Sunday, June 8, 2008

In-Progress At Pocono: Sprint Cup Race on TNT


Here we go, the first of six races in the summer six-pack of Cup events on TNT. Last season, this is where the TV portion of the season took a wrong turn. This year, TNT vows to change course and relate to the viewers at home in a very different way.

TNT's own Marc Fein will host Larry McReynolds from the TNT mobile stage in the infield. Fein and Bill Weber will combine to host the ninety minutes of pre-race programming TNT will present before every race. The pre-race shows will be a mix of live interviews and pre-produced features.

Once the coverage is underway, Bill Weber will call the play-by-play action with Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach in the booth. Down on pit road will be Lindsay Czarniak, Matt Yocum, Ralph Shaheen and Marty Snider. TNT will used McReynolds to show technical issues with a cut-a-way car.

TNT will actively invite viewers to use their broadband computers to sign-up for RaceBuddy. This free page will have four camera angles live that viewers can choose, and an in-car camera that will change as viewers vote for different drivers. It will also include email sent directly to Larry McReynolds at the race, and offers fans a change to email video questions to be used on the telecast.

RaceBuddy is available by going to NASCAR.com, and this is a very brave experiment with the fans to see if they will respond to an active online companion to the TV broadcast.

This post will serve to host your comments about the entire TNT presentation both online and on TV. To add your opinion, just click on the COMMENTS button below. The rules for posting are listed on the right side of the main page. Thank you for taking the time to participate with us in this forum.

534 comments:

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Sophia said...

The pictures are good on Race Buddy...audio needs major work...it seems the sound is same from all the views..and listening to the mechanical voice that's louder than the scanners......hopefully they can fix that.

Quite a ride for Kurt thru the grass

Anonymous said...

My RaceBuddy feed is near 15 seconds ahead of my TV. very interesting.

Daly Planet Editor said...

So, if they had a TNT feed on the computer with RaceBuddy, would you turn off your TV and just use the computer to watch the race?

Anonymous said...

whY, JD? would the online feed be in HD?

Anonymous said...

This COT is still a huge issue.

Drivers have been commenting how they get 2 or 3 or 4 car lengths from the car in front and then, they CANT go anywhere. They are stuck there.

Sure seems to be the case today.

Wish they could utilize the draft, but they cant.

Hope next week at Michigan isnt a yawner.

Triple Split on pit stops is nice.

I could really do without the "pit out" / "restart" enhanced graphics. It doesnt do much for me.

Newracefan said...

red are you turing off the audio off for you entire laptop or just racebuddy. If just race buddy how did you do it

Unknown said...

jd, probably not since my tv is a 50 inch one.

alex said...

During the commercial they showed the #2 team fixing those splitter struts on the Racebuddy pit cam. Very good quality also. Nearly as good as my 19" tv

Daly Planet Editor said...

No, the online feed would just be a digital TV feed without any HD.

A NASCAR.com guy asked me if the full TNT feed should be offered on RaceBuddy. That way, viewers who were not near a TV could still get all the content of both online and TV offerings.

Anonymous said...

The audio problem was Bush League, but I already like TNT's coverage for two reasons:

1. No Gopher
2. No Junior Overkill (which you know will return when ESPN takes over)

Anonymous said...

jfs-va thanks for the link - works great!
I love the pictures from RB - the audio is well confusing tho' I do know my drivers whine when I hear it. The guy just reading the numbers is annoying, so they could lose him. I wish NA$CAR had pictures this good on Raceview! RB stays up - audio by MRN,

Anonymous said...

Newracefan - I was wondering the same thing . . . Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off the audio for RaceBuddy?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I did not see any ads during the TV on RaceBuddy...

You only see ads on RaceBuddy when you first pull it up, or if you refresh your screen.

June 8, 2008 2:53 PM

That's not true. I didn't refresh my screen or move to another view (where I expect to see 15 second ads before moving to my view) and yet the right-hand bottom box moved to commercials. There were three commercials broadcast in that box until it returned to the regular race stream. It was completely involuntary. So they are not using all four views for racing at all times, from the looks of it.

But I won't be around as I agree the audio on Race Buddy is not enjoyable, with the "Mr. Robot" voice announcing the car number of the audio every 3-5 seconds and then getting four or five words of audio from a team.

The visuals are very nice, though.

Anonymous said...

JD, that would be a good idea if you are away from a TV. And it does not take away from the other feeds. that would make 5 total feeds.

alex said...

If you don't want to hear it, can't you just turn off your computer speakers?

bevo said...

212 posts and we aren't even a quarter of the way through the race :)

alex said...

Where's that overhead cam?

Newracefan said...

Alex, I don't want to hear RB but I want to hear my drivers scanner from Trackpass and they conflict and the scanner loses

Brian said...

