Killer Bike Designs

Some great artists have created killer designs on the Design It section: http://www.redbullindianapolisgp.com/community/designit/view/latest

Hans Karke, Tricky, BrianP and Tim Crist have created some of the best designs out there. I hope to see more from these guys and many others.

redbullindianapolisgp.com Social media site – Step 1

The first step in the creation of the new Red Bull Indianapolis Moto GP site has been completed. We are really excited with the initial response for the site and connecting with the fans.

The core of this site is to have fans communicate with each other and with us. Growing the Community http://www.redbullindianapolisgp.com/community/ will be the priority over the next several months.

Big thanks to the incredible designers that have already submitted great photos and artwork already. I don’t think I have seen a better collection of art yet.

The user management system is next.

Homepage Development

The finishing touches to the homepage are being put in place. We are tweaking some Flash issues on the cover and should have those resolved today.

The core 2.0 applications are in place for the launch next week. We will be adding new components each week as we continue to grow this newly formed partner network. I have reached out to various other social media sites and it looks like we have some tremendous interest in growing a motorcycle community around MotoGP.

There is still a lot of work to do on the backend so the PR dept can control the information they put up on a daily basis.

We will be working over the weekend in order to meet our Monday rollout.

Smaller Indiana Social Network

I have been talking to the people at a social networking site called Smaller Indiana. It has great potential and I hope it keeps growing. I have already been talking with company leaders about various projects. It was good to see a couple of old friends I haven't seen in some time.

It will be interesting to see if this group can have an impact on the growth of technical companies in Indiana. It will be interesting to see what resources can be provided by the group.

The first task for me is to see how we can work together growing the MotoGP social networking site.

Submit Your Motorcycle Photos App.

We are in the beta stage of the Fan Photo section for the new MotoGP site. Users will be encouraged to submit photos of their bikes and photos of motorcycle events they have attended.

After the photo has been submitted, fans will be able to rate, comment, tag these photos. These photos will be used as ‘lead’ photo images and compliment other stories throughout the websites.

At this time we are still behind schedule but still hope to have the site up next week.

MotoGP Bikes -- You Design It

We are putting the finishing touches on the MotoGP Design It section. This section is for users to download templates and create their own designs based on their favorite products. Once they are done, they will upload them and we will display their design.

We have been reaching out to designers to see if there was any interest. Already 5 designers have let us know they would be supplying designs so we can kick off this section with some nice designs. Users will be able to rate, comment and sort the designs. We will also offer best ratings by month.

The categories will be Bikes, Helmets and Misc for now. Once users start submitting new ideas we will create categories for them.

This has been wildly successful on the indycar.com site and we will be taking it to the next level on the IMS sites.

MotoGP Social Network Site to be Launched

Development of a MotoGP social network is to be launched in two weeks. We have been constructing a place where motorcycle fans can come and share their experiences with others. Here is a breakdown of some social elements we will roll out in the first round.

TalkBack – This is the discussion section of the site. TalkBack will be used in various ways. It will be used as a stand alone application for people that just want to start a thread about a topic. It will also be tied into all of our news stories so users can comment on everything from press releases to features on the website.

Design a Bike – We will be posting hi resolution motorcycle templates for users to download and design their own. Other fans will be able to rate and comment on new designs.

Fan Photo – Photo sharing has been a staple for users to showcase their bikes.

Internal Blogs – We will start out posting blogs from people within the company that have an interest in Motorcycles. These blogs will include everything from interviews with MotoGP riders to specifics about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Features such as allowing users to include their personal blogs on the site will be added.

This is only the beginning. We will be adding new features to the site every week and continue to expand on each feature.

If you have any ideas you would like to see added, let me know.

Employment Opportunity

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway web sites continue to grow at an extraordinary pace. 2008 will be our biggest year yet. The Online department is seeking a Web Systems Administrator. If you or someone you know enjoys working for racing fans and meets these requirements below, go to this link: http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/jobs/job.php?job_id=316

Responsibilities:
Administer all Web servers including, but not limited to, software upgrades, patches and security. Work with development team to determine upgrade and future capacity needs for all servers. Maintain a high level of server availability through support provided during off-hours and weekends. Plan and implement a comprehensive security plan for all servers. Assist development team in maintenance, testing and creation of new Web-based applications and sites.

Skills, Education and/or Experience Desired:
High integrity and confidentiality. Enthusiasm for and commitment to the company, the Vision, and Values. Effective leader with strong people skills. Ability to work with minimal supervision. Innovative thinker and self-starter. Effective communication skills and must be a team player. Experience in setting up and administering multiple servers in a Web development environment. Effective working knowledge of the following: Server Administration – Apache 1.3.x and 2.x, PHP 5.x, MySQL 5.x, FreeBSD, CentOS or other Linux OS, knowledge of Amazon Web Services a plus Development - HTML, PHP, Javascript, knowledge of Flash/Flex a plus Knowledge of capacity planning and implementation of high volume server configurations.

Great Sports Sites

What makes a great sports site? It is a website created and run by the very League that runs the sport. Most sporting websites have been outsourced to various companies. Those companies focus only on how much money they can make off the fans. That is a formula for failure.

Without a doubt the best sporting website out there is MLB.com. They had the insight to bring their operation in house and to fund it. By doing this, they took the time to address the needs of their hardcore fan base. The next step is they took the time to cultivate casual fans by adding numerous touch points on their website.

One of the most interesting parts of the site has been baseballchannel.tv. They were ahead of the curve when rolling this out for their fans. I am still impressed how many subscribers they get for their content. In a world where everything has to be free or people will move on, MLB.com has defied the norm. My hat goes off to them. As I have stated many times, we (indycar.com) went with the ad driven model. Going from subscription to free, gave us a 400% increase in one day. Just imagine how much more traffic MLB.com would get if anybody could watch it.

This leads to my next point. I watch the World Series every year but don’t watch a single game during the season. I have no connection with the teams or players but enjoy watching the final game. If MLB.com showed games for free, “new fans” like me to follow the games all year. After that, MLB could become America’s game again.