New Power Couple in Racing, I'm Not Worried About Favoritism

Wow, it was early January when Danica Patrick announced her divorce from her husband and almost late January when the news broke that she and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. announced their union.

Aside from the obvious initial emotional reactions, there was concern about favoritism that might be shown between these two drivers while on the track.

To be honest, the middle third of any race is give and take and I'd expect the same from these two, between them.

But when it got down to it (no pun intended there), I don't think they'd give too much to each other on the track.

And even if they did, so what?  There are teams out there and to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if this happened out there.  Folks give each other room at times, or let someone lead a bit for bonus points.  It's just racing.

But if these or any two drivers were at the top of the points facing off against the other driver in the points standings, I bet it would be serious business, no matter who is looking for a spot.

I'm not too worried about it... are you?

- - -

Seriously... Ricky aimed for the older woman.  Zing!

NASCAR's Media Centric Focus of 2013, Adding To Everyone's Bottom Line

As of today, NASCAR has 3.2 million Facebook fans and over 870 thousand followers on Twitter alone.  They've taken back their digital rights so their website from Turner, and it is now their own to do with as they please.  And they have done just that.

And the fan needs to figure out how to sort it all out.  If you follow enough folks associated with NASCAR, aka, reporters of the sport, you often see the same content hashed over in the flavor of the writer.  Or the organization.

You know what I mean.  On Twitter I have my main feed and who I follow.  But the main feed is useless to me with so many folks updating and retweeting.  For me, Twitter Lists of select accounts is the way to go.  But what am I missing when I focus on those lists?  What's gone by that might have been critical to me in that haze of a feed where dozens upon dozens of accounts are pummeling my update window?

NASCAR has taken a step back, seen what's going on, and has then stepped up to try and sort it all out, to understand what the social media landscape means to the sport of NASCAR, both in a overall mode, and at the most pressing times, during a race.

Hence, the "NASCAR Fan and Media Engagement Center (FMEC) presented by HP," located in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

This space-station looking control center will be the hub of all content, as conversations are watched and monitored and recorded.  Or as they put it,

"to better serve its industry, partners and fans through a cutting-edge technology platform that facilitates near real-time response and analytics of traditional, digital and social media."

But it's not just social media that will be watched, but also traditional media.  It will help the sport connect information between the fans and the sport but also connect this information with NASCAR's business partners.

I think it's important that they consider all the forms of communication, meaning adding traditional and broadcast media analysis to their collective.  That's because, despite how it looks to some, social media is not the end-all of opinion or information.  Social media users do not account for the majority of the fans.

It's been reported that just over 50% of internet fans are on Facebook and 10% are on Twitter.  And television accounts for approximately 50% of the sports fans information. And "Enthusiastic sports fans account for 19 percent of overall online users." 

Yes, this new piece of equipment is a collector of opinion and news.  An aggregate of information that will help NASCAR forge its future.  As they put it,

"The FMEC will provide NASCAR the ability to monitor, analyze and better understand the current media landscape in order to respond more effectively and efficiently to fans and respond more rapidly to national, local and global media.

Measurement also will be a key function of the Fan and Media Engagement Center. Those capabilities will expand across qualitative and quantitative measurements, including tonality, volume, proximity and other coverage attributes in regular reports the FMEC will generate for its industry."

So the next time you make mention of something on Facebook or Twitter, your thoughts will or could be contributing to a new mindset.  If enough folks echo your premise, then you could become part of the changing landscape.  Your voice could actually help things move forward.

And that sounds pretty neat.  I'm not sure what other sport or organization is like that.

But don't be fooled either.  When they mentioned "to better serve its industry, partners and fans," the first two terms mean how to better shape the marketing of the sport, at least that's my presumption.

Now, as information is tallied, NASCAR can focus a sales pitch like a laser-beam, for any new or potential advertiser.  It can report to existing "partners" how things are going and what can be or could be done to improve the return on their dollar.

That, in the long run, is the bottom line.  That's not an evil thing, it's just the pervasive attitude of running a business.  That's how to better serve both the business end of this model, maintaining or improving profits, while also better serving the fans.  Or how to pull in new fans.