It is so nice to not have the announcers in love with Kyle Bush. Finally someone putting blame where blame belongs... I think this is karma getting back at Kyle for always throwing his crew under the bus.

Anonymous said...

the overhead cam? you mean the one on pit road or the blimp?

Matt said...

Non broadcast related:

WOOOO have fun in the garage Kyle ;)

Ritchie said...

I was watching the camera angle from on top of the grandstand on Race Buddy. I have never been to a race at Pocono, so I am shocked by how big the track is. With the camera shots on TV, it doesn't really look that big.

Sophia said...

I am over Race Buddy...I saw Kurt B's car but thought I heard Sadler's voice...that auto numbers thing is annoying..showing lots of Tony Stewart but no audio.

Methinks Kyle is too tired from all the racing. I DARE him to get mad at Jamie Mac...but he will probably be arrogant as usual.

I think Race Buddy is fine for commercials but I would rather use the TNT..but they keep cutting off abruptly to commercials...kind of like ESPN does...oh, well.

It's good to see shrub have issues....sorry to any shrub fans but I like drivers with more appreciation and gratitude. Back to Race buddy picture show and guy calling Bingo during commercials

;-)

bevo said...

JD,

If they offered the TNT feed on RB I could sit out back on the porch and enjoy a good cigar during the race

Anonymous said...

Sophia you dont have to listen to the scanner on RaceBuddy....just click the At track audio and you dont have to hear the numbers.

Anonymous said...

I have the sound turned off on the "big new" lol computer so I don't hear RB - I looked and couldn't find an audio control Bummer. laptop has MRN on it w/Raceview.

alex said...

I meant the one from overhead Kyle Busch's helmet

Jessica said...

To turn off the RB audio but keep your trackpass, click on the speaker in the tool bar and then click on "mixer" you should be able to change the audio level slide for each browser window you have open.

Anonymous said...

"But I won't be around as I agree the audio on Race Buddy is not enjoyable, with the "Mr. Robot" voice announcing the car number of the audio every 3-5 seconds and then getting four or five words of audio from a team."

It was ironic the only scanner-like audio I wanted to hear is the #1 (Truex) audio as they got a NASCAR penalty for the catch can. Of course, both times as the crew chief Bono was about to say something interesting that you would hear on a scanner (he sounded angry and he was about to talk to his crew guys), they cut him off. It wasn't edited or bleeped, they just cut him off. I don't know if they can only spend 10 seconds max on each team audio before moving or what.

If we can't hear audio from penalty situations or wrecks/mechanical problems without it being censored, what's the point? I'd rather pay for the scanner-like RaceView and get the uncensored version.

Newracefan said...

Bevo, have you ever tried using a laptop outside in the sun. You can't see the screen

Anonymous said...

TY Anon for the tip

Anonymous said...

nrf: entire laptop is muted. racebuddy needs to figure out what it is they want audio to accompish as wella s give a volume control feature.
as i said early in the week: glitches need to be worked out. i will be patient with the learning curve.

cncspd said...

JD-
"I think they just pulled a patch or re-routed the audio in the break by accident."

I would think they are using a digital router. Sounds like a audio card failed in the router at TBS. We had a case or two with cards in the same frame taking different audio.

The ESPN deal sounds like a mix up going from delay to live. That is not fun.

One more Sunday to go then it back to watching the races at home. I would rather work!

BTW-
Last time I used QKT audio was after you left here. It was for Speedvision, what about 7-8 years ago? (and maybe once for YES)

Sophia said...

I would not turn off my tv to watch race on laptop even if super duper audio...but my laptop is just 14 inch...if I had a 31 inch computer monitor and a recliner attached it..then I would JD.

:-)

Kyle said...

If they had the TV feed on RB I wouldn't use it. I'm up and moving paying with the dog, getting a drink and such. So I'd rather have the big TV on I can see from about anywhere in the house.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

anon 3:09: may not have jr "overkill" but we sure as hell have busch overkill, doncha' think?!? how about we wait and see how espn does before throwing them under the bus?

bevo said...

newracefan-

I've got a nice overhang on the porch and my ThinkPad has a very bright display for outdoors

Daly Planet Editor said...

Should be interesting to see how they strike a new balance with Kyle gone and Jr. not yet on the radar.

Sophia said...

Anon

thanks for the sound tip...thatnumber talk was driving me crazy...now I can just listen to ambient sound and watch the moving pictures as they fly through the air during commercial (nod to late Tom Snyder :-)

Bevo, you would mention going outside to smoke a cigar...it's too hot hear but it would be nice to sit outside on a cooler day and watch the squirrels, chipmunks and birds with the cars! lol

Newracefan said...

jessica thank you so much now I have the best of both worlds RB no sound and trackpass 48 scanner wow

Kyle said...

