John/Gang, BTW I rented one of those Nextel "Fan Viewers". Really kool! Have you had a chance to play around with one of those? Audio operates independant of the video or gpxs. Stats are four layers deep. Nextel vision or eight of the in-cars feeds. Since we see in-cars & pgm feeds all the time, I'd say the gpxs and updated info we used the most. If you ever get a chance to be a spectator, try one out. I know it's hard to be a regular Joe in the audience. Too bad it was a rain shortened race, at least I did not have to strike! Scott S.

Scott, thanks. For some reason my computer didn't see the link the first time. Great stuff! You were right there, man! What an awesome Father's Day gift! Sean, I'll see what I've got. Ironically, I work in visuals but I rarely take pictures for myself. When I worked the Charlotte races last month I kept telling myself to bring a camera, but I just didn't do it. What I have I took with my phone - let me see what I can dig up. j

John, any photos from your work on NASCAR? I'd be very interested in anything you can share about that...either here or email me the long version! I always say the guys (and gals) working NASCAR probably have the best gigs in tv, talk about having ALL the toys. I'm not really a fan, although I watch just for the production end of it. Ironically, it was a NASCAR race that got me interested in tv as a profession. Sean Kelly

John, The link is up on the orig message or here too. The power I was mentioning were all the little Honda generators powering the jib monitors, fiber units etc. I saw the CAT trailer. OUCH! Like I said, it's a family photo album so please excuse the basic photo descriptions. Scott S.

Definitely give us the link to the site - love to see what you've got. (By the way, the FOX compound is "CAT POWERED", not Honda. Caterpiller travels a gigantic 18-wheeler with dual diesel generators just for the compound). It is truly amazing how massive the entire NASCAR experience is. Ringling's got nothing on NASCAR! ;-) The thing that gets me is that all of the trucks in the TV compound (roughly 15 in all, counting the Hotel and BST trucks in the infield) packed up and hit the road for Sonoma, CA late Sunday night and pulled in (or were scheduled to pull in) to Sonoma last night. Then, Sunday night, they'll leave Sonoma for Daytona and get in late next Tuesday night. Amazing. I was lucky enough to get to sub in on quite a few FOX shows this year. It's an unbelievable production and those who do it week in and week out are the very best in our business. jh

Hey John, Thanks for the info. Wish I had known you were there too. It "only" took us three hours to get back home -usually a little over an hour. My family thinks I am nuts as many of the photos I brought home were of cam positions (including the pit exit cam) the compound etc.. After seeing these setups I think I will invest in some Honda stock, as most remote electrical came from portable Honda generators. And I just not talking TV sources. Man, after all this time I am still amazed at a NASCAR event. It is the modern equal to the Ringling Bros. Circus! They pull into town with; TV trucks, the Nextel trucks (I am counting eight), race teams trucks/ rvs and not to mention the driver merchandise trailers. Most drivers have three trailers spread thoughout the fan shopping area. What fun! One of the few places you can sniff diesel, ethanol, unleaded and jet fuel with one breath! I'll throw up a few photos on my photo site and list the link here... Here's a link to a few pictures... It's my family photo album, so don't laugh too loud. Also there's the SCCA Runoff photos. Good to talk to you again! Scott S.

Hi Scott! I wish I had known you were going to be there - I was in the main compound working for FOX last weekend and would have stuck around to say hi. Don't worry, no sat feeds from the Hotel. The Hotel actually has three 4500 fiber lines coming back to ND1 for cameras 31, 32 and 33 (the Hotel robos, all switched in ND1) and an outside drop for camera 31 at the Ford cut-away car. It also has 8 more fiber paths for return video, prod/dir isos, weather radar, spotter quad splits, etc. Not sure what the SPEED uplink was doing in the infield. They do a ton of their own NASCAR shows, as you know, so it was probably in there for their pre or post race show. They usually have talent in the pit/garage area so that was probably for a reporter to do hits for Charlotte. All of their outside-the-track-based shows (like Trackside) originate from Supershooter 15 in the main compound. All of the SPEED shows surrounding action on the track (like Cup Qualifying & the Truck Race) use the main FOX trucks (ND1, SS 25, SS 27, etc). All three of the pit hand-helds are RF. The jib usually lives on pit road or in a turn for the race. With 50 laps to go it makes it's way to victory lane. And I'm sure you were wowed and impressed by the "high tech" pit exit iso cam configuration, huh? :-) Let me know if you have any more questions or email me privately: JohnHowardSC@aol.com I really love the Irish Hills of Michigan, but they definitely could use another major highway or Interstate to get us out of there! State Road 12 just didn't cut it! :-) Take care, John