Early in the race last Sunday at Darlington Raceway, a number of teams reported technological difficulties, specifically Wi-Fi problems on the spotter stand. A race without internet is appropriate for a throwback weekend, but it presented serious problems for spotters, who provide drivers and teams with crucial information on timing and scoring information, racing lines, and other things. The reason for this connectivity problem was disclosed by Mike Forde, Managing Director of Racing Communications, on NASCAR’s weekly Hauler Talk podcast. “The network was suffocated by the sheer number of devices on it, which is why they lost internet,” he stated. “It appeared to have devices on it that shouldn’t have been there.”
“Our IT folks kicked those devices off and once we unclogged the network, we were able to free it up and get it back in working order,” Forde said, describing how NASCAR promptly fixed the problem. It returned really rapidly. For the second half of the race, we undoubtedly had it. Hopefully, teams won’t encounter this problem again. According to NASCAR, a remedy is being developed. According to Forde, “we’re going to find a solution in the future.” With the local favorite University of South Carolina women’s basketball team competing in the NCAA Championship at the same time, the podcasters made light of March Madness as a possible reason for the spike in Wi-Fi usage during the race. “I did not give out the password to my buddies,” NASCAR.com contributor Nate Ryan joked.