Hey JD
Not even 1/3 way and 240 comments LOL
Think we will break 500 today?

bevo said...

sophia-

It's 94 here right now but a nice breeze. Doesn't bug me though, I love hot weather :)

emeraldchickpea said...

Was it this way last year, not showing a top 5 or top 10 "head shot" when they're going to commercial? Or is this something new this year?

Anonymous said...

Any kind of interview with Kyle Busch yet ??

Did I miss it ??

Anonymous said...

Its a bummer you can't turn off the sound.

Having Raceday I listen to the scanner's of my favorite drivers, and with racebuddy the audio can't be muted.

Kinda blows the whole scanner deal with it on.

Pretty cool though I must say for free.

Daly Planet Editor said...

cnc,

Did you have flashbacks when you heard the old QKT tones?

Thanks for the update, I wonder if the card failed why we heard TBS audio very clearly and then it was pulled. Should be interesting to find out, I am awaiting a Turner email.

Daly Planet Editor said...

did anyone figure out why the voting to change the in-car cam driver had not happened on RaceBuddy?

Sophia said...

Bevo

it FEELS that hot here in SW Ohio due to muggy temps...I tend to black out in the heat so am a 75-80 degrees kind of gal...tied to the AC, and fans.

Ok RB features a lot of Tony Stewart...is he a part owner of this deal? LOL...I do use RB during commercials. But the TS cam is kind of boring watching him steer.:) If I turn on scanner I just hear the mechanical voice and no Zippy or anything.

Anonymous said...

billy delyon said...
Its a bummer you can't turn off the sound.

Having Raceday I listen to the scanner's of my favorite drivers, and with racebuddy the audio can't be muted.

Kinda blows the whole scanner deal with it on.

Pretty cool though I must say for free.

June 8, 2008 3:30 PM

USE YOUR COMPUTER TO CONTROL VOLUME
NOT THE WEBSITE

Jessica said...
To turn off the RB audio but keep your trackpass, click on the speaker in the tool bar and then click on "mixer" you should be able to change the audio level slide for each browser window you have open.

June 8, 2008 3:17 PM

Sophia said...

I can turn down the volume on RBuddy...do you guys have your comptuers hooked to stereos or something?

I have the sound muted but for commercials since I can't hear anybody talk

Anonymous said...

daly planet editor said...
did anyone figure out why the voting to change the in-car cam driver had not happened on RaceBuddy?

ummm, just cuz?

Sophia said...

Yes I was using computer to turn down the sound...what were the rest of you folks using?

Sophia asked, even though she may sound stupid? :-)

I am not used to multi tasking during race...

Anonymous said...

With so much RACEBUDDY talk on here.....

I'M OUT !!

Shouldnt you have a "RACEBUDDY" thread if you wanna talk about that JD ??

Haus14 said...

I guess I wasn't paying attention...i didn't realize there were no options for the in-car...that stinks

cncspd said...

Did you have flashbacks when you heard the old QKT tones?

I got the shakes and alomost feel on the floor!

You would think QKT would give way to an ISDN setup. The quality is much better and no one would hardly notice the change.

Mike P.

Anonymous said...

The camera has not changed becuase viewers again voted for tony stewart. the poll is right there JD. Do you not see it?

Anonymous said...

Coke is sponsoring the in car camera so the only choices are Biffle, Stewart, Hamlin and Burton. I voted for Tony for laps 50-100 but was disappointed the same choices were listed for laps 100-150. Tony is still on the choices from 100-150 and is leading Burton by several percentage points.

Appears to be a sponsor decision, not driver in contention/popular driver decision for the four choices.

am19psu said...

Just an FYI, a thunderstorm just popped up in eastern Luzerne county moving towards Long Pond.

Ritchie said...

Now my video has gone out on TNT. What Else could go wrong...

Anonymous said...

Hamlin is now leading the in car camera poll....we might see a in car camera change on lap 100.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Thanks for the info on the voting. I got it now.

Anonymous said...

I still have video.

Anonymous said...

very nice long shot of the field there. thanks!

Anonymous said...

ritchie said...
Now my video has gone out on TNT. What Else could go wrong...

well, you could be biffle w/no cool box for the second week in a row. poor "da biff".

emeraldchickpea said...

Is anybody a lap down or out of the race? The ticker isn't saying much......

Sophia said...

Red

I am enjoying some of the camera work on TNT as well...hope they don[t start over doing the bumper cam stuff, though.

Hate seeing Patrick wreck again...I hope the storms stay away.

Anonymous said...

no one a lap down yet but the 77 and the 10 may need to rethink their decision to move from open wheel to nascar. i'm just sayin'. . .

Anonymous said...

Shoot! Sammy & Patrick :(

Haus14 said...

raining at the track

Brian said...

its Raining at Pocono...

