sub get_state {
    my ($self, $contents) = @_;

    $contents =~ s/\r//g;
    
    my %session = ();

    foreach (split /\n/, $contents) {

 	if (/^ *\d+\+*\|/) {
            # Data record
	    my @values = split(/\|/);
	    foreach (@values) { s/^\ *//; };

	    my %stats;
	    @stats{@{$self->{fields}}} = @values;

        # do some clean up / bring to common values

	    $stats{position} =~ s/\+//g;  # sometimes there is a "+"

	    $stats{driver} =~ s/ *\(R\)$//; # I don't care if rookie

	    $stats{best_speed} =~ s/\+//g;  # sometimes there is a "+" at end

	    if ($stats{status} eq '') { # not all the series track run, pit, etc
	        $stats{status} = 'Run'
        }

	    $stats{status} =~ s/In Pit/Pit/ig;
	    $stats{status} =~ s/Active/Run/;
	    $stats{status} =~ s/Pace_Laps/Pace/;

	    # convert time from MM:SS to seconds
	    $stats{last_lap} = $self->time_to_dec($stats{last_lap});
	    $stats{best_lap} = $self->time_to_dec($stats{best_lap});

	    $stats{id} = $stats{car};

	    #Logger->log(Dumper(%stats));

	    push @{$session{positions}}, \%stats;

	} elsif (/^</) {
        # Header
	    my @values = split(/\|/);

	    my $flag;
            my $abbrv = $values[5];
	    if ($abbrv eq 'G') { 
	        $flag = 'Green'
            } elsif ($abbrv eq 'Y') {
                $flag = 'Yellow'
            } elsif ($abbrv eq 'R') {
                $flag = 'Red'
            } elsif ($abbrv eq 'C') {
                $flag = 'Checkered'
            } elsif ($abbrv eq 'U') {
                $flag = 'Unflagged'
            } else {
                $flag = "$abbrv";
            }
	    if ($abbrv ne '') { $session{flag} = $flag };

	    my $msg = $values[16];
            $msg =~ s/^>//;
	    $msg =~ s/^.* : //;

	    $session{control_message} = $msg unless $msg =~ /^\S+ flag/i;
	    $session{event} = $values[0];
	    $session{event} =~ s/\<\!(.*)/$1/;
	    
        } else {
	    #print "garbage: $_\n";
        }
    }

    Logger->log("series: |$session{series}| event: |$session{event}| flag: |$session{flag}| time: |$session{time}|");

    return %session;
}