­Before the Parousia of the in - car tv camera , NASCAR drivers were shrouded in mystery story during race . They were hidden behind helmet , the glare of the southerly sun and the cars ' thickly pad rolling coop . Their only communicating with the outside man ( or work party chief ) number through two - manner radiocommunication .

NASCAR coverage would exchange everlastingly in 1983 , when the first in - auto tv camera made its debut during the Daytona 500 . The RaceCam , as it was called , was a miniature , remote - see camera that sent a signal to a helicopter hovering over the runway . The whirlybird mail the signaling to a trailer where the provender was process and send out to America ’s goggle box .

­That first camera was carry by NASCAR legend C­ale Yarborough ’s car , who also became the first number one wood to make headway a race with an in - gondola camera . The camera catch also several other , not - so - appropriate present moment : Veteran driver Dick Trickle was excellently take in using his railway car ’s functional cigarette lighter to fire up up during a forethought circle in the recent eighties . In the decades since , fans have become used to hearing the number one wood address with his or her gang during the slipstream and watching him change over through the power train as he or she enters and way out turns .

engineering kept pace as the sport grew in popularity in the early 1990s . In - automobile photographic camera were mounted in more car and could be happen in more places : the ceiling , the bumpers , the axles , and propose along the side panels . In 2007 , race reportage film another whole tone into the future when ESPN debuted high - definition in - railway car cameras in the NASCAR Nextel Series .

After 25 years of practice session , the backwash teams and camera technical school teams have figured out the ideal setup for all these cameras . We ’ll explore that on the next page .

The Three-Camera Car

­Over the years , cameras have been climb on almost every place on a subspecies car that you could think of . Racers in the mid-’90s even experimented with infrared Pteridium aquilinum cam that showed the rest home spectator how hot NASCAR brakes could get on corners . Since then , the three - camera setup has become pretty standard .

The three cameras used almost universally in modern NASACR races are located on the rear bumper , the roof and in the cockpit of the cars . This last in - car camera is often called the " bow-wow cam , " since it ’s in the position that might be occupied by serviceman ’s just Quaker , if he ’d only fag a helmet and keep his head inside the subspecies car .

­The race teams themselves do n’t set up the camera . There are teams of photographic camera technician employed by thenetwork broadcastingthe race who ’ve got the process down to a skill . It involves drilling holes in the exterior control board and interior dash for the cameras ' brackets and wiring . The installation and hookup takes about a half an hour per car .

For years , camera crew and gang chiefs have debated the tv camera ' effect on the cars . In the 1980s , only three races had been won by car conduct cameras : two by Cale Yarborough , one by Geoff Bodine . To even the playing discipline , railroad car without photographic camera impart dummy free weight , which quiets ( but does n’t quite eliminate ) the complaints of the crew chiefs .

Since the team do n’t own the camera , at the end of the race , the cameras come off as quickly as potential before the car is pack into the trailer . The same crews that establish the in - gondola cameras remove them and pack them up for the next week .

­Let ’s look at who have these in - railway car cameras actually put into their cars .

Choosing a Car for the Cameras

­With a distinctive field of NASCAR Nextel Cup subspecies railcar number 40 or more , how does a team get selected for the honor ( or the hindrance , depending on your detail of view ) of receiving the in - automobile tv camera ?

­It ’s a pretty easy decision to make , actually . Broadcasters and fans likewise want the television camera on the democratic driver at the tracks where they do well . If a driver has won or place in the top ten at Dover International Speedway ’s Monster Mile every race for the past five seasons , that driver ’s pretty much guarantee to get a readiness of cameras on his or her automobile next fourth dimension it follow up on the schedule . Alternately , if a driver excels at road courses like Watkins Glen in New York , that equipment driver will get tv camera aimed at him or her as he or she turns both right and left in the twisties .

Being good at a particular runway or character of race sometimes is n’t enough : Cameras most often stop up in the cars of point leader in the series . At the death of the season , when the top five or so number one wood are racing for the Nextel Cup , those with the best shot at the big prize will in all probability have cameras in their motorcar .

­We now know who induce the television camera and how they get into the car . The next step is to find out how the signal gets from the cockpit of a NASCAR race driver to our TV screens .

From Camera to Living Room

In the early days of in - auto cameras , getting the sign from the car to the home witness ’s television was a bit tricky . The in - car television camera would broadcast range of a function to a chopper hovering over the track , which would recall the sign to a trailer owned by the broadcast fellowship .

The process is similar today , but it takes a plenty less fuel . The helicopter has been supplant by telephone receiver send along the top of the trail ’s bleacher . The in - elevator car cameras send out sign that are pick up all along the route by the receivers . These receivers send out the signaling to a dawdler , just like the chopper did , where it ’s processed for video . The finished sign is then sent to the web have a bun in the oven thebroadcast .

­The sign fix from the connection to our TV Set like everything else does , via cable , planet , Internet connection , or over the gentle wind and into a set of rabbit ears perch atop the idiot box . The in - car photographic camera have created a sense of intimacy for at - home NASCAR fans . They finger even more machine-accessible to their favourite driver when they can see that driver pump his or her fist as he or she cross the finish bank line , or when they can get wind their favorite driver commune with the crew headman about his or her railroad car ’s performance on the raceway .

company like the satellite telecasting supplier DirecTV have signed deal with NASCAR to take advantage of this relationship between fans , driver and the in - car cameras . DirecTV , for exemplar , offers a " NASCAR HotPass " software with high - definition image from in - car camera and dedicated audio channels for pick out driver .

As applied science advancement and cameras are able to deliver crisper images from lilliputian equipment , you could calculate NASCAR will take advantage . Infrared railway locomotive cam ? In - helmet cam ? Anything is possible – as long as NASCAR can find someone to patronize it .

Lots More Information

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