Possibilities - Three Days at the Races - TBBS and IndyCar Racing

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THREE DAYS AT THE RACES - TBBS AND INDYCAR RACING
-------------------------------------------------

*** From August 1992 Possibilities Newsletter ***
*** Copyright 1992 by eSoft, Inc.  All Rights Reserved ***

Three Days at the Races -- TBBS and IndyCar Racing
By Phil Becker

As the sun rises I'm riding across the Arizona desert heading for the 
Phoenix International Raceway.  The desert is much greener than normal for 
this time of year due to unseasonable rains, and the desert wildlife is 
unusually active.  My thoughts are unusually active for this time of day too 
as I am on my way to the first of three days attending an IndyCar race in a
way I have never been able to before.

If you don't pay much attention to auto racing, you may not be aware that it 
is the largest spectator sport in the world.  Formula One and IndyCar are 
the major leagues of open wheel racing.  Nearly a half million people attend 
the Indianapolis 500 race each year making it the largest one day sports 
event in the world.

The cost of major league auto racing is so high that even record attendance 
cannot begin to pay for the sport from gate receipts.  Major league racing 
can only exist because of sponsorship revenue and good press coverage is 
vital to ensure that sponsors get their money's worth in advertising 
benefits.

I still can't really believe I am attending an IndyCar race as a guest of 
The Marlboro Racing News team.  I'm here to see how they used TBBS to create 
The Marlboro Racing News service.  I'll spend the next three days with full 
press access to the race and observe how they collect information and place 
it online for the media as the race unfolds.

We pull into the race track and I'm struck by the beauty of the mountains 
and desert which surround this facility.  Over there is the mountain made 
into a natural grandstand that I have seen so many times on television.  
Behind me are the start/finish line grandstands which look much larger than 
they do on TV.  In fact, when the stands are empty like they are now, I am 
struck by how large even a "small" racing facility like the one mile oval at 
PIR really is.

Press coverage of auto racing is more difficult than most events because the 
race occurs over a very large area (often several square miles).  
Coordinating news of the event for the many journalists from all over the 
world who cover racing is a very large and difficult task.  The reporters 
want information rapidly, but it must also be accurate.  Many journalists 
are filing stories on deadlines that occur within an hour or two after the 
race completes.  They want all the information (strategy, turning points, 
driver and team quotes, etc.) they can get for their stories.

We pull into the infield and for the first time I see what a race looks like 
when the race teams first arrive.  The pits are empty, haulers are just 
opening up, and the teams are hard at work constructing the small city that 
a major league race becomes by race day.  An incredible amount of work is 
ahead of them today, but they are already moving as teams to get it done.

With the help of TBBS, Jim Thompson of Western News Service has made press 
coverage of both Formula One and IndyCar racing much better and easier than 
it has ever been before.  Jim has set up two BBS systems to distribute 
official race information for Formula One and IndyCar racing to journalists.  
The TBBS he runs for IndyCar racing coverage is "Marlboro Racing News -- The 
Official IndyCar News Service".

This track looks flat when I see it on television, but as I stand at the 
inside of turn one, I can see that if my house were built here I could stand 
on the roof and still not quite be level with the other side of the track.  
This banking is part of what makes PIR the world's fastest one mile race 
track.  And with new engines from both Chevy and Ford debuting this year, 
new record speeds are expected at this race.

According to Thompson the idea of using computer communications to assist in 
covering auto racing originated about eight years ago.  Jim said "Someone 
came to me who worked for Formula One and said `we want a way to get 
information to journalists because the journalists are not getting the 
information.  They are complaining about our series because they can't get 
results.'  So I was asked to come up with a way to get results to 
journalists without spending a lot of money.

"The first thing I did was to put together a system of direct sendouts.  
Newspapers at that time that had central computers that could accept 
information, but not many journalists had portable computers and were 
familiar with calling into a system.  So the decision was made to set up a 
system which would send race information directly into the computer systems 
of major metropolitan newspapers throughout the United States."

Practice has begun.  This is where any experimentation teams want to do 
takes place.  I notice a blind man sitting behind the pits "watching" the 
race.  Just as I wonder what it looks like to him he says 'Looks like 
Andretti's engine is in trouble.'  Within seconds, Andretti is in the pits 
with the engine cover off.  As I talk to this man it becomes obvious that he 
is seeing the race quite clearly.  'Cheever needs to get into that corner 
better -- his car must be pushing.'  I could see this with my eyes, but I 
still can't imagine how he did.  The human ability to adapt never ceases to 
amaze me.

The plan was that Jim's organization would generate the news at the races 
and place it on his computer system.  From there a script driven terminal 
program would call each of the newspaper mainframe computers, log on, submit 
the news, and then move on to the next service and call it.  "As time went 
on, however, it turned out I wasn't always in the office to send the 
information.  And it wasn't a good idea for me to do this if I was in Brazil 
and make all of the calls international long distance so I had to figure out 
some way to do the job remotely."

Jim's next move was to expand his terminal program's script to allow him to 
call in remotely, upload the news files, and then have his terminal program 
automatically place all of the calls to the news services when he wasn't 
there.  Jim tried a variety of terminal programs to find script languages 
powerful enough to handle his task.

As this process of evolution was proceeding, the journalistic community was 
also changing.  It was adopting laptop computers and modems quite widely and 
most everybody who needed access to the Formula One information now had the 
ability to call a BBS.

In the course of this process Jim realized that he was writing a small BBS 
so that he could access his computer to control this process.  "So I thought 
wait a minute -- there's the idea.  A BBS where people could call in would 
be great.  We decided after looking at virtually every BBS out there that 
TBBS was by far the best, most sophisticated system for what we wanted to 
do.  That was the simple transmission of information in a simple to access 
format.  The people we deal with can understand getting a text file, but 
they aren't sophisticated and they need simple menus that lead them quickly 
to the information they want."

It's the afternoon of the first day and practice is in full swing.  Nothing 
is official at this point, but the lap times indicate it is very likely that 
new track records will be set tomorrow during qualifying.  Even though the 
pit crews aren't concerned with speed today, their work is sheer artistry to 
watch (and I'm closer to it than I've ever been).  After practice I sit in 
on the media center interviews with the top drivers.  For the hundredth time 
today I pinch myself to see if  I'm really here or just dreaming...

"The FIA News and Information Network" was the first result of Jim's TBBS 
efforts.  This combination of a BBS to publish the racing news and 
statistics with an audio dial-in news service is sponsored by the FIA -- the 
Formula One sanctioning body.

After observing the success of Jim's TBBS system for Formula One, Phillip 
Morris, USA (Parent company of Marlboro) approached Jim about doing a 
similar system for IndyCar racing.  Jim put together an initial test system 
for them in 1989.  A year of testing, discussions, and revision took place 
before both Marlboro and IndyCar decided that the system was ready.

As I arrive at the track on the second morning I can sense an increase in 
intensity among the teams setting up.  Today is qualifying and the time for 
experimentation is over.  Today each team must set up their cars to run the 
fastest lap they can to get a good starting position.  Then they must get 
their cars ready for race day.  The very first qualifying run of the day 
sets a new track record (over 170mph), so the pressure is definitely high.

During the 1990 season the Marlboro Racing News was opened in stages.  It 
was first opened to selected people who then gave the information out to 
journalists.  By mid-season 1990 the system was operating to everyone's 
satisfaction and was opened to all journalists.  "That first season there 
was a lot of testing all the way around", Thompson said.  "Phillip Morris 
wanted to make sure that the system was really going to work and not crash 
every ten minutes.  They were very unsure of the technology because they 
were unfamiliar with it.

"There was a struggle trying to convince them that even though they were not 
familiar with the technology there was a whole world out there doing things 
this way.  Big companies sometimes move slowly, but to their credit they 
wanted to learn if this would work out.  Their concern was their reputation.  
If it failed they would look bad and they didn't want to let anything out 
until they knew it would work."

Suddenly a car hits the wall within a hundred feet of where I'm standing.  
The fury of the crash is hard to describe -- pieces of the car fly 
everywhere and a crack has appeared in the reinforced concrete wall where 
the car hit.  When I first began watching IndyCar racing 30 years ago a 
crash like this would surely have meant the death of the driver, but in this 
case he walks away unhurt.  I am reminded why I love auto racing, it's a 
test of man and technology where there is no way to hide from your mistakes.  
This intensity makes each small success very sweet indeed...

Now "Marlboro Racing News - The Official IndyCar News Service" is fully 
operational and usage is growing rapidly.  "The reception has been better 
than I thought it was going to be.  For example at this race I had a 
journalist from the Indianapolis Star come up to me and say `Thank you for 
having this system.  It's made my life a lot easier.  I can get the 
information quickly, I know it's reliable, and it's updated all the time and 
it's not available anywhere else.'"

As race day dawns the preparations get very serious.  In each pit a team is 
at work checking and re-checking hundreds of small details.  On the pit 
walls the team's radios are set out and I marvel at the task it must be just 
to coordinate the more than 500 radios in this event alone!  A team member 
carefully re-tapes the hoses to the fuel tank and inspects them to be sure 
there won't be any problems during the race.  I see why a driver can trust 
his very life to his team -- I haven't seen this level of detailed 
inspection since my days in the space program.

