Camera technology has advanced in the 21st century. NASCAR cameras have evolved with the Next Gen car. NASCAR cameras are self-cleaning, among other capabilities.
Robotic arms with scrubbers clean NASCAR cameras. When dirt and debris block the camera's ability to see properly and track cars racing near the driver whose car has the camera, a screen around it spins and cleans the dirt off.
Here's how NASCAR cameras clean themselves. We'll also discuss NASCAR cameras and onboard cameras. Who supplies NASCAR's cameras and how have they responded to the Next Gen car?
How Do NASCAR Onboard Cameras Clean Themselves?
NASCAR onboard cameras clean themselves with a robotic arm. A motor-powered transparent tube scrubs dirt and debris off the camera when needed. It does this without affecting the camera's vision, as it's the screen that moves, not the camera.
A little scrubber behind the camera clears away dirt and debris. Onboard cameras for NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula 1 all work the same way, except that Formula 1's cameras spin horizontally instead of vertically.
The Purpose of Using Cameras in NASCAR
NASCAR has used cameras since they began televising the sport's events in their entirety. The objective of utilizing cameras in NASCAR is to provide fans at home with the finest possible viewing experience, one that catches the action of all 40 cars so well that the viewer feels like they are at the event.
Camera angles have evolved dramatically over time. Today, you can see the track from drones and other vantage points. Cameras may line SAFER barriers, putting spectators against the wall as cars pass.
To make up ground,
NASCAR must cover more ground than other national and international sports groups when using cameras. The NBA and NHL exclusively use courts and rinks. The NFL and MLB crews go farther than NASCAR.
Daytona International Speedway is 2.5 miles long. NASCAR races 3.4 miles at COTA. To provide NASCAR fans with the finest viewing experience, they require an adept camera team.
A Look Back at NASCAR Cameras
NASCAR uses cameras differently than other sports. NASCAR was light years behind the NFL and MLB in popularity until 1979, while the NHL and NBA were just starting to gain interest.
Before the 1979 Daytona 500, NASCAR fans probably didn't watch the entire race on TV. There is no internet or smartphones to keep up with NASCAR news.
ABC's Wide World of Sports aired certain NASCAR races. Greenville-Pickens Speedway sponsored a 200-lap race. Most races, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500, were only shown in highlights. Only the second half of the race was shown.
The CBS Sports Spectacular was similar in the late 1970s. In the 1960s, Car and Track debuted. It was America's first NASCAR/auto racing show. The week's highlights were the car and the track.
Pilson enters Ken Squier Pilson, CBS Sports president, and editor Ken Squier created flag-to-flag coverage of the 1979 Daytona 500. They thought Americans would be interested in watching the Daytona 500 in its entirety, so they came up with flag-to-flag coverage.
The race's ratings indicated that Americans are willing to watch NASCAR races. NASCAR and its TV partners have used appealing camera angles to provide fans with the finest TV product possible.
You can see the action from the SAFER barrier, overhead, the infield, and the grandstand. If you attend a NASCAR race and have a good eye, you may be able to identify a couple of these cameras throughout each track.
But it's not just the cameras around the track that provide fans a great look. Some cars have onboard cameras.
Onboard Cameras
There's nothing more exhilarating than seeing the track via a driver's in-car camera, or onboard camera, during a NASCAR race. This shows you what the driver sees as they race down the straight and make the turn.
Benny Parsons' Daytona 500 car had the first onboard camera in 1979. In 1980, CBS producer Bob Fishman reinstalled the camera in Parsons' car. Terry Labonte and Richard Childress's cars had cameras in 1981 due to their popularity.
Early cameras took up almost the whole passenger side of the car. In 1983, CBS and Broadcast Sports International (BSI) created a smaller camera. They planted a camera in Cale Yarborough's car to capture his victory celebrations.
Onboard cameras evolve
By the late 1980s, the onboard cameras had been reduced so much they could fit four instead of the 50-pound units in the early years. In the 1990s and early 2000s, onboard cameras and angles were mostly unchanged.
In 2007, Broadcast Sports International's first HD cameras 2011 brought a dual-path camera system.
The gyroscopic camera debuted in 2013 and 360-degree cameras in 2014. NASCAR introduced roof cameras in 2014. 2017 brought HD visor cams.
Cameras And Controversy
Onboard cameras, like most advances today, are controversial. Only two drivers won races using these cameras in the 1980s: Cale Yarborough (twice) and Geoff Bodine.
Crew leaders said the cameras added weight, and the first contemporary in-car cameras were larger in the 1980s. NASCAR required dummy weights for cars without cameras, but crew chiefs weren't persuaded.
What Cameras Does NASCAR Use?
Daytona 500 cameras vary. Fox Sports employs Sony A7R IV mirrorless DSLR cameras with Sony FE-24-70 mm f/2.8 GM lenses. Megalodons. They also employ Ronin-S, 16 Sony HDC-P50s, and 2 Sony HDC-4800s at 16x zoom.
