Question of the Day for March 30, 2011

What do you think? Too much coverage of racing with all the pre-race, post-race, during the race shows on tv? When I was growing as a race fan (50s and 60s), getting racing news was difficult. If our local newspaper carried anything at all on anything other than Darlington, it was a paragraph or two at best and finishing order lists usually did only the top five. When Joe Whitlock and Jim Hunter came along as writers for The State Newspaper, things improved greatly. Both were excellent writers and both loved the sport. Jim McLaren was the latter day writer and he was most excellent then The State decided they could do this with wire reports and we lost Jim.

These days race day coverage starts before the cock crows and continues late into the night with so many "talking heads" and "racing experts", that every possible subject is covered. Having so much time to fill leads to many discussions and conversations that border on ridiculous. What do you folks think about the coverage? Too much? Do you want more in a particular area? What would you change? I'm looking forward to the responses. Thank you.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.


updated by @tim-leeming: 01/08/17 08:07:27PM

Way too many shows with way to many "experts" rehashing the same story. I think some of these "reporters"just love to hear their own voice. Also, too many fluff stories. I don't really know care to know what a driver's favorite color is. If they are going to have to have all these shows, why don't they do historical show of the track that they are at? I know, that would take some real investigating. Also,according to some "experts" there was no racing before 1990. The Speed Channel used to show historical races of the 60's through 70's, why don't they show them now? I know, I'm ranting but this does hit a nerve with me.

I have to agree with you, Tim. We've all heard of too much of a good thing. The hours of pre-race coverage on SPEED have gotten really silly. Like you, I grew up with no tv coverage, then the taped Wide World of Sports segments. We were really lucky in Richmond, VA to have superb coverage of our local racing scene in both the morning and afternoon paper, along with photos. Speaking of Joe Whitlock, he once worked for me as our publicist for the Wrangler Jeans NASCAR program with Dale Earnhardt and I learned a lot from him. Something not too many people know is that Whitlock shaved a year off Earnhardt's age by changing his birthdate in press materials and keeping him 31 for two seasons!


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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

The media is saturated with racing news and coverage. I honestly believe that has a lot to do with the drop in ratings. When we had to look very hard to find any racing info I think it fed our hunger for the sport. Now with so many shows every day I tend to get tired of it and really don't care if I miss a show, after all the same info will be shown on another shaw that same day or the next. And with the internet we don't need any show to stay up with the sport. Maybe the media should drop a few shows and see if the fans start to hunger for it again.

Always leave 'em wanting more....less is mo betta.


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Founder/Creator - RacersReunion®

Too much, Every show has one good Talking head the others is just along for the ride.

Baseball is the same way.

Thanks

Harlow Reynolds

Lynchburg,Va.

I don't know....some are very informational and good...and some....like others have said...just repeat the same thing...over and over and over.

Being brand new here and not knowing anyone other than toomuchcountry, please allow me to chime in! Those of you who reside BELOW the Mason-Dixon Line, were always able to get "some sort of information" from your daily newspaper. But living in New Jerseythrough the 50's,60's,70'sand being a NASCAR fan? Before NASCAR went "mainstream", I had to suffer through full contact underwater basket weaving and the Okla. quilters semi-finals, to see, perhaps 30 laps of the Daytona 500 on Wide World of Sports, in AUGUST! Yeah,yeah, I am old school and like my racing that way, BUT...24 hours of information feeds my addiction! The "talking heads' and "experts" just spew "pink noise" when they go on about that of which they do not know! I can sort through that and get what I need to keep the tremors down to a slow boil, when I need my NASCAR fix! I do believe. if those same "heads" knew "their" sport, they could cut down on the repetition and really talk about the sport, the track and it's history. I would be more than happy to show them how it is done! Having been to over 220 Grand National-Winston Cup-Nextel-Sprint Cup races since 1967,,,,well, Speed Channel/ABC/Fox, I say bring your "A" game! If you are gonna talk the talk, you better have walked the walk!

Good point, it all depends on where you live. Our papers around Upstate S. Carolina didn't have much racing news at all unless it was race week at Daytona, Charlotte or Darlington, and then it was only qualifing and race results. Maybe a story leading up to a race about some Carolina boy hoping to make a race in the near future. I still think that today the media coverage is TOO MUCH.

I would love to see more history related stories. Can't get enough of those Big Cars.

