Located across the river from St. Louis, Missouri, World Wide Technology Raceway is the only venue on the planet that hosts NASCAR, IndyCar, and NHRA racing. Featuring an oval track spanning 1.25 miles with a road course tucked within, the raceway is also home to a high-speed go-cart track and a quarter mile drag strip used for both regional and national racing events. . To keep pace with the raceway’s needs, the venue operators required an updated speaker design powerful enough to overcome the roar of multiple racecar engines, screeching tires, and other sounds synonymous with modern racing.
FACILITY SCOPE Racing complex featuring an oval track spanning 1.25 miles, road course, gokart track, and drag strip
OBJECTIVES The venue operators required an updated speaker design powerful enough to overcome the tremendous noise of modern racecar driving.
BIAMP SOLUTIONS Community™
OUTCOME Thanks to Randy Hildebrand’s design expertise, the raceway is now equipped with powerful loudspeakers designed to overcome of the most challenging audio environments, allowing color commentary and music to cut through the racing noise with unparalleled clarity.
SOLUTION
The owners of the raceway partnered with Randy Hildebrand and the TG TECH department of Two Guys Music to design and install the necessary audio equipment within the venue. Hildebrand determined that Biamp’s Community loudspeakers would be more than up to the task. “The Community R Series were chosen mostly from my past experiences with them, Hildebrand said. “I have installed them for many years with little to no problems or failures. They cover the area great and fit into the price that was set by the venue owner.” To accommodate the oval track, 66 Community R.5/99TZ speakers were installed for the fans and four Community R1/94Z were placed in the infield for the racers. The drag strip required 36 Community R.5/99TZ speakers for fans and another 12 for races in the staging lanes. Four R1/94Z speakers were installed in the pit area for the racers, while the go-kart track required a total of 12 R.5/66TZ speakers. Between the venues, more than seven miles of speaker cable was pulled. Speakers were flown on poles 18 feet in the air along the front stretch of the oval and into the seating of turns one and two. The speakers on the drag strip were placed on the retaining wall on each side of the track covering the grandstands. The staging lanes are covered from the tower to the pit area with the R.5 boxes on poles 12 feet high. The speakers on the go-kart track are mounted on their light poles about 30 feet in the air, while the infield and pit R1 speakers are about 30 feet high on towers provided by the venue
CONCLUSION
The result was deemed highly satisfactory by the client and was put into immediate use for some high-profile events held at the raceway. The oval track hosted the 2021 NASCAR truck race, while the drag strip was used for the NHRA Midwest National race. “At both events, the owner and CEO Curtis Francois, the executive vice-president and general manager Chris Blair told us how great it sounded,” Hildebrand said. “At the NHRA race, I was even asked to turn it down. The sound system was too loud at a drag race! That is the best compliment that I could get.”
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