The TV landscape over the last few years was a huge push/focus for the sport, but things may have flattened out a bit there.  And like many other TV monitoring processes like the Nielsen system, NASCAR is now looking at capturing the digital data of the social world.

That social world... is so much more immediate these days than yesteryear.  I'm reading a novel written back in the late 1800's, and for someone to learn about something, much foot-work was needed, along with "posts" sent by carrier back and forth, and then someone had to put all the paper notes down, look them over and re-transcribe them to their best effort.  A process that could take weeks or months.

Today, with a digital center like the FMEC, oodles of data will be transcribed in a matter of moments now.

We live in one fascinating era!  That's for sure!

--
This opinion piece is from NASCAR-Bits-and-Pieces
which is also on Twitter & Facebook & G+.
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NASCAR's Press Release:

"

NASCAR Launches State-Of-The-Art Fan And Media Engagement Center

Collaboration With HP Brought Online

Daytona Beach, Fla. (Jan. 14, 2013) – NASCAR and HP today unveiled the new NASCAR Fan and Media Engagement Center presented by HP. This first-of-its-kind resource will enable NASCAR to better serve its industry, partners and fans through a cutting-edge technology platform that facilitates near real-time response and analytics of traditional, digital and social media.

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France and HP Enterprise Services Vice President Charles Salameh were on hand to cut the ceremonial ribbon to officially open the center at NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, N.C.

"The Fan and Media Engagement Center build has been a thorough process more than a year in the making, and we are excited to see it come to life," France said. "We believe this tool has the potential to be the best of its kind in sports – the first ever to combine not only social, but also traditional and broadcast media analysis. We'll be able to use this to help our industry and business partners and better connect with NASCAR fans across the world. It's another example of our commitment to innovation."

HP collaborated with NASCAR to design and build the Fan and Media Engagement Center. The center is a showpiece on the 8th floor of NASCAR Plaza, where NASCAR's Digital team operates. Physical features of the FMEC include all-glass walls, a monitor bank of 13 47-inch HP displays, and the latest in touchscreen and AV technology. Behind the scenes, HP's custom-developed technology and services, based on its Autonomy analytics solutions, is the engine that processes a massive amount of data into relevant, actionable insights.

"The FMEC is the culmination of a collaboration between NASCAR and HP," said Salameh, vice president – Americas region, Communications, Media and Entertainment Industry, Enterprise Services, HP. "HP's integrated solution not only benefits NASCAR's complex ecosystem by allowing real-time data capture and analysis across a wide variety of media, traditional as well as digital, tailored to specific audiences within the industry."

The FMEC will provide NASCAR the ability to monitor, analyze and better understand the current media landscape in order to respond more effectively and efficiently to fans and respond more rapidly to national, local and global media.

Measurement also will be a key function of the Fan and Media Engagement Center. Those capabilities will expand across qualitative and quantitative measurements, including tonality, volume, proximity and other coverage attributes in regular reports the FMEC will generate for its industry.

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America's premier sports. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 175 countries and in 25 languages. In the U.S., races are broadcast on FOX, TNT, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2, SPEED, Motor Racing Network, Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Radio. NASCAR fans are among the most brand loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as three international series. Also part of NASCAR is GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series, known for competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., NASCAR has offices in eight cities across North America. The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race will be The Sprint Unlimited on Feb. 16 on FOX. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.nascar.com. Follow NASCAR on www.facebook.com/NASCAR or on Twitter: @NASCAR.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world's largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

"

NASCAR and Sprint Invite You, The Fans, To Design The Sprint Unlimited

I have spoken about this before, but thought I'd pass along the official press release (It has a few more details and verbage)!

via press release:

NASCAR, Sprint Invite Fans To Design The Sprint Unlimited

For First Time, Fans To Vote On Competition Aspects Of The Sprint Unlimited At Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 21, 2013) – NASCAR and Sprint confirmed today that fans will have a direct impact on several competition elements of the newly titled The Sprint Unlimited At Daytona, the 75-lap non-points race that opens the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Fans will play an integral part in how the fan-favorite race unfolds on Saturday, February 16 (8 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, Motor Racing Network Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio) at Daytona International Speedway. By casting their vote, fans are invited to design several competition aspects of the preseason event, including…

-       The number of laps in each segment

-       The type of pit stop a team makes after the first segment

-       How many cars will be eliminated after the second segment

Votes can be cast on NASCAR's new official mobile app – NASCAR Mobile '13 – or at NASCAR.com/SprintUnlimited. All votes made through the NASCAR Mobile '13 app will count twice.

