Sunday on The SPEED Report, co-hosts Krista Voda and Leigh Diffey threw cream puffs at NASCAR on Fox analyst Larry McReynolds.
Here were the question asked of McReynolds on the show in order:
1 - Why are teams testing at Rockingham? Answer: It's right down the road.
2 - How about tires, what is the latest from Goodyear? Answer: Teams are testing on old tires. We have not seen the 2009 tires yet.
3 - Anything the teams are doing right now help for Daytona? Answer: No.
4 - How did you like Fan Fest with no cars on the track? Answer: It was different.
5 - What is your view of no testing? Answer: I don't think it's a big deal.
6 - What can we expect in Bud Shootout practice? Answer: 28 cars in each session.
7 - How is Tony Stewart handling team ownership? Answer: That deal will work, he is just wearing two hats.
What Voda and Diffey failed to ask were any NASCAR questions of substance.
This seems to be the agenda of SPEED in the pre-season. We saw it with Preseason Thunder in week one and now we see it on The SPEED Report for the second week in a row.
Perhaps, you may have some suggestions of topics that SPEED can address during the next week. The network has Preseason Thunder on Monday through Friday at 7:30PM and has many NASCAR personalities available to comment on your topics.
What do you want to know as the season approaches? Truck Series issues? The fate of the Nationwide Series? Sprint Cup team questions? Recent sponsorship announcements? Contingency plans? TV cost-cutting? Top 35 questions? 4-car ownership rules? Bud Shootout changes?
Why not take a moment and click on the COMMENTS button and give us your top questions as the season approaches? TDP gets plenty of questions in email and fans usually address a wide variety of topics.
Let's see if SPEED addresses your questions this week as the days of Preseason Thunder roll by. Reporters Wendy Venturini and Bob Dillner will be on the Charlotte Media Tour, so there will be plenty of resources available to answer your 2009 NASCAR pre-season questions.
Thanks again for helping, just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy directions. Rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page.
12 comments:
Seriously I would like to ask the speed experts two questions.
1. Do you think all of your fans are that stupid? Quit treating us like idiots.
2. Why do you continue to not be objective in your commentary and questions? If the race team sucks let us know! Don't sugar coat it because you are "Freinds" with some guys on the team. Tell it like it is. You are paid to tell us the truth and be objective not make your "Friends" on the race teams happy.
Have a few Thanks JD
1. How/Why is Elliot Sadler back in the 19 car? What is the team saying and are they behind him or do they think the guys are going to "phone it in " this season?
2. How much pressure and by whom, was put on Nascar to change the Bud Shootout so Tony Stewart could be in the race?
3. Do they think there will be start and park cars in the cup series this year?
That's it for now I'm sure more will come to me.
1. When will Brian France resign and/or hire someone else to run NASCAR that actually has a clue how to run the sport.
I have only one SPEED question, for the programming dept. = Are you out of your mind?????
I will be trying to listen very carefully to what DW has to say, since in the past 18 months or so he has been right on a number of things and dropped hints on SPEED or in his FOX Sports columns well before the mainstream media giant brains "broke" the story.
J.D. - I don't have a question, but I do have a prediction...you will see the same type of conversation you saw last week. They will talk about testing (lack of), they will talk about new driver/crew chief combos, they will talk about this weekend's fan fest.
I'm not sure what sort of revelation you're looking for from the group on SPEED, but, from what I see, they see themselves in the role of "promotor". The various networks have been referred to as NASCAR's "TV Partners" and SPEED takes that word "partner" very seriously. I used to think that attitude was only a Waltrip thing, but over the last year or so, it has infected all of the SPEED analysts.
It is interesting to note the difference between what you complain about on ESPN and on SPEED. Both networks have the same primary goal - increase viewership. How they each go about it, though, is completely different. ESPN sometimes takes the tabloid approach (Hornaday, etc.), but SPEED takes the positive promotion approach.
They will talk about how exciting it will be to watch if history can be made by the 48. They will note that more people show up for races, even now, than do for major league baseball games (or whatever). They will say there's no such thing as a boring race (M. Waltrip has actually said that).
So to think that they would willingly point out the troubles that the truck series is having...I just don't see it. Why would they want to call attention to a situation that might cause someone to write-off watching the trucks? I'm not saying I agree with this approach, just saying that's what I think their thinking is.
actually, mr. daly, you are far too kind in your loose transcription of the answers mr mcreynolds gave.
i cringe almost everytime this poor man opens his mouth, as i know that an abominable corruption of the queen's english is about to follow. in my native britiain, we certainly have our share of contrivance and colloquialisms-not the least of which is the cockney rhyme-tyme that sounds to be a mish mash of homonymns. however, mr mcreynolds' continued preopsitional conumdrums has this brit "feelin like some kind 'o feeler who done just come outta the backroom"
honestly, can we do a little better job of lifting this sport out of its ultra countrified roots?
such a pity
cheers
bray kroter
I would ask what is the state of the trucks series, NW series Cup series. Please don't dance around it anymore just tell it like it is. If there is news report it ,but don't act as if all is well in lala land.
@ Anon 1:25, Ditto.
@ Bray, You have to get used to Larry Mac. He drove me crazy for the first few years. Now it makes him endearing. He's a smart man.
I don't have a question for Preseason Whisper. Would they really answer it?
1. Can you say that there will be races in the Truck or Nationwide series that will have less than full fields?
2. Can you honestly say that interest in Nascar isn't waning? Ignore the present state of the economy, but seeing how attendance and viewership has been down for a few years, before the economic crisis, how can anyone say Nascar isn't in trouble with the fans? The banners covering numerous stretches of grandstands supports this theory of fan abandonment.
3. Can anyone associated with the sport be truly objective in their opinions? Are you afraid to express real opinions or are you afraid of losing your jobs? Do the talking heads really hear and understand what the fans are saying?
4. How can anyone say the racing since the COT has been exciting? Most fans, who are being honest, say that Nascar has become boring and predictable.
5. How can Brian France look at us fans in the face and tell us that the COT has evened the playing field? Evening the playing field means that any driver/car can win any race on any given day. That's hardly the case.
6. Is there any way to put some sort of "salary cap" on what teams are allowed to spend on testing, development and other off the track things? When team A has the ability to spend $10 million dollars per car on such things, how can team B compete when they have a budget of $1 million?
7. With all the mergers, contractions, alliances and whatever, will Nascar ever get back to the Nascar of old, the Nascar we loved?
on the subject of SPEED, anyone watching Trackside? apparently they went to break and forgot to actually air the commerical lol
I don't know if we will get answers on purpose, but i think DW and the boys where talking among themselves maybe not realizing they where on and mentioned who cares about no pit stops if no one is watching the trucks and California being a ghost town.Also mentioned money disbursement, Ummm.
Do you think the business side of NASCAR has soured the racing side?
As a fan are we seeing the best drivers or the best pesonalities?
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