FanView puts race in the palm of your hand

By now, you've heard about the NASCAR Nextel FanView.

What you may not have heard is that you can have one of your very own.

The little yellow gadgets were available for rent last year, as Sprint Nextel and NASCAR set about gauging public appetite for it, and as of Feb. 8, FanView is for sale to the general public.

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For those of you who don't know about FanView, it's a hand-held race-day scanner with video and audio capabilities, real-time data and statistics that comes equipped with a battery, wall charger, quick-start guide and one-year warranty. It also boasts advanced features such as priority scanning, quick channel selection by car number and an exclusive audio replay feature. In addition, fans can choose to watch the live in-house Nextel Vision video feed or from up to seven different driver's in-car cameras. Fans also can monitor driver progress through color graphics of real-time lap statistics, lap-by-lap point standings, positions gained or lost since the last caution, and more.

In short, it's a handy little item to have at the track. When you're in the stands, all you have is your eyes, the scoreboard and a scanner to listen to MRN or individual drivers.

With FanView, it's like having your own personal TV, complete with everything you'd ever want to know about the race you're watching. And, as an added bonus, you can even keep track of the race while standing in line at the concession stand.

"The fan response to the NASCAR Nextel FanView has been overwhelming," said Dean Kessel, director of Nextel Cup Series marketing for Sprint Nextel. "Fans tell us they love being their own sports producer. They can select what they would like to watch and listen to as they're sitting in the stands. It's hard to monitor all 43 drivers on the racetrack, and that's why our audio replay feature has been wildly successful. We are thrilled to offer the device for sale, and we could not have brought this to the fans without the help of our partners at NASCAR and Kangaroo TV as well as Racing Electronics." (Continued)