Bumpertag

S. Carolina

At the end of each season, I get a bit cynical about racing. I'm done with it - tired of the overhyped stories - tired of the political correctness of the drivers - and so on. But then my adrenalin returns anew each February. So in that respect, I'm always up for GOOD coverage, especially early in the season.

What bothers me is not the quantity of the coverage. Its the quality. For the most part, folks don't need to complain about too much NFL coverage, do they? To me, its because Rich Eisner, Chris Berman, talking heads at FOX/CBS, Eli Gold on Westwood One radio, etc. often have pretty good, fairly balanced, objective observations/analyses to make about the sport.

NASCAR and its media partners, on the other hand, crossed the line a long time ago. Larry Mc, DW, and Jeff Hammond aren't play-by-play or color commentators like John Madden or Keith Jackson. They are about bringing attention to THEMSELVES. Furthermore, the in-race (or even pre-race) sponsor drops drive me crazy - particularly when the announcers are paid - without disclaimers to the viewers - to name drop a product or service. They'll go there even if the race circumstances don't dictate it, & it drives me crazy.

And don't get me started on the whole bias towards pretending Cup/GN started in 1979 with the Daytona 500 and rise of the rookie Earnhardt.

Finally, NASCAR wants to be a big time player in the world of sports. But then they'll bite and make you draw back a nub if you criticize them. This has resulted in owners, drivers, crew chiefs, and on-air media rehashing the same "safe" talk vs. giving the straight dope. And because print/web journalists are constantly threatened over their media credentials, most no longer provide any in-depth journalistic reporting coverage that doesn't come ready-packaged in a press release.

That's my beef. I could plant myself in the recliner in front of the tube if I could get some good critical analysis of the issues of the sport, a dive in what makes a driver tick, and a historical perspective that hasn't been told already 1 million times.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

Well, I used to get tremendously upset that Winston pretended that the Cup/GN deal started in 1971 and began calling eveything from that point forward the "modern era". A bunch of BS. I got in a real tiff with RJR one year at Richmond when I refused to put out their materials in the press box and only put out my own that had track info going back to the first NASCAR Modified race in Virginia, held at Richmond in 1948. No way was NASCAR racing invented in 1971 and there was no reason to pass out all that "modern era" crud. I made plenty of enemies, though.
toomuchcountry said:

And don't get me started on the whole bias towards pretending Cup/GN started in 1979 with the Daytona 500 and rise of the rookie Earnhardt.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

I miss the days of the old ESPN broadcasts which started with "GENTLEMEN START YOUR ENGINES" and then it would go straight to the race. I miss TNN and TBS covering the races. It seems like in the old days they treated the races with respect. Now they treat it like its WWE. I think pre-race shows and concerts before the race takes the focus off the race. Its too much. The real stars are the guys on the track. Also. COULD WE LOSE DIGGER!!! I also want to say that I am getting very tired of DW talking about Kyle Busch all the time. Some of the broadcasters have a bias that I am noticing. The other thing that annoys me is how some of the broadcasters covering a race do a poor job covering the entire field. They never talk about guys 10th on back. i remember the old ESPN crew of Parsons, Jarrett and Jenkins would even talk of the guys in the back. Theres times where I find I am muting the TV and turning the radio to MRN because I get so tired of the poor announcing.

I like stock car racing but what does not get enough attention is the NASCAR Modifieds and the regional kind of racing. It used to be that the old regional cable sports channels used to cover it. But not anymore. Speed used to cover a wide variety of racing. Even short track racing like USAR. But Speed has now become this exclusive thing covering strictly NASCAR. I would like to see some of the regional and short track kind of racing get coverage. The local news here does not even cover the short track scene here in my part of Florida. I know some areas would be lucky to even get a mention of results.

I remember back in Upstate NY we had the show, "THIS WEEK ON DIRT" which covered the DIRT Modifieds in the area. It aired late at night though. They had video segments, race results and advertised upcoming shows. Eventually the regional cable sports channels carried some of the Super DIRT Series races called "RUSH HOUR ON DIRT." It was live coverage of DIRT Modifieds and they even broadcasted the big Syracuse race live flag to flag. Now Speed broadcasts that race later taped.

The NASCAR coverage is good. The television exposure is there but its overshadowing other forms of racing. Theres more then the Sprint Cup Series. I would like to see better coverage of the other series.