Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel to give NASCAR new means to chat

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 18:39:19 -0400

http://www.ajc.com/friday/content/epaper/editions/friday/sports_e32f1a6954f6a0d100ec.html

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Nextel to give NASCAR new means to chat

Rick Minter - Staff

Friday, June 20, 2003

It only makes sense that when Nextel takes over as title sponsor for NASCAR's top division in 2004, it will overhaul the communications side of the sport.

But not only will the company bring changes to the way teams communicate during races, it also might affect the way fans listen in on those conversations.

On Thursday, NASCAR and the telecommunications giant announced a 10-year pact worth a reported $700 million. Nextel will take over for Winston as series sponsor in January, and at a news conference in New York, Nextel executive Tom Kelley said his company plans to introduce new communications technology as part of the deal.

"In terms of how we look at our technology integrating with NASCAR, we have an opportunity to integrate at almost every level," said Kelly, Nextel's chief operating officer.

He said that includes drivers' communications with their crews, conversations among track workers, and allowing fans at home to listen in on conversations at the track.

"All of those things are the realities of the possibilities," Kelly said, without adding specific timetables.

For decades, race-team communications and the scanning of those conversations by fans have been facilitated by two companies which build and sell two-way radio sets and listening scanners --- Racing Electronics and Forest Park-based Racing Radios.

The Forest Park company takes two-way radios, headsets and adapters and assembles them into communications kits that it sells to race teams. Racing Radios also sells scanners directly to fans.

John Thornton, the founder and CEO of Racing Radios, said he expects his company to remain on the NASCAR scene.

"It's going to be good," Thornton said. "I don't know what Racing Radios' complete role will be, but I've been a part of NASCAR for over 25 years, and I've had a call from NASCAR assuring me that we'll be a part of this deal."

Thornton said his company has an advantage because he uses radios made by Motorola, which is also the exclusive supplier for Nextel.

Thornton said it's too early to tell how long scanners now owned by hundreds of thousands of fans will be useful in the new Nextel era. Typical scanners cost $100 to $250.

"There's a possibility that the new technology could be retransmitted over the conventional UHF frequency," said Thornton, "but at some point in the future the present scanners will become obsolete."

Either way, Thornton said, fans still we able to listen in on race teams.

"They're not going to do anything to hurt their position with the core fans," he said. "With this new technology there are all kinds of ways to make it available to the fans."

In New York, Nextel also announced it will pick up sponsorship of the circuit's all-star race, now known as the Winston, but whether it will remain at Lowe's Motor Speedway is uncertain.

Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark, like nearly everyone in the NASCAR community, was pleased to have Nextel as a successor to Winston, which had sponsored the division known as Winston Cup since 1972.

"It puts the whole NASCAR form of motorsports in a real good position for at least 10 years," Clark said. "That's a long time in this day and age."

He said Nextel will be able to purchase TV ads that Winston was forbidden to buy, and that will make the TV deal more lucrative for everyone in the sport.

DODGE/SAVE MART 350

> When; where: 3:30 p.m. Sunday; Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.

> TV: Fox

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