Sunday at 12:30PM SPEED produces what may be its highest-profile NASCAR TV show in history. NASCAR RaceDay will offer three hours of live programming from Homestead, FL.
John Roberts will host this telecast as usual, with Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace alongside. The popular Wendy Venturini will provide the live news and interviews from the garage area and pit road. Only, this one RaceDay will be a bit different.
SPEED is pulling out all the stops for this expanded version, and will add to the line-up Steve Byrnes, Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond from the Trackside crew. In addition, we will see Hermie Sadler, Randy Pemberton and Bob Dillner offering information as well.
Love him or hate him, NASCAR.com InternetTV host Ricki Rachtmann will also be along to participate in the final race picks of the year.
RaceDay has been having a good run, but has been plagued by technical problems on some of their highest profile shows. This is the day at the track when the demand for electricity, RF transmission space, and wireless communication is at an all-time high. The SPEED stage is not part of the main TV compound, but a "stand alone" TV venue on the outside of the track.
Like the ESPN on ABC crew, SPEED faces the challenge of balancing the championship news and information with the other big stories of the day. There is a ton of news and NASCAR moments in history that will be unfolding before this race. From Junior's last ride with Budweiser in the "8" to Ricky Rudd calling it a career, it will be interesting to see how SPEED prioritizes this information.
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What we want is your opinion about RaceDay on SPEED, and we appreciate you taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet and share it with us for this final time.
14 comments:
RaceDay did the exact same thing for Homestead last year, only it was four hours instead of three. Same cast (other than Riki) and the Trackside guys were a big part of it. Their enthusiasm never flags and I as a viewer appreciate that.
But - there was no way we were going to watch four hours of RaceDay last year, and no way we're going to watch three today. Maybe we'll record it. With the race starting so late, we're going to be out this afternoon until green flag time.
We did flip over to RaceDay (from football) last year when we were home, maybe 10 minutes at a time, and enjoyed what we saw. I would imagine viewers will enjoy it this year as well.
I will be interested to her the same ole song & dance by BF later on. I like the way they are working the Larry, Steve & Jeff into the mix.
At the risk of looking like an idiot again (I will try to proof-read better this time), I will make another comment. With the lack of comments on this article, I'm guessing alot of folks feel like the first responder-not willing to devote the whole day to Nascar programming. I am, because it's the last race for awhile.
I now see why Raceday expanded an hour, so they could show us goofy stuff!! Rutledge & the yearbook & The Spence-anary-NOT NECESSARY!!
Happy Race Day everyone!!!
Watching all speed programming today and enjoying it. They're all having a blast in Homestead and it shows. Raceday is serious and funny. No suits, not even Brian France. I'm sure there is an agenda but the show doesn't feel rushed,if it happens great, if it doesn't we'll laugh and go on.
Everyone have a great day.
Glenn in GA
I thought the final montage there was cute, a riff on The Sopranos, big stories from 2007, fun moments from Raceday, it was a nice way to cap the season.
The end of Raceday was a take-off on the Sopranos finale. It was GREAT!! Sorry I missed the piece on Rick tho.
I actually watched all 3 hours, granted it was on 3 tv's and I was going room to room cleaning, doing laundry, etc. (can only vaccumn during commercials). I enjoyed the show but was actually confused with the end. I kept expecting someone to break into a smile about something but then 330 hit and all went blank. Did we see the entire thing?
I didn't discover this site until a couple of weeks ago. Maybe this question has been answered in the past, but I hope no one minds if I ask it again.
Exactly what are Ricki Rachtmann's background and qualifications to be on a NASCAR pre-race show? Who is this guy?
RR works for NASCAR.com and if you go to that site you will see him all over the videos and the live InternetTV presence.
He was tried out as a reporter and then given a chance to add his comments on the sport but in the end his lack of TV skills forced SPEED to keep him under wraps and just let him keep participating in the SPEED "office pool."
He is a true fan, and does know the sport, but so does Brad Daugherty. I don't want him on RaceDay either.
John, thanks for the answer. I visit NASCAR.com several times a week but never play any of the videos. In fact, I have a plug-in to my web browser that blocks videos from all sites. Those of us with dial-up connections can't afford to waste bandwidth. NASCAR.com needs to remember that half the U.S. homoes still don't use broadband.
Have a good off-season. See if you can sneak into any of those meetings between NASCAR and the broadcasters.
I would like to apologize on behalf of the last poster. He/she obviously meant to say that 50 percent of all homes with Internet access still have dialup instead of broadband. The typo that came out instead was unfortunate.
Re: Rikki Rachtman: Rachtman made his name about two decades ago as the host of Headbangers' Ball on MTV. He is also a friend of Dick Donato, who competed on Big Brother 8. (Yeah, I watch a lot of reality TV. That is my guilty pleasure.)
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