Man Uses the Web to Enter NASCAR Events
JAMES HATTORI, HOST: Today on CNNdotCOM. Ever wish you could be in the pit as a NASCAR team owner? Now you can, virtually,</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like to see fans get involved in things, instead of the big corporations.</s>HATTORI: NASCAR is gaining sponsorship muscle at a pace that rivals its cars, but one man is using the web to show that anyone can get in on the action. Missed out on tickets to the PGA championship tournament this weekend? Well, we've got your online scorecard.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are only going to be 30,000 people on site, so that leaves millions of golf fans out there watching the PGA championships.</s>HATTORI: Hit the links up close and personal over the net. Enter an online world of dragon slaying and spell casting. EverQuest draws nearly 100,000 players a night, who log on from around the globe.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To slay a dragon or to be able to fly is a pretty amazing thing. You don't really get the chance to do that often in real life.</s>HATTORI: Take a behind-the-scenes look at this mystical cyberworld. This is CNNdotCOM with James Hattori, Hi everybody and welcome to CNNdotCOM, I'm James Hattori. The Internet, as we've all seen, has become a high-tech field of dreams where just about anything is possible. We begin this week with the story of a railroad worker who rode the information superhighway all the way to NASCAR on a fast track to realizing his dream, owning a race car. David George takes us to the starting line in Indianapolis. Let's go to the races.</s>DAVID GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NASCAR racing is one of the highest-rated sports on television, second only to the NFL. Just two of NASCAR's many series, Winston Cup and Busch Grand National, drew about 9 million fans last year to tracks across the country. Now, thanks to the Internet and an upstart bunch called BigFanRacing, NASCAR enthusiasts have a new way to get involved in their favorite sport. The NASCAR experience includes big time sponsors, speed, excitement and power. And now, BigFanRacing has brought the most important element to pit row: The fans. Barely a year ago, Mark Watkins, a railroad worker was one of those fans. His son Josh dreamed of one day becoming a driver. And the two shared a bigger dream: A team of their own. Mark decided the only thing stopping them was money.</s>MARK WATKINS, BIGFANRACING FOUNDER: I knew that financially there was no way that I could put together a team.</s>GEORGE: A car costs $40,000, an engine $40,000 more. Sponsors pay millions for a piece of the action. But Mark Watkins didn't have any sponsors. Until he got an idea.</s>WATKINS: One day it popped in my head that maybe there would be enough people on the Internet who were NASCAR fans that would like to donate or put in just a small amount of money. And if we could create enough volume, we could actually buy a car and maybe go out and run a few races.</s>GEORGE: Watkins set up a home page and advertised on e-Bay. And pretty soon, people like "Grumpy" Wadding were buying shares at $50 and $100 each. "</s>GRUMPY" WADDING, BIGFANRACING MEMBER: Bought one for myself. Then I bought one for my wife. And then my stepdaughter got involved.</s>GEORGE: The money literally poured in, a total of $100,000 and counting. In return, each owner got a share in the car and a rubber duck, the team mascot.</s>MARDY UNDLEY, NASCAR DRIVER: He didn't know how well it would take off. And man, it just come in so fast and it was -- it enabled us to come to our first Busch race here in less than 6 months of work.</s>GEORGE: Here is Indianapolis Raceway Park. The Busch circuit is NASCAR's minor league, but it is NASCAR nonetheless. Today's race: the Kroger 200. On a bright day in early August, the BigFan team is ready for the big time. Dozens of owners show up. The name of every owner is on the car. There's also a special message from one fan, Terry Boyd, to his girlfriend Lori. She said "yes." The rest of the day didn't go as smoothly for fans of BigFanRacing. Number 89 didn't even make it through the pre-race practice.</s>WATKINS: We were running real well, you know, before the practice. We were close to the top ten in practice. And it's just one of those racing things. We had a valve break on it.</s>GEORGE: BigFanRacing didn't have an extra motor, standard equipment for teams with big bucks sponsors. BigFan's backers chalked this one up to experience, and vowed to stick with their fan-financed approach to racing.</s>WADDING: I like to see fans get involved in things, instead of the big corporations.</s>GEORGE: The Watkins father and son are disappointed, but still determined.</s>WATKINS: It happened so quickly. Right now I don't know what the future holds. But that's our dream for the Busch series, and then of course we want to get a Winston Cup car one day with BigFanRacing on it and get out there and see what happens.</s>GEORGE: And if it happens, just think -- it all began on the Internet.</s>HATTORI: We'll have our fingers crossed for BigFanRacing. Now, from four wheels to two feet. If speed and time are on your mind when you hit the track or jog around the neighborhood, then Marsha Walton has the gadget for you in this week's "Technofile."</s>MARSHA WALTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether you're a hard-core runner or just trying to lose a few pounds, the speedometer by FitSense could be your best personal trainer. As you run or walk, the ergonomic watch will display your speed and distance, and how many calories you are burning.</s>YONAS ABRAHA, RUNNER: I could look and say, "oh, I'm hitting 400 calories, let me go a little bit more."</s>WALTON: It will record your heart rate using a special strap. Oh, and yes, it also tells time. A foot pod that clips to your shoelace tracks how far and how fast you go, and sends the information wirelessly to your watch. You can log up to 28 separate workouts and then transfer them to your PC by a net link connection. And you can track your progress by charting the results on the web. The manufacturer says the speedometer is 98% accurate, so forget the pencil and calculator. With all the bells and whistles, the FitSense speedometer sells for $300. I'm Marsha Walton, and that's "TechnoFile."</s>HATTORI: Coming up on THE DOT, we'll show you why nearly half a million people are paying $10 per month to play a video game. But first, pro golfers gather for one of the PGA's premier events. You can track Tiger Woods as he chases the Cup in real time, on the web. That and more, when "CNNdotCOM" continues.