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Indianapolis (IN) - During the first years I attended the Indianapolis 500, before the advent of the video screens all around the track, there were a number of fans who somehow thought they could enhance their racing experience by bringing their portable TVs with them. Little did they know that Indianapolis blacks out ABC's live coverage of the race every year, taping it for replay later on Sunday evening. So they would often sit in the stands with their TVs tuned to whatever happened to be showing instead - golf, some Gary Cooper film, or an infomercial - even though they couldn't possibly hear it over the roar of the engines. Some complained there was no way they could know what was going on at the race, simply by being there.

The view from Jeff Burton's hood, as seen from a FanView device being tested inside the AMD suite at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There is a very plausible reason for having access to a second source of information for the very race you're watching. At the Indy Motor Speedway, you can't see the entire track from any one seating position - it's that big - so the video boards let you follow the leader when he (or she - begging your pardon, Danica) is on the opposite side from you. Also, the has consistently presented the best radio sports announcing in all of broadcasting, while the track announcer is doing his best to catch up. ("Fel-l-lipe Gee-o...Jaff...Giaffone is seven-n-nteenth!...")

At the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard last weekend (for all of you open-wheel racing fans, that's a stock car race), TG Daily attended as a guest of AMD, primarily to see the that NASCAR co-designed with AMD and HP. But also, the AMD folks had been loaned some of the first production units of a trackside video gadget from Nextel - the Sprint division that's also NASCAR's principal sponsor - for us to preview. It's called the FanView, and it's a portable that lets fans interact directly with all the statistics, scoring, video, and audio feeds associated with the race going on in front of them. It's Nextel's branded version of a device that's already seen wider use in F1 races and world soccer (football), called .

As a piece of hardware, there's some sensibility to its design. Its corners are covered in a soft rubber that could very well absorb the shock of a serious fall through the openings in the bleachers. Its carrying handle is on the bottom, designed to be tethered to a neck strap that doubles as a shoulder strap. The console is contoured to fit the cup of your hand, with the keypad made small but arranged in such a way that, if you have a long thumb, you could conceivably operate the entire keypad. But if you use the shoulder strap just so, you could afford to drop the entire unit to your side if you have to rise up in the stands to let someone through, or to see what's happening on the last lap.

I can see where this is going: For the FanView to really take off, it has to be what an iPod would be if it were geared specifically for racing. Specifically, it should help the race viewer fill the information gap, by telling or showing him what he cannot see for himself, just from where he's seated. This is where such a device would be invaluable: Having continuous access to the full-field running order is a must, especially for anyone seated a considerable distance from the scoring pole. (Even if you're seated a few hundred feet from it, tell me you can always read who's in 17th position?) You can see the speedway video feed even if you can't see one of the big screens from where you're seated. And with the noise-canceling racing headphones, you can clearly hear the audio at full volume, even during restarts. So you can hear the track announcer, or you can check the scanners to hear what the crews are saying to their drivers, while at the same time protecting your hearing.

Next: An unexpected trip back to the '80s...