"We are excited to provide our fan base this first-of-its-kind opportunity to directly be involved in determining the race's format and in-race decisions," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. "By allowing our fans this type of interaction, it is our hope that more fans will be tuned in to the event than ever before."  

The voting window for the race format will close on Wednesday, February 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The voting windows for the pit stop and elimination will close at various times throughout the race broadcast. Vote results will be relayed to teams during each segment and announced live on the FOX race broadcast.

"Giving fans such a strong voice in the design of the race is a fitting way to launch our 10th season in the sport," said Steve Gaffney, Sprint vice president of corporate marketing. "We are giving them the ultimate access to the sport, the decision-making power to sculpt the type of race they want to see. With today's technology, they can make these decisions in real time as the race is happening."

"Sprint has been a great partner for the sport and I applaud them for developing new and innovative ways to give the race fans an unprecedented role in The Sprint Unlimited," said Joie Chitwood III, Daytona International Speedway president. "We have some of the most passionate and knowledgeable fans in sports and I'm looking forward to seeing the choices they make and how it will impact this exciting star-studded event."

Fan voting categories, include:

·         Length of each of the three race segments:

o    Choice A: 40 laps, 20 laps, 15 laps

o    Choice B: 35 laps, 30 laps, 10 laps

o    Choice C: 30 laps, 25 laps, 20 laps

v  Race format voting ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, February 13.

·         Team pit stop after the first segment:

o    Choice A: No pit stop

o    Choice B: Two (2) tire change

o    Choice C: Four (4) tire change

v  Pit stop voting concludes at the green flag of the first segment.

·         How many cars will be eliminated after the second segment:

o    Choice A: None (0)

o    Choice B: Two (2) cars eliminated

o    Choice C: Four (4) cars eliminated

o    Choice D: Six (6) cars eliminated

v  Elimination voting concludes at the green flag of the first segment.

Fans are encouraged to follow @NASCAR and @MissSprintCup on Twitter to engage in the #SprintUnlimited conversation throughout the voting window.

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America's premier sports. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 175 countries and in 25 languages. In the U.S., races are broadcast on FOX, TNT, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2, SPEED, Motor Racing Network, Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Radio. NASCAR fans are among the most brand loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as three international series. Also part of NASCAR is GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series, known for competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., NASCAR has offices in eight cities across North America. The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race will be The Sprint Unlimited at Daytona on Feb. 16 on FOX. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.nascar.com. Follow NASCAR on www.facebook.com/NASCAR or on Twitter: @NASCAR.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 56 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The American Customer Satisfaction Index rated Sprint No. 1 among all national carriers in customer satisfaction and most improved, across all 47 industries, during the last four years. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in both its 2011 and 2012 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation's greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

- - - - -

Mark Martin, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick: News and Perspectives

Mark Martin is looking to help the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing machine to perform to the best of their ability... and he has no plans or confirming any plans for anything in 2014.  At least for now.

In 2013 he'll be behind the wheel in 24 races.

-

Kurt Busch had a quiet off-season.  We didn't hear about him cussing out any press or getting arrested for anything.

So that means he can focus on his newish ride with Furniture Row Racing.  I almost forgot he started with the team in the last 6 races last year with the team.

There's also a good chance that Kurt can be looking at a long-term contract with FRR.  ANd I presume, that's contingent on his not blowing up any time soon at anyone or anything.

And team general manager Joe Garone said they want Kurt to focus more on the car than anything else, and to relax about any image issues.

And that may very well be the key to helping him mellow out, to not keep him focused on the very thing that has riled him up.

He should make a good showing this year with FRR.  We'll see.

-

I almost forgot that amongst all the news of the upcoming season, that Kevin Harvick is leaving RCR for Stewart-Haas Racing.  And Richard Childress himself confirmed where Harvick is going.