Anonymous said...

It is raining at the track! It is showing up on tony's cam on RB. It is great to have RB to see that!

am19psu said...

Emerald,

Just Shrub. Everyone else is on the lead lap (or was prior to this caution).

Sophia said...

Rats, seeing RAIN? On tony stewarst windshield on his in car cam...is the rain on the track?

am19psu said...

It's only a small cell and it is moving quickly, so it should be a quick drying of the track.

Sophia said...

Ok..i was late with my rain comment obviously.

bevo said...

Oh geez, rain. Now this will be a 7 hour race :)

They really need to shorten it to 400 miles

Tracy D said...

JD, we saw that last night after the Nationwide race. We couldn't believe it.

I couldn't get the chat feature to work for RB. I do like having RB during the multitudinous ads.

Kyle said...

JD, Why is Larry Mac not in the booth?

Is it a contract thing with FOX not allowing him to call for another network? It would be a BIG improvement to have a experienced crew chief in the booth.

Newracefan said...

Chad just said the dreaded Red Flag. OMG I'll need a nap

Anonymous said...

Red Flag. all the cars are on pit road waiting. Again it is so nice to have RB to see all this!!

Sophia said...

yes this race could use shortening.

heat up the shortening and fry some chicken! Ha...sorry, dumb joke.

I wish the in car cam would show Biffle since he has to be getting warm.

I can't believe he is re-signing with Roush with all the car problems he has had...bummer.

alex said...

It's probably an ego issue with Weber and Dallenbach

Ritchie said...

RB is showing a shot from the blimp. It looks really bright out so it must just be a short shower.

alex said...

Funny commercial with the kids and the remotes.

Newracefan said...

RaceBuddy nice view of the portapottys. Guess Jimmie had to go and there is a line. lol

Anonymous said...

Now Burton is leading the in car camera vote by 10 points. we could see his camera on lap 100.

Daly Planet Editor said...

TNT wants to keep Larry Mac downstairs so he can fill the role of Tim Brewer by going to the sponsored cut-a-way car and use other parts to show viewers what is going on.

The problem with the TNT stage is on display right now. If it was indoors, they could get drivers and others to the set during the rain delay.

As it is, they have to evacuate the set anytime lightning is in the area and they get wet when it rains. Same problem with the SPEED stage.

For those who remember Marty Smith spinning Bill Weber at Pocono on the TNT infield stage, this rain fill should be fun to watch.

Sophia said...

somebody just said on the scanner "I got a man down there screaming about it" Don't know if that was Jeff Burton or not..stupid mechanical numbers keeps yakking on the RB.

Hope the rain goes away...watching Pocono is an endurance contest.

Anonymous said...

Ritchie, just a correction. that camera from the air is actually from a helicopter and not a blimp. Just thought you would like to know.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Nice view of the helicopter that holds all the TV equipment on the RaceBuddy.

Anonymous said...

technical question: with the race under red, can the 18 team continue to work on the car in the garage? does the red flag effect the garage?

Sophia said...

I missed the shot of the porta potty line.....:-)

Thing is...if no red flag..what would the drivers do....never mind

alex said...

Sophia,
They try to drive that much faster!

am19psu said...

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/radar/displayRad.php?icao=KDIX&prod=n0r&bkgr=black&endDate=20080608&endTime=-1&duration=0

This should be interesting to see if we get another stoppage. For those of you not familiar with Pennsylvania, the southernmost cell with the yellow and green is where we are looking at.

am19psu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bevo said...

Did they ever interview the Shrub?

Anonymous said...

shoulda known larry mac would answer the question: "they had to cease work on the 18 car."

Sophia said...

I did a brief refreshing of water in bird baths.

Have they interviewed Kyle B since he is in the garage? Just wondered what his attitude was..

Anonymous said...

the engines have started.

Sophia said...

299 comments...are we even at halfway yet?

:-)

Anonymous said...

bevo said...
Did they ever interview the Shrub?

nope. last we were told, he left the garage area after bringing the car in and is in the team hauler.

Anonymous said...

Race Buddy during red flag is indeed pretty cool. I was wondering why they had the long, lingering shot of the port a potties, then as mentioned above, you saw Jimmie Johnson walk over to them and they cut away lol.

One driver said: "Are they trying to kill us all?" I think that was before they decided to let them out of the cars because it's so hot.

I guess cleaning front windows is allowed during red flag, since Tony Stewart's guy was wiping them down good. I also heard mention from a driver questioning the 18 being still allowed to work so I guess someone looked into it.

Sophia said...

Alex...they drive fast, lol.

Anonymous said...

Viewers should ask for money back from cable ops for this snoozer
And TNT ought to ask for money back from NASCAR

This is unwatchable

Bray Kroter

Anonymous said...

