Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Overall give it a B+ last night for first time, thought there would be more features to see but track prep. had involvment there. Went over board on Smoke camera shots but thats what happens when your in the big time. Announcers were okay but weird listening to someone who covers monster trucks, good to hear Larry Rice again though,,,last time was ESPN Thursday night thunder(remember the years?)

Would pay for it again but would like to see other great short tack races on PPV am sure others would pay also.

annoucers sucked, ya wondered if they were watching the same thing we were. and the stuff they showed during intermissions sucked. we didnt pay to watch some fat girl scream that she loved brady bacon. They needed some Open wheel guys like sean buckley, dave argabright, bob gerold, ralph scaheen, to do the announcing. all in all it is still a cool deal.

Wasn't too bad, but get rid of the speed freaks... if I wanted to watch a freak show I'd have gone to a circus.

This is a "touchy" subject b/c like many open wheel dirt track fans, I'll take anything live; regardless of how good or bad the coverage is. I know many fans who post in message boards attack anyone being critical of the coverage b/c "at least we are getting to see it" and (for the record) I, like anyone else critical of any part of the coverage would agree and was perfectly content with live action as will be evident when I purchase the event again next year (if available).

I liked the camera shots, but I agree the in car camera's were used too much. They did an excellent job when they gave us the split screen look when showing an in car camera... they should have done it more in my opinion. I really enjoyed the different segments on the drivers and race teams and I was impressed with how many drivers they chased down for interviews. The only major problem to me was how unprepared the play-by-play crew sounded throughout the night. I know there are 280 entries in the event and I understand a mistake here or there, but making 5 mistakes between Joey Saldana and Ryan Durst in a 20 lap race is a bit overboard. IMO, there were a lot of open wheel fans at home that could have done a better job of knowing "who is driving what" than the main play-by-play announcer was doing. Also, where was the investigative reporting on the "Ron Shuman incident"? The Jackslash crew at the Elephant Run didn't have any trouble finding out the details so how was the crew on Live PPV tv unable to get any information to the audience?

Now if we can just get them to put together a Knoxville Nationals package for the qualifying nights! Unfortunately for the fans, too many drivers/crew have to drop an "a*s" or "sh*t" or drink a Mike's Hard Lemonade on Live TV during a sprint car race for any major sponsors to get serious about a sponsorship. Hey, I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH IT (in fact, I LOVE IT), but when the sport is fighting just to get on tv (live or other) it doesn't help with the possible sponsors when a curse word or two is dropped on the families watching at home.

All in all, I loved it and would be more than willing to pay for the PPV again next year. Like everything there is always a little room for improvement, but at least we are getting some "real racing" Live! THANK YOU to everyone who made the production possible and PLEASE do it again sometime soon!!!

Racer41, not sure that you were watching the same thing as everyone else, Argabright was the color guy. Isn't Klepper an Open Wheel guy? Dr. Pat Sullivan is very familar with USAC if I read his posts correctly when we were fortunate to have him as a poster, pretty sure Mr. Rice knows a little about the open wheel stuff. Stout probably was a little weak, but if that is the worst I can deal with it. Also, I can guarentee that they were seeing the exact things you were. Camera shots between races? I think they were showing the huge crowd and what an event it really is, trying to let the people who haven't ever been there get an idea of what a party it is. Can I ask what you would show?

Msu12, let me address the announcers situation. I am not defending, just letting you know part the problem. They had to call the race of monitors from the stage they were on. If you have ever been to the Chili Bowl you would understand that there isn't room to put an announcers booth. So seeing those little numbers next to the regular number was very hard, and with the feature having 4 or 5 #71's give them a break.

I also think they used the Speed freaks people as a way to break up who you were seeing on your tv all the time. Kinda hard to go from Matt Yocum doing a piece on someone to Klepper and back, wouldn't take long to get tired of seeing them. It was just to break things up and change it up a little.

The only camera crew I saw( I know there were more) was 4 people. They were running as fast as they could from one deal to the next. Sure, they may have screwed up, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The energy was high in that place and from what I saw on the big screen and around me, they had their work cut out for them.

  I liked it.... alot!

Would pay again, in a heartbeat.

Only problem with buying it again, would be who would come to watch it with me again , as it seemed that everyone in our group either wanted to go next year or race there next year. 