David Elshoff, IndyCar's Director of Publicity, is also enthusiastic about 
the way the Marlboro Racing News TBBS helps him do his job.  According to 
Elshoff "It serves as a 365 day/year, 7 day/week, 24 hour/day news bureau. I 
can't be there all the time for the media and this gives them a place where 
they can get the answers."

"[The BBS] allows me to expand my press room.  It takes the very same press 
room as you have here at [the race] and brings it into the homes and offices 
of the journalists who cover this sport but can't make it out here this 
weekend.  The very same reports, qualifying results, quotes from the drivers 
and teams, everything that is put out by IndyCar during the weekend (we call 
them the pit notes) is put into the system and a journalist can actually 
cover the event from their home and sound like they are here at the race.  
The news is up to date, and if they've misplaced a press release or need 
media guide background information it's on [the Marlboro Racing News]."

I'm standing on the starting grid as the cars are lined up.  Again I can't 
believe I'm here.  The stands are full and I can feel the excitement in the 
air.  Each driver mentally prepares for the race in his own way.  Some talk 
freely, others are quiet and introspective.  I watch as Hiro Matsushita 
holds his young child before strapping into his car.  I am standing next to 
Jeff Andretti's car as those famous words "Gentlemen, start your engines" 
come over the P.A.  The crowd roars as the cars spring to life and I have to 
leave the track.  I'll never be able to explain what this feels like...

Reporters from The Marlboro Racing News cover the race itself.  They radio 
in reports and quotes from the pits and around the track to the press center 
where they are written up as the pit notes and placed online.  According to 
Elshoff "It can be a real time-saver even to journalists who attend the 
race.  We have keyed in all of the race data and there is no sense repeating 
that effort.  A journalist can download the qualifying information, driver 
quotes, press releases, and stories out of the system and save a lot of 
keystrokes and a lot of time.  It makes your life a lot easier."

Thompson also uses TDBS to maintain a database of statistics from all past 
races for all of the drivers in the race.  A journalist can quickly find out 
how a given driver has finished on oval tracks, road courses, etc.  The only 
official things a driver does in his racing career are qualifying times and 
race results.  This database records and gives immediate access to all of 
the official data for a driver's career.

"We enter the raw data from each race and the database will update all the 
current year-to-date and historical information for every driver in the 
race" Thompson said.  "Year-to-date wins, lifetime wins, the number of miles 
they have driven, the number of laps they have driven in their careers and 
the amount of earnings are kept current for every driver."

This database answers questions like 'How many times has Rick Mears started 
on the pole at an oval race and gone on to win the race, or finished in the 
top five?'  You will see the dates and places of each race as well as the 
full statistics.  According to Thompson "this type of official database has 
never been available before."

I've seen a lot of IndyCar races in my life, but never from the pits.  The 
intensity of the action here is incredible.  I never imagined what it really 
feels like to be right behind a short concrete wall when a car comes in at 
over 100mph and stops suddenly in front of you.  The team goes over the wall 
and in a matter of seconds changes tires, refuels the car, makes adjustments 
to the suspension and the car is gone again.  It's a ballet so smoothly 
executed that you forget it's life and death at all times.  One mistake and 
an explosion or fire will kill, but there is no feeling of fear, only 
beauty.  I know why Rick Mears feels safe in his car now -- this team would 
make anyone trust it.

David Elshoff says of the impact of the BBS, "I really think this is cutting 
edge information technology.  IndyCar has led the way in a lot of different 
areas and all of us who work on this are really proud to be involved because 
we see ourselves as really stepping out onto new ground with The Marlboro 
Racing News."

According to Thompson there are plans to make The Marlboro Racing News serve 
journalists even better in the future.  "We are looking at taking race 
photos and digitizing them to post online.  By next season we hope to be 
able to take pictures of the start of the race and have them online before 
the race is over.  They will be in a format ready to feed newspaper 
publishing systems so newspapers on deadline can have photos instantly."

The Marlboro Racing News (and The FIA News and Information Network) are open 
to any journalist.  They don't have to be auto racing journalists.  The hope 
is to expand coverage to more mainstream publications.  To promote more 
general interest, information is also posted on celebrities who attend 
races, what parties they attend, what they are wearing etc.

At present both systems run on Compaq 386/33 computers with 400mb hard 
drives.  The Marlboro Racing News has 12 lines while the Formula One system 
has seven lines.  All lines handle modem speeds up to 9600bps.

For the record Bobby Rahal won the race.  It's probably the first race I've 
ever attended where knowing who won was not very important.  It will take a 
long time for me to fully appreciate all I've seen here, but I leave with a 
new understanding of my favorite sport and the people who make it all 
happen.  I never expected TBBS to be here too...

- END -
PS0892-4
Rev. 8/92

Copyright (C) 1994 eSoft, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  Permission granted
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