Comments like that are uncalled for. The race is not that bad. It is exciting is some cases. If you think cars going 200 MPH into a corner is boring, then change the channel.

Anonymous said...

I dislike the Race Buddy driver chat audio being so many seconds behind on restarts. Very jarring to see the cars up to speed and still here them saying "ready, get ready".

bevo said...

Thanks Red.

Anonymous said...

gotta say i'm liking the variety of shots being used thru out the race. we're getting the opportunity to see more cars than we did with fox and the long shots are putting the race into perspective. might be a function of the long straightaways at pocono but it's good to see that the director and producer are taking advantage of the track's uniqueness.

Anonymous said...

nice toss to larry mac on da biff discussion: seamless and relevant.

Anonymous said...

Awesome shots on RB on that last caution!!

Sophia said...

JPM got out in a hurry thank God.
WHAT's the deal with the fire men???????????????????????????????Move it move it, guys!


Idiots...incredible indeed...embarrassing.

alex said...

Pretty professional of them to call out the safety crew like that.

Anonymous said...

NASCAR should never come back to Pocono. Their saftey people are idiots.

Anonymous said...

Clint and Juan with Juan on fire

Anonymous said...

The Montoya fire and slow response by fire personal is why NASCAR needs a traveling safety crew!!!

Sophia said...

Thank GOD JPM got out so soon on his own...pitiful.

Anonymous said...

wow -- so not funny! WTF were those guys thinking? that damn car was on freakin' FIRS! when does it become important to move fast and take action? good thing montoya wasn't hurt in the wreck and could get out! shame on those guys and kudos to the booth for being so pissed!

bevo said...

Damn, hate to see that happen to JP. Glad he got out of the car so fast.

Newracefan said...

Oh a couple of PA's finest I guess a burning back of the car isn't that important when the driver's already out.

PammH said...

And Kyle & Wally call the fire guys OUT on national TV!!! I love it...good replays of the wreck also.

Anonymous said...

Just to add to the RB comment. I saw EVERYTHING on that last caution from RB. it is a great addition to the telecast. Amazing!

alex said...

In defense of the safety people, it looked like their first priority was to make sure Montoya was ok. Then they took care of the fire.

Sophia said...

Nothing wrong with the booth calling out the OBVIOUS.

Incompetent 'firemen'.

That was disgusting...thankfully JPM stopped and got out soon..those people were useless....what if somebody was trapped in that car?

I thought the COT wasn't supposed to catch fire but we've seen it a couple of times now.

bevo said...

Amazing the response time between that and the IRL race I was at last night.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

alex said...
Pretty professional of them to call out the safety crew like that.

of all the things that can happen at a race track, fire is THE most feared by drivers. there was NO excuse for those guys not busting ass to get to that car -- NONE! the driver did exactly the right thing by driving his on-fire car up to them. in spite of that, he still had time to get out of the car, walk toward them and then PASS THEM AS THEY STOOD THERE before they started to move. it was inexcusable and they deserved being "called out" by the booth on that.

Anonymous said...

Sophia the point is someone WAS NOT in the car!!!!!

COME ON PEOPLE!! they want to make sure JPM was okay first...then take care of the fire! NO ONE WAS IN THAT CAR!!! JPM ALREADY GOT OUT!!

Erik said...

The fire crew should have been there BEFORE JPM had a chance to get out of the car! That is why they deservedly need to be slammed.

Anonymous said...

alex said...
In defense of the safety people, it looked like their first priority was to make sure Montoya was ok. Then they took care of the fire.

defend away! i would like to hear montoya's take, however. your interpretation is reasonable but ya' know what? when the driver is walking toward you -- not running, not yelling, just walking away? i'm thinking at leadt ONE of you should be moving to the car. that's all i'm saying: not their best moment.

emeraldchickpea said...

Exactly, Erik. They should have been making some pretty fast tracks to that car -- after all it's their job. What if he HAD needed help to get out? Their hanging back was not the way to go -- they should have been approacting the car as soon as they saw his intention to pull off at that spot.

bevo said...

Anybody defending the slow response needs to watch it again. They didn't even move in until JP was out of the car and walking away.

Like Red said, fire is the most feared thing for a driver especially with all of the restraints they now have.

Sophia said...

Red your post about response people is spot on.

Again, Eric and I agree.

I am also glad TNT called these people out...they did deserve it.

I cringe to think what would've happened if JPM had been on a far side of the track...hard to find a place to stop with so many coming at you on long straightaways.

bevo said...

Missed restart - hard to do at Pocono

emeraldchickpea said...

Missed the restart...

Newracefan said...

How can you miss a restart at Pocono

Tracy D said...

Anyone remember Waltrip (55) on fire in California? He said he couldn't understand the fire crew, his car was burning, and he's going "are you going to put it out?" because it wasn't that easy for him to get out of the car.

