Readers have been asking for a location where they can post comments about the SPEED testing shows from Daytona. This page is for the Wednesday show which featured the final day of Sprint Cup testing for this week.
Bob Dillner co-hosted the show with John Roberts, as Jeff Hammond was nowhere in sight. He did appear on a pre-produced feature, but was clearly not at the track or involved in Wednesday's program.
So far, viewers have not seen Larry McReynolds, who was advertised as being one of the on-air "talent" for this series. Perhaps, that will change next week.
SPEED has Phil Parsons and Ray Dunlap joining John Roberts for Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series testing as the programs continue. There will be more details released about coverage of the Charlotte Media Tour next week.
SPEED has been great in responding to the issues with the Monday testing program, and have re-framed their camera shot in the studio and widened out their on-track coverage to accommodate a network logo on the upper right of the screen.
In addition, the drivers and crew chiefs have been very up-front and candid with their comments about the first COT testing. On Wednesday's program, Jeff Gordon was the featured interview. SPEED has been allowing the viewers to discover, along with the network announcers, just how different the entire testing procedure is this year.
Please feel free to post your comments about the coverage below, just click on the COMMENTS button and follow the instructions. Thanks for stopping by.
Larry Mac said on Sirius last week that Jeff would work the first week of testing and he (Larry) would work the second.
ReplyDeleteGlenn
Thanks for that update Glen.
ReplyDeleteI thought the show was pretty good except with testing you never know about the speeds. But Bob Dilner did a great job co-hosting the show and John Roberts was doing a super job directing traffic.
ReplyDeleteAnother solid program. I love the fact that Speed is there covering these testing sessions. It's definitely great to have new original NASCAR programming on TV.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to hear all of the interviews that are staying focused on what's happening on the race track. I saw tidbits of live reports from testing on the ESPN family of networks and they were just focused on stories not related to testing, like how Earnhardt Jr. might do this season with Hendrick and Jimmie Johnson's quest for winning 3 straight championships. This program on the other hand had lots of great information about drafting concerns with the CoT, the lack of a need for the "room of doom", and other tidbits of information that I didn't see on the Internet - Edwards jumping in for Kvapil during the session and the possiblility that Jacques Villeneuve's team might abandon running the full schedule if the first 5 races don't go well.
Well done, again. Whomever is producing this show knows how to fill 30 minutes with useful content.
ReplyDeleteI am very pleased with the fact that SPEED is apparently listening to the nitpicky things we complain about...and then fixing them!
See, this is how you build brand loyalty. Not by saying, "We know best, just deal with it" If you keep the viewers happy, they will stick around.
Yeah, I know it seems awfully simple, but there are a couple of networks carrying NASCAR programming who haven't gotten the point yet.
Good show again. Couldn't improve anything. One question on the video quality though. The shots of John Roberts in the booth were crisp and clear. In the shots from the hand held camera in the pits the video quality was not of the same quality. Seemed more grainy and just not the same quality as the studio shots. Any ideas why? Just curious. Oh, I have just a regular tv, no HD. And I'm on Charter Cable.
ReplyDeleteVince,
ReplyDeleteWe were just talking about that ove on the HD post. I will ask, but I think they are mixing the formats while they set-up for the HD stuff.
The studio looks great, but the ENG (hand-held news) stuff is pretty rough sometimes. But, it is still Daytona and it is still on-the-air, so I am just glad we are seeing it right now.
The shows got better each day and I liked Bob and JR together with Hammond putting on his crew chief hat and wandering the garage for things to tell us. All my minor complaints were addressed by Tuesday and I thought it was a great show. ESPN are you taking notes.
ReplyDeleteThe best show so far. I really enjoyed the segment with Hammond in the garage --- really pointed up the difference between last year's testing and this new year.
ReplyDeleteSolid show from start to finish.
2 thumbs up from this old lady.:-)
I thought the coverage was very good.
ReplyDeleteThe one real glaring thing to me was the tech bits explaination of why there were no NASCAR inspectors.
The IROC era of NASCAR has arrived!!!!
Do NASCAR inspectors routinely attend practices that don't take place during a race weekend?
ReplyDeleteI've never seen them do that. Hey, you can cheat all you want during practice.