Author: George Monsalvatge, Team Lead – Microsoft IT Pro at Kaplan IT
Tags: azure, NASCAR, Shake and Bake, windows 10
I grew up in “stock car” country and loved to see auto racing, so I was pretty pleased when Microsoft announced it has teamed up with Hendrick Motorsports. NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports will use the Windows 10 platform and Microsoft Azure to deliver technology solutions to make the cars faster and the fan experience better.
Microsoft will sponsor the Dale Earnhard Jr’s Number 88 car.
For those of you not familar with NASCAR, NASCAR is auto racing using cars that resemble standard stock cars, but these go 200 miles per hour around a track. Unlike Formula One or other open wheel racing, stock car racing is full contact. These drivers bump and bang their cars into each other for 500 miles. Dale Earnhard Jr is the most popular driver in the sport, and Hendrick Motorsports is the most successful team; it includes four-time champion Jeff Gordon and six-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
Microsoft has made in roads into other sports recently. If you are a fan of American football, then you may have noticed that every NFL team uses Microsoft Surface tablets. NASCAR has a large fan base in the United States. One of the reasons for its large popularity is the interaction of the fans. When they’re at the track, fans can get pit passes to tour the the garages and see the cars and teams up close. Even if a fan is not at the track on race day, the fan can get a 3D virtual picture of the live race, hear live race radio, and stream live audio of the driver talking with his crew during the race. Technology plays a big part in the fan experience in NASCAR as well, with the NASCAR teams trying to shave a hundredth of a second off a lap or pit stop.
In 2014 NASCAR used a Windows touch-enabled mobile line of business application for the race car inspection process across all three NASCAR series (Camping World Truck, Xfinity and Sprint Cup), which reduced inspection times by nearly half. NASCAR will use Windows 10 as its platform to run all apps for different types of devices and race operations. NASCAR teams will use this information to make quicker and more informed decisions in race situations. Hendrick Motorsports will use Azure to capture and analyze terabytes of data for race simulations. Making critical decisions at critical times is how great race teams win. How many laps can I keep the car out on the track before I need to get gas in the pits? How many laps can get on these new tires now that the sun has come up and heated the track up by 10 degrees? If we give the car a track bar adjustment late in the race, will this give us a competitive edge? Knowledge is not only power, it is the difference between winning and losing.
Earnhardt said, “I’m a big technology user and really enjoy Microsoft products.” Dale Jr. may be excited about playing around with Windows 10.
As you’ve probably already heard, everybody that owns Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 can get a free upgrade for Windows 10 on July 29th, 2015. I know I’m supposed to be writing a more computer-oriented post here, but personally, I just can’t wait to see what improvements this will bring to my favorite sport. I hope to see you at the track.
Shake and Bake!