I have a friend whose husband works the fire crew at Richmond, and believe me, what just happened at Pocono wouldn't happen in Richmond.

I have a tech question: how does that in-car camera clean itself?

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
I'm glad TNT isn't a bunch of Brian France and Mike Helton suck ups like SPEED and Fox have become."

Don't worry, tomorrow on TWIN Michael Waltrip will say he thought the emergency response was fine. Remember when MW was in that fire at Cali Speedway and the response was so incredibly slow you could even hear the annoyance in Jerry Punch's voice (and it takes a lot to get him excited?)? MW went on TWIN and said he didn't think the response time was that bad.

I'm very impressed by the TNT guys for saying what needed to be said.

The safety people have no defense for that type of response, plain and simple.

Anonymous said...

The saftey workers were not responsible to put out fires. In other words NOT FIREMANN....You folks ought to calm down.

Sophia said...

I can NOT believe NASCAR is defending that...sounds like the guys in the booth are suprised as well.

TNT guys just went up in my book to criticize...Kyle P knows what it's like to lose somebody in a wreck...he has a right to be critical as does Wally and Weber.

Kyle said...

Most of the fire crew at race tracks is all volunteer....... Not excusing their slowness by any means. But remember at least 1/2 of them are not even fire fighters.


Some of the crew is off duty fire fires, but the rest is all joe sixpacks.

Tracy D said...

Ah, Nascar is explaining there are fire crews with different responsibilities. So they're softening their criticism.

emeraldchickpea said...

Firemen or not, they should have been approaching the car. They were there for his safety.

bevo said...

Boy the phone was on fire from Daytona!

Anonymous said...

Tracy, originally MW mildly criticized the crew, but by the time the show rolled around Monday, he was talking the party line.

Erik said...

TNT went to commercial immediatly after the cars exited pit road. Normally, that would be a perfect time for a commercial break.

TNT just aired two commercials during that break, not many at all.

I blame that one on NASCAR for going back green way too quickly.

Anonymous said...

Blowhard announcers CALLED OUT!

Sophia said...

Tracy I remember Waltrips fire..he was such a tall guy he had to take off helmets and hans to even attempt to get out and those idiot responders also stood there like the Keystone cops.

PITIFUL. :( I remember him talking about it on INC the next day, too.

Anonymous said...

and nascar is now saying they were driver responders, not car responders? hmmm. so then why weren't they moving TOWARD the car when montoya pulled up? he had to walk up to them and it should be the other way around, doncha think?
and the guys who are responsible for the car? not exactly speed demons there, either.
bottom line: car is on fire. driver pulls to the safety people. everyone should be busting to get to him and the car. fire + less than urgent response = trouble.

Anonymous said...

I don't post a lot...but to me, NA$CAR has become a case of the Emperor having no clothes...Sad to see the sport I love so full of pride they can't admit their flaws and fix them.

am19psu said...

Rain is imminent again at the speedway.

Tracy D said...

4:27 - I remember Waltrip saying he was getting worried in California as the fire crew stood there, doing nothing. He didn't sound happy about it at all.

My friend's husband is a longtime fire chief - his crew at the track is experienced as well.

Anonymous said...

IS THIS A TV FORUM OR NOT????

WHERE IS THE TV DISCUSION???

bevo said...

Big thumbs up for the booth, especially Kyle, for politely calling bs on NASCAR's explanation.

Anonymous said...

I can NOT believe NASCAR is defending that...sounds like the guys in the booth are suprised as well.

Sophia: Sadly, NASCAR will defend their safety practices until another driver is killed on the track. I hate to be harsh but another death, especially of a prominent driver, is the only event that will spur NASCAR to change anything about local tracks hiring hodgepodge crews and medical teams.

It hurts to write that but I truly believe it.

Anonymous said...

It looks like we will see stewart on the In car cam again for the next 50 laps....he is now leading the RB in car vote.

Newracefan said...

What was that? A TGIF commercial for a few seconds the back to Wally's comments. Was that everywhere or just Comcast PA

Anonymous said...

Tracy wait until tomorrow and see what Waltrip says. He'll parrot the NASCAR line - again.

Sophia said...

Tracy IIRC

waltrip used humor and sarcasm about that fire response..in other words...he was not really harsh but he was none too pleased.

Glad to see them interview JPM and I am also suprised they are trying to fix the car.

alex said...

On the bright side, we haven't had any sound problems in a while.

Anonymous said...

Last I recall, the race was on TV. The announcers (TV crew) called out the lack of response by the fire crew. Seems to be a discussion of what is on TV. Lighten up Francis.

Anonymous said...

Notice how JPM was not mad at the safety crew in his interview.

alex said...

There has to be enough different companies advertising in nascar that we shouldn't be seeing the same video game commercial every 15 minutes.

emeraldchickpea said...

JD -- I'm probably going to beat this one to death but why are they not showing the top 5 headshots of the leaders when they go to commercial? I've gotten so accustomed to seeing this info displayed that way i really notice that it's NOT there.

Is this just TNT's 'style'???

alex said...

Yes, I know they buy all those ad spots, but it got annoying 2 hours ago.

Sophia said...

Anon

I am well aware of the lack of PRO active safety response in NASCAR...and sadly, i believe you to be correct...as do many.

Very sad but again, glad the guys in the booth were so honest in their opinion. like I said, TNT guys just made a big SPIKE in my book. :)

Kyle said...

NASCAR needs to step up and have a small crew (like 20-25 people) to do a Safety Safari like NHRA.
A team of 5 in each of the 4 corners and one team at another location depending on the track.

1 guy drives the vehicle.
2 guys are fire fighters
2 guys extract the driver

With that arrangement it would prove that NASCAR is committed to safety.
But thats me talking out my rump, heck they wont even drug test drivers and crew. Why would they care about driver safety?

Erik said...

I just find it wierd RaceBuddy is about 5-6 seconds ahead of my TNT broadcast feed. I should turn on MRN to try to see how far we are behind real time.

Sophia said...

Bummer waltrip hit the wall...darn

TNT was right on it.

Anonymous said...

All this bashing on NASCAR is uncalled for. If you dont like the sport then go away. We dont need this here. This is one of the best sports in the world and all of you are bashing it.

emeraldchickpea said...

Mikey's in da wall....now we can really wonder what he will say tomorrow...

Erik said...

Ooops with that commercial cut-in.

Anonymous said...

anonymous said...
The saftey workers were not responsible to put out fires. In other words NOT FIREMANN....You folks ought to calm down.

ok, i am NOT letting this go! first off: if they aren't fireman, they don't belong in that position on the track! montyoa saw them and assumed (not ureasonable, i say!) that they were, in fact, there to put out his flaming car!

second: the fire crew at my local dirt track respond faster than either the "driver safety crew" or "car fire crew" have just done at a track that has not one but TWO nascar dates each and every year. these guys who are charged with driver safety should be the best that can be hired, even if only for two weekends a year!

three: when it comes to fire and racing, "calming down" is the last thing you should want as a race fan! if these teams don't respond with urgency in the case of such an obvious emergency, i have to wonder when, exactly, they will feel the need to hustle. i have worked with the guys who are responsible for response times and i can tell you, they wouldn't be urging folks to calm down!

finally: a core, professional fire team AND medical team should be hired by nascar to go to every race. we have had two pit road "incursions" this weekend in two series and now another COT on fire.

it is a key responsibility of nascar to insure the safety of drivers, crew and fans every week at every track. there should be no acceptance of less than outstanding performance. i will not apologoze for my anger over the poor response time of BOTH the driver and car crews in this incident.

Anonymous said...

Who keeps pushing the wrong buttons!

Anonymous said...

Erik it is not weird. With the increase in HD channels, some cable co's are compressing all thier channels HD or not. That adds a delay that in some cases can put you TV behind the online feed.

Anonymous said...

I have not seen a commercial. Must be your cable CO

Anonymous said...

Our HD and reg TV are not in sync with same channels on.

Daly Planet Editor said...

Just got a little note from the track that the safety workers stationed on foot at that location were not allowed to go onto the pit road surface.

The unit responsible for that area was in a truck and was on-scene within fifteen seconds.

Thanks for the info, that helped to clear-up that issue.

JD

Erik said...

And there isn't encoding, compression, etc. involved in the online feed???

Normally, I've seen ABC HD about 4-5 seconds behind a live radio broadcast of a college football game, plus any audio broadcast on the internet would be 45+ seconds behind the the TV broadcast.

am19psu said...

The thunderstorm is moving into Mount Pocono, which is about 6 miles from the speedway. Hopefully, it misses just to the east.

Anonymous said...

anon 4:41: 'bashing" is not what's happening here and tossing that perjorative out is irresponsible. if criticizing nascar on a safety issue is bashing, then yeah, i'm all about that.
i love our sport and i know our fellow posters do as well. we care enough about it to be informed and intelligent, to ask the questions, to listen to the answers and yes, to disagree when we think something's wrong. that, my friend, is not bashing: it's intelligent discourse and it's a key feature of this blog.

emeraldchickpea said...

My two tv's aren't in sync either, and it's not due to HD issues (since I don't have one) -- one has a cable box and the other doesn't and they're at least a second off from each other.

bevo said...

Red-

Amen!
The sad part of the "explanation" is that JP drove right up to them and it still took them that long to respond.

Anonymous said...

