Dover International Speedway’s race track features Milestone XProtect Mobile app, Husky NVRs and AXIS IP cameras to secure NASCAR races

The Dover International Speedway’s high-banked, one-mile concrete oval racing track is also known as ‘The Monster Mile’. The race track hosts six thrilling NASCAR races a year, at the sports complex that covers more than 800 square acres of land area, in Kent County, Delaware, USA. The race track’s grounds have also been home to the famous four-day Firefly Music Festival, which normally hosts approx. 100 bands, playing across the six stages located at the event.

Jim Hosfelt, the Director of Public Safety and Track Operations at Dover International Speedway, Inc., said “During non-event times, our Public Safety Office uses the system around the clock, to monitor activity. We use our cameras, as proactively as possible, looking for issues, before they occur. I’ve always been a firm believer in having a solid video system and our system fits our needs very well.”

Axis Communication’s IP network cameras

With a full view of patrons coming in and scanning tickets, we monitor the traffic flow"

The security team currently covers the Dover International Speedway’s racing track with IP network cameras from Axis Communications, including pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) and 360° multi-image panoramic models. They routinely use additional video feeds from smartphones and mobile devices, pushed to the security system via the Milestone XProtect Mobile app. All video is monitored live and archived to a set of Milestone Husky network video recorders (NVRs).

Jim Hosfelt adds, “With a full view of patrons coming in and scanning tickets, we monitor the traffic flow. We can see a wave of people coming in real-time and decide if we need to open more gates. From just a resource deployment standpoint, the video system is very beneficial to make sure everyone is moving through, as efficiently and safely as possible.”

Multi-monitor workstation for constant monitoring

Ryan Kelly, who serves as the Senior Account Manager at installing partner, Advantech, Inc., explained how a multi-monitor workstation has been set up at the Joint Operations Centre, where all camera feeds are constantly monitored live.

On event days, the Joint Operations Centre has people from all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the Homeland Security, the Dover Police Department, the Delaware State Police, as well as medical teams and the Delaware Division of Transportation.

For the day-to-day routine operations, we have three full-time people"

Ryan Kelly said, “For the day-to-day routine operations, we have three full-time people. If it’s a race weekend, our combined agency numbers swell to over 800. During the music festival, this number goes over 1,200 people per day. This includes security, law enforcement, EMS, paramedics, doctors, nurses, all the partners that work the festival and we consider them all part of our team here at the Speedway.”

Joint Operation Centre

The Joint Operation Centre is designed to share the Milestone video feeds with the state of Delaware’s Department of Transportation (DoT), other relevant agencies and partners.

Ryan Kelly adds, “We can get access to local, surrounding DOT cameras, to monitor traffic and often the festival managers may also set up another, temporary video system. Thanks to the open platform Milestone VMS, we can bring all this together. Everyone can collaborate within our Joint Operations Centre, helping to ensure we deliver an enjoyable and safe event.”

Team reviews video post-event

Additionally, the team reviews video post-event, in order to evaluate performance and improve operations. They look at everything from security improvements to marketing and sales, vendor and concession stand positioning, parking and crowd control.

The system is used to monitor and evaluate the in-field activities as well, ensuring the safety of speedway workers, vendors, and drivers in their areas.