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Mentalix Customer Testimonial
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Target/Chip Ganassi Racing Engineers Drive Pixel!FX On The Road To Success
The Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team epitomizes this philosophy. Chip Ganassi, the team's owner, is a former Indy car driver who retired in 1986 with nine top-10 finishes in just 28 Indy Car appearances. He moved into team ownership in 1988 with his purchase of Patrick Racing and formed his own team in 1990 with Target Stores' sponsorship. The team, located in Indianapolis, became officially known as Target/Chip Ganassi Racing in 1995. In April of that year, Joe Montana, Football Hall-of-Fame quarterback, became a team partner and works with Ganassi on team marketing programs, business promotions and sponsor relations. "Racing is not only my sport, it is my business," Ganassi
says. "I owe it to Target and all our other sponsors
to field a competitive team. Ganassi continues: "Racing is like any business. If you're content to stand still, you'll quickly be left behind. I want our team to improve, and I think we've stepped up and made the commitment to do that." To fulfill this commitment to constant improvement, Ganassi's engineers utilize cutting-edge technology. The engineering department uses a UNIX-based computer platform -- a Sparc clone from Tatung. As might be expected, they employ a CAD system for designing their winning Indy cars. But a more surprising revelation is that the engineers also use their UNIX system to assist the team's marketing department. Obviously, being a member of a winning team sometimes means that you will do whatever it takes to attain success -- including stepping outside the standard boundaries of your department to help your fellow teammates. In addition to his regular duties, Skip Essma, an engineer for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, has created a mock-up of an Indy car on his computer to aid the marketing department's efforts. "Say a sponsor wants to see how his logo will look on the vehicle," Essma explains. "We'll scan the logo and put it on the rendered image of the car. Then Chip or the marketing department can show the sponsor exactly what it will look like before it goes on the track." When Ganassi and his marketing department requested Essma's assistance, the engineer already had the hardware he needed -- a Hewlett-Packard ScanJet scanner and a computer. However, he lacked a scanner driver and software that would allow him to place the logos on the car mock-up. Although he was familiar with several PC-based software applications, Essma did not know where to begin looking for a UNIX application. So he approached his local computer reseller, Computer Aided Tools & Service (CATS). Essma told CATS' Mindy Canada that he wanted to be able to bring images into the CAD system. Canada suggested that Essma try Pixel!FX, a UNIX-based imaging and scanning software suite from Mentalix, Inc. She did not make this decision lightly. "We had already sold Pixel!FX to some very discriminating customers," Canada states. "The most important thing to us is that our customers are happy with it. With its functionality, Pixel!FX works for our customers. It's the leader in the market; we haven't found any other package out there. We are very pleased with Pixel!FX and the job it does." Canada's recommendation was all that Essma needed to purchase the software. "We hadn't seen the product before we purchased it," Essma explains. "But we have a very good working relationship with Computer Aided Tools. They know their customer base, and they know what works for them. They didn't have any problem recommending it to us, and we didn't have any problem using it." Pixel!FX includes the two components that fit Essma's needs: Pixel!SCAN and Pixel!EDIT. Pixel!SCAN is the driver for the scanner, and Pixel!EDIT provides image editing capabilities. Now Essma can not only scan the logos; he can also retouch and resize the images before placing them on the rendered Indy car. He's also found some additional uses for the software, such as scanning the team's logo and creating screen savers with the Indy car image. Essma's previous experience with imaging software was in the PC environment, and he says that the UNIX-based Pixel!FX is even simpler to navigate than PC products. The learning curve to get the software up and running was very low. "It's very easy to use as opposed to some of the PC products that we've seen," Essma states. "It's very intuitive. You wouldn't really need a manual, which is nice for us since we're so busy." "It's pretty easy to crop a picture," Essma elaborates. "I like being able to select which parts of the photo to scan, and the color manipulation is very good. We don't use the dithering and filters as often, but these features are also very useful." Using Pixel!FX has already strengthened the Ganassi team by allowing them to do things that were previously impossible. When asked how he was able to give potential sponsors a mock-up of their decal on the Indy car before obtaining Pixel!FX, Essma says simply, "We were not able to." While it cannot be determined whether seeing their logos on the Indy car mock-up has been a deciding factor for potential team sponsors, Essma says that several sponsors whose decals he placed on the car mock-up have since been added to the ever-increasing roster of team sponsors. And the team also benefits by being able to perform scanning in-house. "If we had to send this out every time we wanted something scanned, it'd be expensive," Essma comments. "So I think it definitely saves us money." The Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team is reaping the rewards of its commitment to excellence. In May of 1996, Ganassi team driver Jimmy Vasser won the inaugural US 500 at Michigan International Speedway from pole position. Vasser was voted the first quarter winner of the Driver of the Year award. With a strong engineering team, state-of-the-art technology and winning drivers, the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team shows no signs of slowing its pace on the road to success. |
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In
the fast-paced world of Indy car racing, a team's
success depends not only on its drivers, but also
on the skill of its engineers. To ensure that a team
car will outpace the competition, engineers must stay
ahead of the game.
I
also owe my best efforts to the drivers and to every
team member. It's my responsibility to figure out
the best combination of team members, drivers and
equipment, and then let them do the job."