The Speedway fan experience has been completely renovated as Popular Mechanics describes
“The International Speedway Corporation, which owns the place, reworked the entirety of the grandstand, reusing and adding steel to increase the angle of the seats for improved sightlines, and replacing all the 15-inch-wide seats with new 20-inch or 21-inch seats. In sum, the grandstand packs in 101,500 new seats, slightly fewer than before.
The injectors act as oversized gates, moving people through ticketing at the ground level before meeting them with escalators and stairs to bring them into the main concourse. Everything in NASCAR is sponsored, of course, so all along the way, sponsors of the injectors can "activate" the space how they see fit. Toyota, for example, has a driving course outside the ticketing booth where you can play racecar driver. Walking the length of the stadium, you'll move through 11 "neighborhoods," including the five injectors, a design meant to promote the differences within the venue. The middle injector—dubbed the World Center of Racing— includes more open spaces and two bars delineated from the concourse.
Daytona put in 1.3 million feet of copper wiring, 500,000 feet of coax and 150 miles of fiberoptics, including more than 75 telecommunication rooms to house the CDW storage and networking solutions.”
The video below shows more of the new infrastructure, which the Orlando Sentinel adds to
“1,400 television screens have been installed throughout Daytona International Speedway. There's also a system of (1100) beacons to give fans turn-by-turn directions to the nearest concession stand or restroom, using a mobile phone app.
A Pew study last year found that roughly 47 percent of consumers now accept that they might have to share personal information if there are rewards. Chitwood said the new Speedway capitalizes on that by offering free Wi-Fi to those who share basic personal information such as an email address.”
and then there is the officiating.
Less than a decade ago, 43 people were necessary in race control, with each one designated to a specific car each coming at them at very high speeds and killer noise.
Now, as Crave Online says
“Prior to each race, Dusty Dwyer, NASCAR’s Senior Pit Road Officiating Technician, and his team measure the lines in pit row using a laser for precision. From there, Dwyer is able to use extensive trigonometry to create a three dimensional model that allows for pinpoint accuracy when setting up the nearly 50 cameras used for monitoring the area. It takes three people about 10 hours to place the cameras in their appropriate position and then another three hours to calibrate the equipment. Add in three hours for image stabilization and it’s about a 12 to 15 hour process in total – every single week.
With cameras that can see everything and an automatic system that has the ability to enforce infractions for driving through three or more pit boxes and pitting outside of the box, the need for so many officials was unnecessary, so NASCAR trimmed it to eight. NASCAR’s setup makes it incredibly difficult for an infraction to fly under the radar – but that doesn’t stop teams looking for an edge.”
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