Few things move faster than the high-tech race cars traveling the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. In May, American Josef Newgarden won his second consecutive Indy 500 with an average speed of 167.763 miles per hour.

But Newgarden’s car may not have been the fastest thing at the old Brickyard on Memorial Day. That honor may belong to all the data flying around that day on the IMS’s millimeter-wave 5G nodes.

Verizon Communications Inc. built the network and managed the head end of the distributed antenna system, or DAS. All other carriers bring their equipment and racks to connect to the DAS so their subscribers can participate in racing’s datapalooza. Data throughput on the DAS has hit 40 terabytes and keeps rising yearly, according to Rebecca Ruselink, chief information officer for Penske Entertainment, which runs INDYCAR and IMS.

What that powerful network delivers to fans

The 350,000 people who pack the track on Race Day have access to a lightning-fast network and a modern menu of data-driven features to make their enjoyment of the biggest auto race in America better than ever.

NTT Corp. is the title sponsor of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and is the official technology partner of IMS and the Indy 500. The global technology company’s NTT DATA Inc. unit is heavily involved in collecting and sharing all the data generated on Race Day and the period leading up to it. Bennett Indart, vice president of SMART World Solutions for NTT DATA, says the company provides a multitude of content around the race, the schedule, the drivers and teams.

“The NTT DATA team provides two solutions for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. One is racing analytics or data insights about the race itself,” Indart explained. “We gather and share a lot of information. Before the race, we run an algorithm that looks at everything from how the racers practice, their qualifying progress, and their previous races. Then we predict who will win, which gets pushed out on social media and by NBC TV.”

Turning the Brickyard into a smart venue

While the drama and pageantry of the race itself is the star of the day, the race-related data available to fans on the INDYCAR app has its own star power. “You can watch the race on the app if you like, and you’ll see the leaderboard, audio from the drivers and pit crews, and live feeds from video-enabled cars,” said Indart. “We’ve done quite a bit of work on that and continue to enhance it.”

Software from NTT DATA also helps the operational and security teams do their jobs. “The data network monitors each of the gates to see what queue times are,” said Indart. “That info is available to track workers and fans via the app.

“We saw a 50% increase in our app users in the last year or two, mostly because of the enhancements we put in before the 2023 season,” said Ruselink. “We’re working to create lively engagement among all the fans, avid and casual.”

One of the ways NTT DATA and the Penske Entertainment team create engagement is by turning the race cars into data sources. “There are something like 140 sensors on each car in the Indy 500 and other INDYCAR events,” explained Indart. “We call that information about what’s happening with the cars as they’re on the track ‘data stories.’”

The sheer volume of the data being gathered and shared with race organizers, broadcasters and fans is staggering. And it yields some nuggets that point to more significant trends about consumers and their technology preferences.

“In previous years, among the fans, about 60% were using Apple devices to connect to the IMS network,” said Ruselink. “This year, 75% of the devices were Apple devices. I was surprised to see it swing so far within just the last few years.”

The Penske Entertainment team uses the data generated at its races to enhance the fan experience. “One of the things we learned from our app is we needed to invest more in the leaderboard aspect,” Ruselink said. “I call it ‘ants marching’ because it shows where the cars are during the race on the map. We know the leaderboard is very important. However, we can also see which other areas of the app are drawing fan interest, which enables us to keep fine-tuning and enhancing the experience.

“We want those casual fans, so we’re trying to learn how we can make it better for them, especially the younger generation,” she added. “This is where the technology is helping drive them to us, and we want to keep them engaged.”

IMS sends out a fan survey after every Indianapolis 500 and collects much information, including the net promoter score that fans give the event. “In 2023, our net promoter score, a measurement of customer satisfaction, hit 87.3 on a scale of 100, which is extremely high for a sporting event,” said Ruselink.

Fans — and race organizers — benefit from data

All the sensor data on the race cars helps the drivers and teams learn and strategize to win races. But another benefit of the data generated at events like the Indy 500 is keeping the fans in the stands happy by minimizing the time they need to stand at entry gates and in concession lines.

“There are 23 gates at the Speedway, and each gate has multiple scanners,” said Indart. “That’s just one data feed. We also have computer vision cameras outside the gate areas. We correlate those two data streams, and we can provide information via the app and tell fans how long it will take them to get inside.”

Indart thinks it’s similar to what TSA does at airports. “We have an algorithm tuned to give us the wait time at that moment and in 30 minutes,” he said. “Fans can look at the app they’re using to show their ticket at the gate to see when they’ll get inside.”

Ruselink said she was “personally surprised, in a very good way, at how little time people wait in line to enter the facility. I’ve seen what I would consider a crazy long line. And people are getting in within 10 minutes. And I have the data to support that. To show that was interesting for us.”

Using data to put fans into the driver’s seat

Another innovative use of all the data collected at Indianapolis is creating an embodied knowledge simulator so fans can experience what it feels like to drive a powerful Indy car at high speed on the legendary oval.

To create this, an INDYCAR driver with sensors on it drove around the track at race speed to feel the actual movements of the driver as they were going around a track. And they refined that and put it into a simulator so fans could sit in it. “It was putting your hands on the wheel and your feet where they would be when you’re strapped into a seat, and you feel the movements as VR goggles show what you see while going around IMS,” said Indart.

Beyond racing: using data to help with sustainability

There’s more to collecting and applying data than sports entertainment. As more people and organizations become aware of the environmental impact of carbon emissions, NTT DATA is using its wealth of collected data to track that information.

“My team started getting into the discussion around greenhouse gas emissions and carbon calculation for our customers in many industries,” Indart said. “We’re looking at taking that same analytic platform [deployed at IMS], turning it on energy consumption, and then reporting to establish a foundation. A lot of companies don’t even know where to start. So we can provide their carbon accounting view. Then, from there, companies can, like we did with IMS, create a smart venue or a digital twin of that function they’re looking at, in this case greenhouse gas.”

The speed of auto racing is constantly increasing, as is the collection and use of pertinent data that can help sports entertainment companies and organizations in many other industries make fast, effective, data-driven decisions.

Zeus Kerravala is a principal analyst at ZK Research, a division of Kerravala Consulting. He wrote this article for SiliconANGLE.

Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway