In today's tech news column, I wrote about the Federal Communications Commission's sponsorship of NASCAR driver David Gilliland and his car No. 38, dubbed the "Digital TV Transition Ford," as part of its efforts to get the word out about next year's switch to all-digital broadcasting.

The car represents the lengths to which the agency is going -- spending $300,000 to sponsor three races -- to ensure a seamless and successful transition on Feb. 17, 2009. It crashed in its first appearance.

As The Wall Street Journal noted in a blog posting this afternoon, the Digital TV Transition Ford went "hard into the wall" on the 485th lap, according to the account on NASCAR.com (... neither I nor the Journal reporter, apparently, watch NASCAR). Mr. Gilliland described the disappointment on his Web site:

"I really think we could have brought home a top-20 finish today for our Digital TV Transition Ford, but unfortunately we got shoved into the wall there right at the end and the damage was just too much to be able to repair in time.”

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