Harvick and SHR have not confirmed or deny the move.  Contractual obligations are just plucky annoying.

It will be a good year for Harvick to show just what he can do.  He's been subtle and quiet in a consistent fashion.  Nothing that stood out with winning lots of races, but he's always been in the hunt.

There's just one magical piece of "go" that's been missing and if they hit that mark, he could be a force to contend with.

And once he leaves RCR, no news is floating around as to whether Budweiser will be going with Harvick or staying with RCR.

If (really?  If?) Austin Dillon steps into the car in 2014, one has to wonder if Budweiser will take a chance with this young, proven performer.

--Bruce

Turbo-Charged Track Drying!?

For the last few weeks I've been hearing about these new track jet dryers that can cut track drying time down by quite a bit.  And to be honest, if someone can make a 2-hour delay into a mere 30-minute delay, that would be something awesome for the race fan.

And that's been one of NASCAR's goals, to somehow shorten the race rain delays.

In fact, estimated dry times include 30 minutes for Daytona and 15 minutes for Martinsville!  All this, and the process will be more green than the previous technology.

What NASCAR is looking at is a compressed air heating system rather than a small jet engine mounted on the back of truck!

It still has to debut on the track but it's been tested at Daytona and Charlotte.

And the hope is that it will debut by Speedweeks.  Or, at least be ready to debut by then...  depending on the weather.

Denny Hamlin is Now A Father

Before the Daytona 500 even gets close to starting, another milestone in a driver's life turned over.  That being Denny Hamlin becoming a father.

Denny and his girlfriend, Jordan Fish, welcomed daughter Taylor James Hamlin to the world.  Taylor weighed in at 6 pounds, 5 ounces.  And I presume there she was within all template tolerances!

Denny (http://twitter.com/dennyhamlin) tweeted,

"Introducing Taylor James Hamlin!!! Born Jan 20 at 20:20! Weighting 6lb 5oz and 20 inches in length."

-

He cut short his testing at Daytona to be with Jordan for the momentous occasion.  Or to be exact, to be ready to shuttle her off to the hospital when the moment came along.

The two met in January of 2007 at a Charlotte Bobcats game, where Jordan was a member of the team's dance team.

I saw this bit on the Detroit Free Press.

Can NASCAR Fans Have Too Much Sway? I Wouldn't Worry

In the upcoming Sprint Unlimited race (AKA Used to be called The Shootout) at Daytona, NASCAR is letting the fans choose the rules to the race.

The options fans get to choose include

-

Race Format: How should the three race segments be divided?

• -- 40/20/15 laps
• -- 35/30/10 laps
• -- 30/25/20 laps

Pit Stop: Should there be a required pit stop at the end of the first segment?

• -- No pit stop
• -- Yes, 2 tires
• -- Yes, 4 tires

Elimination: How many cars should be eliminated at the end of the second segment?

• -- None
• -- 2 cars
• -- 4 cars
• -- 6 cars

-

Sprint Cup Girl Firesuits

-

Voting ends on February 13th.
(See link for voting at bottom of article)
(Did you catch who the new Sprint Cup girl is for 2013?)

- - - - -

This seems to have inspired some conversation as to whether the fans have too much to say within the sport of NASCAR.  I don't think so.

-

Fans Don't Have THAT Much Control

For one, I think it's pretty awesome that NASCAR does turn to the fans to get their opinion.  How many sports do you know do that?

For another, in a survey taken by statisticbrain, 56% of internet users are on any one social network, with 54% of them on Facebook and 10% of them on Twitter.  (I don't suggest the aforementioned survey be the end-all of stats on this matter, but survey samplings can be pretty close to the mark, giving a general consensus on an issue.)

And though we might think that social networks, especially like Twitter, might have an impact, I think NASCAR understands that though vocal, the Twitter demographic does not represent a huge percentage of fans.  Just the vocal ones.  At least right now.

But then NASCAR takes it a step further and eliminates that particular potential for skewing any free-for-all trend by holding their surveys on their own website.  This could in fact, de-trend the voice of Twitterees, and make the voting a more fair process.

But my final perspective on this issue of fan control is that though some think fans have the control, it's not so much as you think.

