Live Timing

[Warren Evans]

I know the lack of live timing can be frustrating. I always tried to provide some form of data in my broadcasts. But, it's not all that easy to make work. The track owns the timing system computer. It's their responsibility to keep it working. And, for race operations, there were generally no issues during the race at SGMP, which is the primary objective. Live timing data is generated a different way for each of the three timing systems that could be in play at any event. That data is captured by an external computer and then converted to a data stream back to NHRA for the website, and a video screen for the live stream. The NHRA side also requires IT support to setup the capture and direct it to the correct spot on the website, which generally cannot be accomplished until they begin to see live data. In the case of SGMP, the serial connection at the Compulink was not working, therefore the external computer could not see or send any data. We did have someone with Compulink expertise working on it both Saturday and Sunday but by the time the problem was corrected we were nearly finished.