July 12, 2006

By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

Prior to the start of the 2006 season, NASCAR held its third annual Security Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina.

NASCAR CEO Brian France sent a letter to conference attendees pointing out that, "NASCAR enjoys the distinction of hosting 17 of the top 20 most attended sporting events in the United States today."

With a statistic like that, the importance of event security for both participants and fans can not be overstated.

Among the topics of discussion at the meeting were credentialing, garage and pit area access, airspace control, pre- and post-race security, and the general issue of "soft targets" - a term which refers to non-military venues of potential interest to terrorists, like shopping malls, amusement parks and sports arenas.

Since 9-11, security has become a major priority at all large public gatherings. But NASCAR races have certain characteristics which distinguish them from other sporting events, even those which draw huge crowds.

In many states, the site of a NASCAR race transforms an otherwise quiet racetrack into a populous city. This weekend's Nextel Cup race in Loudon, for example, will turn the New Hampshire International Speedway into the second largest city in the state by population during the race weekend. The same is true at a number of tracks around the country when a Cup race occurs.

Thousands of NASCAR fans arrive days - not hours - before a race and stay in motor homes both outside the gates and in the infield. No other sport allows fans to camp on the infield grass before and during an event to the same degree.

NASCAR also prides itself on providing opportunities for fans to interact with its stars at the track and at scheduled events throughout the year. Fans get face-to-face with drivers and crew members at autograph and Q&A sessions, as well as through the purchase of garage and pit passes - although NASCAR has attempted to scale back some fan access to the garage area during the past few years.

Race fans have seen many new rules at the tracks as the sport continues to grow in popularity. All venues now have specific regulations regarding the size, appearance and amount of items that guests can bring into the track, and all bags are searched at the gates. The number of security officers has increased, and some fans have even encountered bomb-sniffing dogs and police officers using mirrors to check the underside of vehicles for explosives.

NASCAR recently inked a four-year deal with Ingersoll-Rand to develop and provide security technologies for NASCAR-sanctioned events. Some of the security initiatives include steel doors and frames at track entrances; closed circuit television monitoring of the entire facility, including the parking lots and infield; electronic control of access to restricted areas; and the use of biometric systems which rely on fingerprints or other physical characteristics to identify individuals.

Ingersoll-Rand and NASCAR worked with the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service, and other federal, state and local agencies in developing their security plans, and the two organizations produced a security manual which has been distributed to more than 150 venues including racetracks and other sports locales.

In May of this year, NASCAR also introduced its Mobile Technology Center (MTC), which has been described as a high-tech data center on wheels. While its primary purpose is to collect and process timing and scoring data during the race, NASCAR also plans to evaluate the potential role of the MTC in track security.

Terrorist threats aside, those charged with the responsibility of protecting NASCAR's multimillion-dollar stars can never completely eliminate the human factor in the security equation, whether a complacent bag-searcher, an overworked security guard, or a fan who is drunk, angry about the race result, or simply mentally unstable. Even the actions of an unpredictable athlete like Tony Stewart - who scaled the track fence after a recent victory and jumped into a swirling mosh pit of fans - can have a negative impact on existing security plans.

While Stewart's actions at Daytona did not have any serious sequelae, his behavior could have resulted in injury to himself or to overzealous fans trying to get closer to him. It took immediate action by security officers in the area to safely extract Stewart from the surging crowd.

Incidents of fan violence against athletes, such as the 1993 on-court stabbing of tennis star Monica Seles, are still relatively rare. But NASCAR's security planners know that racing produces intense passions which often polarize fans into oppositional camps. Mix in some alcohol, hot summer temperatures, and crowds numbering in excess of 100,000, and the potential for trouble is considerable. Just last weekend, fans angered by Jeff Gordon's racing tactics pelted his car with beer cans and bottles as the four-time champion took the checkered flag, and it was not the first time that Gordon had been the recipient of such contempt.

Thankfully, the majority of NASCAR fans are well-behaved and as a result, drivers still make public appearances and interact with fans in a casual manner.

Unfortunately, it will take just one serious problem for that comfort level to change, perhaps permanently.

In the meantime, whether the concern is a planned terrorist attack or a minor domestic disturbance, NASCAR and its security partners are doing everything they can to provide a safe environment at every racing venue.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.