Largest HD Screen in the World to Debut at Charlotte

Fans of NASCAR racing that will make the trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend will be in a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, they will have the Sprint racers going about their oval business in front of their eyes. On the other, they'll have dangling in front of their same eyes an HD screen big enough to hold a regulation hockey rink. What to watch first? The track's President, Marcus Smith, hopes all will watch his screen.

The humongous HD screen measures 200 feet in width (60 meters) and 80 feet in height (24 meters), being 40 percent larger than the former mother of all screens, the one installed at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

"It's like a big computer screen," said Smith according to NASCAR. "We call it a TV, but this is highly technological. Nine million LED bulbs. 720p high-definition. It can display data, video, pictures, anything we want it to."

With the screen, Smith hopes to lure more people into the stands, as the creators of the monitor, Panasonic, together with NASCAR organizers, promise it will offer the viewer pretty much the same great angles and details as he would see on the TV screen back home.

On the financial side of the screen, Smith plans to generate some cash by running advertisements of the companies and organizations that have paid for it, Toyota, Time Warner Cable, Nationwide, AARP, the US Army.

"We've been really pleased with the level of interest from sponsors," Smith added. "As the structure was completed, they were able to see and appreciate the size of the screen and that's helped.