I'm pretty sure that it accomplished exactly what it was supposed to do, expose more people to the  event called the chili bowl

Dear racer41, if you know anything then you could tell that they were watching the monitor and what we were watching. They weren't watching the action from a press box up in the stands, that was obvious so they did the best they could with what they had. I could be totally wrong in that assessment but I don't think so. I think they did a good job and as mentioned above, they had all the people (just four of them - get rid of the speedidiots) they needed.

I, like others, am just glad it was available to us LIVE and was able to watch it in the comfort of my own home.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

I'm sure there were more than 4 people working this deal. It's just that there is SO MUCH going on. I was so distracted on Saturday I didn't even make it to watch a race until the G features. It is best to get the stories you want to follow on Tues-Thur. That camera crew is going on leads they hear from up in the tower and it is their job to find the people that 'make' the story. The footwork is enormous.

You've got veterans trying to prove they can still race, rookies trying to prove they can at all, and then individuals trying every bit as hard to do the same thing in their feild just trying to get the attention of the networks. Mistakes or not, it was pure 'can do' spirit. The best slice of Americana I get to see all year.

Speed freaks can take a hike. But I loved it.

It aint a fight unless the helmets are off.

Who were the speedfreaks?

These are the "Speed Freaks"

http://www.speedfreaks.tv/landing_pages/1,3.html

Again, I would pay for the event in a heartbeat.

I understand the reasoning for the excuse, but the "viewing situation" is no excuse for the mistakes made. They announced Jason Leffler and Damion Gardner as drivers in the B-Main because it was misprinted on their line-up graphic on the screen..... how they wouldn't have noticed that immediately as two A-main drivers is beyone watching a TV screen. The guy made the same mistake calling Ryan Durst's car by Joey Saldana's name throughout nearly the entire C-Main.... it's not very difficult; Joey's car is yellow, Ryan's car is solid white. The night was filled with similar mistakes by the main play-by-play guy.

I was just shocked b/c I was sitting at home all week with the only opportunity to see the cars in online picture galleries and seem to have a much better idea of who was on the track than the man calling the race. At the worst, it sounds like their view of the race was equal to that of the viewer at home. I just feel a part of the job as a play-by-play announcer is doing the homework to be prepared to call the race. "Give them a break" is fine for me, but when asked to give an opinion on the telecast the play-by-play is without question what needed improvement. For what it's worth, it did seem somewhat better in the A-main.

Again, I would pay for the event in a heartbeat.... even if the announcer's talked about the food channel the entire race!

msu, I wasn't giving you a hard time, I understand where your coming from. I was just pointing out the situation they were in. I agree that they should have had a better grasp on who was in each car.

You're right, we could do without those. This isn't pro-wrestling.

What's wrong with Ralph Shaheen?(spellcheck)

No problem here.... I was impressed with their camera shots (although I would have enjoyed a split screen while showing the in-car stuff..... I really thought the awesome camera angles on the action more than overshadowed the mistakes in play-by-play.... the program was a success IMO.

4 - 30 - 100 People, WHO CARES!!!! It was good and I'll buy it again. I would like to see a big non-wing show from Perris telecast on PPV since I will likely never make it out there, or the Copper Dirt Classic if they are still doing that deal.

Good Job getting to the A- TMac for us Iowegians. Also Davey Ray had a pretty good weekend, I Sure do miss seeing Kevin Doty out there mixin it up in the midgets.

I agree about dumping the Speedfreak group.

I enjoyed the telecast but we see Kahne & Stewart enough during Nascar season. I'd rather have seen some interviews with many of the other guys who ran throughout the week. I wish they would of done something about Kevin Olsen's "old school" driving suit.

Part time racefan, part time race photographer.

Speed freaks were over board but then again the one calling the race does monster truck races so go figure, I did enjoy the interview with French Grimes though.

I wonder how many people purchased this PPV? Wonder how much of a cut Emmet Hahn and ASCS got? Like I said in begining, should broadcast other short track races on PPV(at a lesser price maybe). Would be great to see Knoxville Nationals during Wednesday/Thursday, Little 500, Night before the 500 midget race or the World 100

There was a time when the CB lost money, Tony and Kasey were discouraged away from these events by their car owners, and no tv broadcast for those who would never get to see it in person.

The idea is to build on this go-around and make a case to eventually have it shown on a cable network. I heard there were no commercials. Well the broadcast has to pay for itself.

The Daytona 500 broadcast lost money for years. I'm sure the airtime is expensive and it could take a while to get sponsors(Commercials) to pick up the overall tab.