through FOX Sports GO, the critically acclaimed app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content at home or on-the-go. All FOX NASCAR programming in 2015 is live streamed on FOX Sports GO. FOX Sports Deportes, the No. 1 Spanish-language sports network in the U.S., also offers live coverage of the DAYTONA 500, with NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES driver German Quiroga joining as race analyst.