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DISTRO 03.08.13 THE RACING LINE: EXPLORING NASCAR’S TECHNOLOGICAL DICHOTOMY
STEVE NELSON
DIRECTOR OF MARKET-
ING, FREESCALE
SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
“The next thing I’d
like to see, and I think
[the recent crash]
highlighted it; let’s
talk about safety.”
WHILE THE SUPPOSEDLY
STOCK CARS RUN BY
NASCAR ARE, IN EVERY
WAY, VASTLY CRUDE AND
UNSOPHISTICATED
COMPARED EVEN TO A
MODERN ECONOMY CAR,
THE WAY NASCAR RACES
ARE PRESENTED TO THE
WORLD OUTPACES
ANY OTHER FORM
OF MOTORSPORT.
down from a geosynchronous orbit onto receiving dishes
connected to sophisticated decryption systems all tethered
to high-resolution flat-panel displays. If that all sounds fancy,
it is — but it isn’t particularly novel. It’s satellite TV.
Early Sunday morning, hours before the green flag
started this year’s Daytona 500, the dedicated mechanics
were out and about in the pit lane. While some crouched
over steel wheels, dutifully gluing yellow lug nuts into
place, others were tinkering to get digital tuners set up.
These tuners feed video to as many as six separate TVs
in the teams’ pit complexes, some down at ground level
for the crew to watch and other, smaller sets positioned
on top where the big bosses perch themselves. During
the race, most spend their time watching two things: one
screen showing positions and lap times, and a second
screen showing the current NASCAR broadcast. Yes, they
have to sit through the commercials.
Primarily, they’re keeping
an eye on what’s happening in
the race. On a 2.5-mile track,
you can only see a very small
sliver of the action from the
pit lane. The pack of cars blast
by once every minute or so like
a freight train and then quickly
stream out of sight, with stragglers
roaring by feebly a few
seconds later. Only the team’s
spotters, standing way up top
of the circuit, have an unobstructed
view of the action.
Spotters are acting as the
all-seeing eye for the drivers,
radioing down constantly
to tell them when they have
a lane into which they can
merge. In the pits, meanwhile,
crew members watch to see
what they can learn from the