Daly Planet Editor said...
Just got a little note from the track that the safety workers stationed on foot at that location were not allowed to go onto the pit road surface.

The unit responsible for that area was in a truck and was on-scene within fifteen seconds.

Thanks for the info, that helped to clear-up that issue.

JD

June 8, 2008 4:44 PM

Issue was that the TV Crew was not aware of situation and over-reacted.

Sophia said...

Red,

How come JD never tells you to cut back on caffeine like he does me? :-)

But seriously, I so agree with your safety/lack of response comments...you can NOT relax in certain instances.

An old neighbor of my mom's told me a story of being at a NASCAR race in the 60's I think...a driver's car burst into flames...he screamed out in pain and you could hear the driver screams...he died after that...so...Fire remains a huge fear of drivers and I am NOT CONVINCED the COT is as 'fireproof' as NASCAR tried to lead us to believe.

Sorry I don't remember that drivers named that died of fire injuries....but it's something a fan never forgets hearing..even decades later. :(

Anonymous said...

Erik EVERYTHING is encoded. But some use different methods. that creates the time difference.

Anonymous said...

See!! look at JD's post! it was not the workers fault. How would you feel if you were them and people called you incompetent. You wouldn't like it. all of you calm down. really!! The TV crew over-reacted and caused this mess.

bevo said...

JD,

Interesting. But shouldn't common sense be the rule?

emeraldchickpea said...

Then the point to be raised is "why would safety workers be forbidden from setting foot on the sacred pit road"? I wondered about that one.

Anonymous said...

sophiaz: i would suspect that was fireball roberts. ned jarrett ran up to his call to pull him out and the fire burned jarrett's hands. roberts died months later of pneumonia, brought on by the burns. jarrett retired.

as for caffeine: maybe jd just doesn't know me as well as he knows you! but yeah, today's been a beast and i'm just not being polite. group apology, everyone: feel free to chalk it up to heat.

Erik said...

And my point is, for some reason, TNT HD is far behind real time from any other HD source, over the same service provider I've seen. It wasn't even like this for their basketball broadcasts.

Kyle said...

Race Buddys Live Leader board is nowhere near right. It must update every 10 laps or something.

Anonymous said...

-----------------------
Just got a little note from the track that the safety workers stationed on foot at that location were not allowed to go onto the pit road surface.

The unit responsible for that area was in a truck and was on-scene within fifteen seconds.

Thanks for the info, that helped to clear-up that issue.
---------------------
It really didn't clear it up at all. It sounds like covering NASCAR's you-know-what to me.

Why didn't we see this responsible unit? Obviously Montoya wasn't aware of them. If they came to his rescue, wouldn't he be aware of them?

Anonymous said...

Fire and Safety workers have radios connected to race control(NASCAR) and are told when and where to go at all times. When at the track usually on NASCAR Channels 2&3 via scanner

bevo said...

Aside from the technical gaffes it sounds like the booth guys are doing a pretty good job when I switch the audio from HotPass.

Just wish they would raise the audio on TNT and the national feed on HotPass so I could hear it on those channels.

Spring Rubber said...

The TV crew did tell us later on in that caution period that those two guys weren't allowed to tend to the car itself. At least they sought to correct their earlier overreaction.

Anonymous said...

"Why didn't we see this responsible unit?"

WHERE WERE YOU???? They were the ones that pulled up in a bright red truck and put out the fire!! are you blind!??!!?

I saw it.

Daly Planet Editor said...

bevo,

At the racetrack, the fire/rescue is set-up with stations. Each is assigned and then controlled by radio from the tower.

The tower makes the call of what units respond what locations. If you have been at a race, you might have heard the fire/rescue channel.

If another car had come down pit road and struck the walking firemen who left their assigned area, the result would have been bad.

Race Control calls out who goes where and that is how things work. In the end, it all worked out just fine for all concerned.

You could actually see the safety guys walk right up to their boundary and then stop.

JD

RPM said...

My 2 cents on the TNT broacast so far...

I've seen better production from the local newscast weekend crew in the 192nd market.

NASCAR needs to review their safety crew policies.

TNT needs to scale back the self gratification.

Best part of the broadcast was when Webber's mic was dead.

Anonymous said...

jd: thanks for the info.
thanks, bevo: i agree: common sense should be the rule. clearly, it isn't.

and anon 4:51? when i hear not one but two drivers taking a crew to task, i have to believe that something is SERIOUSLY wrong! and maybe, just maybe, what's wrong is that nascar shouldn't have such "rules" about putting out a freaking fire! "i'm sorry, mr montoya, but we're not allowed to step over that line there to get to you or to put out a fire. could you just come over here a bit more?" it shouldn't have happened and if the guy was my brother, i'd give him a dope slap when he got home from the track!
ok, i'm finished with this. time to focus on how this race is being shown to us by tnt for me.

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