Case Study: Brian Vickers
Occupation: Race Car Driver
Gear: 2 GHz MacBook Pro, Sprint mobile broadband card, 8GB iPhone, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, Apple TV 

“When I get to the racetrack, I set up shop on my computer if there’s work to be done. If not, any iTunes Store content that I purchased that past week will be synced to my Apple TV on the bus, so we can watch it throughout the race weekend when I come off the track.” (Photo by: Craig Young) Click images to enbiggen.

Make your way through the mullets and deep-fried turkey legs, and then swing a left at the John Deere hats and six-packs of Coors. Now go past the Kenny Chesney CDs and all the NRA bumper stickers. Do you see suddenly familiar terrain? You’ve just left the world of uninformed, outdated NASCAR clichés. You’re now in the real world—and, look, there’s Brian Vickers, typing away furiously on his MacBook Pro.

Vickers drives for the Red Bull Racing Team in the Sprint Cup Series, the big league of NASCAR competition. He fits neither the NASCAR stereotype (Ricky Bobby) nor the Mac user stereotype (latte-sipping emo hipster), but he somehow manages to integrate his love of Apple technology (he’s an avid Mac|Life reader!) with his racing team duties at nearly every turn. 

The (Virtual) Tuesday Meeting

Whether he’s in Manhattan or Martinsville, Vickers attends regular business meetings. (Courtesy of Brian Vickers)

Vickers travels to a different racetrack nearly every week of the season, yet he and his business staff hold regular planning meetings, regardless of whether he can be at his corporate headquarters in person. The solution? Videoconferencing with iChat AV.

“Every Tuesday, I sit down with the PR staff and go through calendar commitments. I’m sitting down with my computer, and, typically, doing it all on a videoconference,” Vickers says. “Everyone in my office is on a MacBook Pro, and they all have the built-in iSight. Having that visual interface adds depth to the conversation.”

TIP: No iSight camera? Buy any UVC-compliant USB webcam and you’re set.

iPhone? It’s More Like iEverything?

Vickers could write a master’s thesis on the multitude of ways one can use the iPhone as a business travel device. Sadly, however, the iPhone has no use for him as an actual phone. “The AT&T network sucks,” he says. “In the two places I live—Manhattan and Charlotte—I don’t have [AT&T] phone service, so I use my Sprint phone for calls. But I’m in love with the iPhone itself.

“I love the fact that it doesn’t have a hard keyboard, and that the keyboard can come and go. I use [the iPhone] to watch videos, to listen to music. I use it as my alarm clock. I use it for subway maps. I use the notes feature, the weather, the stock market, YouTube. I literally use every application on it. But the most critical applications would be mail and the calendar—keeping that all in sync, and having that right in front of me, is a huge benefit.

“They update my calendar back at the office, and I sync in with my computer for my to-do list, email, calendar, everything. The iPhone contains pretty much everything I need to do in my life.”

TIP: iPhone 3G users can sync microsoft exchange data as long as they’re on AT&T’s enterprise plan.

You Gotta Have Heart

Alas, Team Red Bull’s in-car data-acquisition system—which provides instant feedback on the racer’s driving performance and the car’s suspension setup—doesn’t run on Mac OS X. Nonetheless, using basic spreadsheet applications, Vickers can review his driving data on his MacBook Pro. “Sometimes I have to switch to the Windows side of the machine for stuff like that,” he says, “but, like a lot of stuff now, just about anything can run on Apple hardware.” (Photo by: Craig Young)

NASCAR racers must withstand 120-degree cockpit temperatures and cornering forces of 2 to 3 Gs. Their heart rates can reach up to 190 beats per minute. For Vickers, this means staying in top physical condition—it’s a job requirement. And that’s where his iPhone and trio of iPods come in.

“I used to run, and when I ran, I had a Nike+ iPod Sport Kit,” says Vickers, referring to the data-acquisition system that wirelessly connects a sensor in Nike+ shoes to an iPod nano, displaying real-time data on running time, distance, pace, and calories burned. “I can’t run anymore, because of my knees, so I ride my bike and use the iPhone to listen to audiobooks. I love audiobooks because they take you away from the moment even more so than music.” 

TIP: If you don’t own Nike+ sneaks, try the $6.99 Grantwood technology Shoe Pouch (tinyurl.com/6nnv4p) with the Nike+ ipod sport kit.

Music To Race By

Vickers makes his second pit stop during the SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway. Infineon is one of only two twisty road course tracks on the NASCAR schedule. (Photo by: Craig Young)

Wouldn’t it be cool to see Vickers charging down the back stretch of Daytona, rocking his iPod for inspiration? Sadly, such flights of fancy are forbidden—at least during the actual races.

“I’ll tell you, I once plugged my iPod into the audio system and listened to it during testing,” Vickers says. “But you can’t listen to it in a race. You have to be in constant communication with your spotter and your crew chief. It just wouldn’t make sense.”
But what if it did make sense? What if it actually helped win races? What would be on his playlist then?

“Well, for one of the 500-mile races, you would want something chill and laid-back—a you-can’t-win-it-in-one-lap kind of song. Maybe something by O.A.R. or Jack Johnson. For qualifying, you’d want something to get you fired up really hard for one single lap. I’d say ‘Lose Yourself’ by Eminem.” 

Sounds Like a Regular Mac Geek to Us

Brian Vickers: Apple fanatic, environmentalist, Manhattanite. (Photo by: Craig Young)

On Apple design savvy—and secrecy…
“I love the simplicity, the elegance, the stability, the easiness of it all. When Steve Jobs and his team come out with a new product, you think they can’t do any better—but then they come up with something else that knocks your socks off. Then there’s the fact that they keep it secret up until they announce it. I’m in an industry where that’s very hard to do, so I’m very impressed.”

On cars, public transportation, and the environment…
“I’m sure a lot of people would say there’s no way that you can drive race cars for a living and be an environmentalist, but I try to do what I can. I take public transportation, the subway. I use energy-efficient appliances. I drive a Toyota hybrid when I’m in Charlotte, and when I’m in New York, I take the train.”

On NASCAR and Mac enthusiast stereotypes…
“Just like the Mac, NASCAR has grown to include a larger audience. It’s grown beyond the cowboy boots and cowboy hats. I’m from North Carolina, from the country, but I’ve also spent half my life in different cities. I’ve lived in New York, SoHo, in the same neighborhood as the Apple store. I’m a tech guy. I love computers. So I’m probably somewhere in the middle between the NASCAR guy and Mac guy.”