NASCAR must deploy a unique camera to improve viewership. For the Daytona 500, Fox Sports used Sony a7R IV mirrorless DSLR cameras and Sony FE-24-70 mm f/2.8 GM lenses. Megalodon live mirrorless cameras have a simple setup.
They also employ the handheld Ronin-S to catch pit crew and crew chief close-ups. The DigiBoom swings over walls to catch pit crew action. They use Megalodon in the garage to monitor drivers' and teams' body language before races.
Fox Sports deployed 16 Sony HDC-P50s and 2 HDC-4800s for the Daytona 500. A Fletcher high-speed robo and two Fujinon 8K lenses captured the Daytona sunset after the race.
This is a great setup. Fox Sports doesn't only capture NASCAR's Daytona 500. They capture speedweeks and duels. Fox Sports utilizes 74 cameras to broadcast the race worldwide.
How Many Onboard Cameras Does a NASCAR Have?
NASCAR uses 4 onboard cameras. The driver's side, roof, bumper, and other aspects have them. These cameras' angles change. Between 4 and 6 NASCAR cars have onboard cameras.
The final camera angle is special. NASCAR and its camera providers may change the specified camera placements. In a regular NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series event, four to six cars carry cameras. In the Truck Series, that number has decreased to 2.
Onboard NASCAR cameras
BSI supplies NASCAR's onboard cameras. At the 2021 Daytona 500, eight drivers each had four cameras. That season, BSI used the visor cam to show fans a race from the driver's perspective.
The visor cam covered the driver's helmet around the forehead. They placed a camera on the dashboard and two inside the vehicle to map the driver's position.
Do onboard camera angles change?
You may have seen NASCAR onboard cameras on cars before, during or after drivers. The dashboard cams showed good angles of drivers watching an on-track altercation.
NASCAR camera angles change based on fan preferences. Fans may see exactly what the driver sees using the visor cam and other realistic angles. They're immersed in NASCAR action.
NASCAR wants to provide fans with a real experience. If they can find camera angles that show speed and intensity in a realistic way, there will be more of them in the future.
How Do NASCAR's Onboard Cameras Work?
After each race, NASCAR onboard cameras are removed by a team of qualified technicians and placed in a production trailer. Successful or popular drivers are preferred by sponsors.
NASCAR's cameras and onboard cameras are extensive. NASCAR and its TV partners use onboard cameras to show how crowded the tracks are and how fast the cars go.
In 1983, Cale Yarborough's car introduced the first contemporary onboard camera. The RaceCam sent signals to an overhead chopper during Yarborough's win at the Great American Race. The signal was sent from the plane to a nearby trailer, which then sent it to TV viewers.
The Lucky Drivers
The season's most successful drivers usually win. Once the playoffs begin, Chase for the NASCAR Cup drivers will likely have cameras placed. Nearly every car in the Round of 8 and Championship Four will have a camera.
loved by sponsors.
If you've watched a NASCAR race through a dashboard camera, you may have seen a sponsor's logo. Not necessarily the hood logo. Instead, Jeffers' notion lives on. Companies that aren't sponsoring a car for the event may sponsor the onboard camera.
Not often. Instead, the driver's primary sponsor pays between $30,000 and $50,000 to have their brand in front of the camera. This increases the sponsor's visibility to racegoers.
How NASCAR uses cameras
NASCAR teams build their own cars, but not with cameras. A team of qualified technicians does the setup. These technicians work for NASCAR's television partner broadcasting the event, and the setup is second nature to them.
Technicians first drill holes in the cars' external panels. The inner dashboard and exterior panels house crucial brackets and wiring. Despite all the components, technicians only need roughly 30 minutes per car.
Technicians remove the cameras after the race. Once uninstalled, staffers put the cameras into the production trailer for the next race.
Speedway to Television
NASCAR's signaling structure is comparable to the past. Instead of helicopters, the grandstand has receivers. As with the helicopter, the in-car camera delivers a signal to these receivers, which transfer the signal to the production trailers. The network relays the signal to viewers.
Enter The Next Generation
Given the upgrades to the NASCAR Next Gen car, BSI had to adjust. The Next Gen car's front and rear bumpers were redesigned. BSI's previous camera versions didn't work for these bumpers. They made new bumper cams instead of removing the old ones.
Old cameras would have impeded Next Gen car airflow. Cars without cameras wouldn't have had this issue, and leaving things as-is would have created an unfair playing field.
BSI tried numerous models, noted what worked, and then designed more prototypes. They made a smaller camera that didn't block airflow.
These robotic cameras, like their predecessors, could track cars to the driver's left, right, front, and back. A cord secured the camera in the event a driver crashed.
No repositioning
BSI didn't change the in-car cameras for the Next Gen cars, despite their changing operation. The visor cam caught the driver's vision. Another captured their head and body, and roof cams remain.
Summary
Robotic NASCAR cameras have a little arm with a plastic tube and a scrubber to clean the camera. NASCAR has traditionally used onboard cameras, and F1 and IndyCar use self-cleaning cameras.