-

Fan Control Filtered

If you think about it, fans may all have their own ideas about what is or isn't good for the sport.  And that NASCAR is listening to the fans or the NASCAR Fan Council.  But if you take a step back and look, NASCAR is still guiding the fans.

If there were absolute fan control, original ideas and content could be making it to the head offices of NASCAR.  But some of the fine ideas fans come up with don't clear the first hurdle!

Instead, what NASCAR does is present options for fans to vote on, like in this latest poll for the Sprint Unlimited race.  Fans don't have a blank option to fill in, but rather, they vote on options that NASCAR has chosen to provide.

In the end, NASCAR has the control, but is letting fans fine tune the end results.  Period.

But it's still pretty special that fans have this kind of interaction and influence on some of the details with the sport of NASCAR.

[source links:  NASCAR Sprint Unlimited Poll; Statistic Brain]

If you like my perspectives,
you can always follow this site on
social networks like Twitter & Facebook & G+.
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Who Is The New 2013 Miss Sprint Cup Girl, Brooke Werner?

At about 4p.m. today, (CA Time), the Miss Sprint Cup Facebook page announced their newest team member for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Brooke Werner.  Yes... another blonde on the team!

Who is Brooke Werner?  

I used my internet forensic skills and aside from some of the basic info being passed out associated with her new position, I found a few other tidbits about her.

Brooke Werner hails from Vermont, her parents are Steve and Kathy Werner of Granville & has a sister, Becky.  Her grandmother's name is Vivian.

Brooke likes hiking, bluegrass music, skiing, and old movies.  She has a degree in public relations from Champlain College. 

UPDATE:  They've released an intro video with Brooke saying "Hi!"
video:

-

She was also Miss Vermont in 2009!  After that, she competed in the 2009 Miss USA contest, representing Vermont.

-

But I kept digging around to see what else I could find out for you, my readers.  There's not much info to add.  What reasonable information I found, I already noted.  But I did find a few accounts that she had maintained.

This is her latest Twitter profile image from @BrookeVT: 

 -

Oh my, this is an old Twitter profile / image:

Oh she is going to hate me for this one... 

Veteran Sprint Cup girls Kim Coon and Jaclyn Roney are both still representing Sprint, alongside Brooke.

Resource and Other Links:
Latest Twitter Account: BrookeVT,
Older Twitter Account (While it's still there): BrookeWerner,
(I fully expect that latest account to be deleted.  Hence, the screen shot of the entire page.)
A Pinterest page Brooke started up,
A photographer's FB page with respectable pics of Brooke,
News on Brooke' entering Miss USA:  Champlain edu,
The Herald of Randolph, and
NASCAR.
 

-Bruce

NASCAR Testing At Kennedy Space Center?

No, NASCAR isn't headed to space, but they're using some NASA property to test their cars! And despite the lack of left turns, they're testing at the Kennedy Space Center!

Turns out that RCR, Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing are using the NASA Shuttle Landing facility that's located south of Daytona for straight-line car testing.

The facility is flat, smooth and very long.  15,000 feet long or close to a 3-mile long strip that's perfect for some aerodynamic testing.  That and it's closer to North Carolina than a proving ground facility in Arizona is.

-

I think that would be pretty cool, to be able to attack a huge straight piece of smooth pavement where I could put my foot into it and not let up until the car can't go any faster... or I ran out of runway!

-

source: FoxSports.

Landon Cassill Is Out at BK Racing

News today is that Landon Cassill has exited his ride at BK Racing, effectively immediately.  It seems that there were some issues with his 2012 contract with BKR, which impeded the process of securing a contract for the 2013 season.

(CONJECTURE:) With Cassill out, this makes room for David Reutimann to take control of the wheel for the 2013 season for the BK Racing Toyota.  (The No. 83 car.)

This is sad news for Cassill fans, but Reutimann fans are probably pretty ecstatic.

Cassill left gracefully, noting the facts about his contractual issues, and adding that,

"I would like to thank my BK Racing team and especially Burger King and Dr. Pepper for the opportunity to represent such iconic brands..  I'm looking forward to my next opportunity in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series."

Leaving gracefully is always a bonus for any professional athlete and Landon seemed to conduct himself rather intelligently.

[source: motorsports soapbox ]