NASCAR Social Net – Infield Parking

Darl Ernhardt, Jr. has released a new social networking site for NASCAR fans. The site is called Infield Parking, and while it’s in beta you can register, set up and profile and start connecting with your racing buddies.

The site begins with most of the features you’d expect (profiles, photos, comments, friendlists), and it makes good old fashioned forums a key feature. Mashable made the comment that it’s good to see forums remain prominent in this social network. I agree. Forums are the precursors to myspace type social networks, but they’re not obsolete. I can’t speak for NASCAR, but I know NFL fans still use forums extensively.

What I don’t see on this NASCAR site is any area where fans can connect with fans of a specific driver or team. The system does ask you (upon registration) who is your favorite driver, but it’s not clear what they’re going to do with that information. I expect they’ll allow fans of Rusty Wallace to connect with other fans of Rusty Wallace. He’s a NASCAR driver, isn’t he? We think this (allowing subcultures to form) is going to be a key to our social net, My Colts Network, when it launches.

We’ll offer registered users the option to form public or private groups based on a sub-interest category like home town, particular players, or whatever. Each group will have its own home page within the system. Each group will also have its own events calendar, and forum.

There’s one thing any niche social networking systems need to keep in mind. Based on our research, fans want “inside access” more than any other feature we’re offering. It’s relatively easy to offer Myspace type profile pages, photos, etc., but it’s very hard to give thousands of fans the feeling that they’re getting behind the scenes.