NASCAR has taken to Twitter like a fish to water. Free from the boundaries imposed on them by TV networks, NASCAR's on-camera personalities are almost all on Twitter and typing away like maniacs.
Just last week, TDP got in hot water for posting a Tweet from Michael Waltrip that suggested his Monday night This Week In NASCAR show may not return for 2010 due to low ratings. Waltrip got upset, some of his fans got upset and the funny thing was TDP became the target of that anger.
Now, Waltrip's friend Kenny Wallace posted on Tuesday the following:
Listen Up!..Nascar Sent Memos out to The TV Networks..We have to say Shootout Style...I know it's Crazy...But I saw The Memo With My Eyes.
Well, maybe the 140 character limit on Twitter caused Wallace to eliminate some of the reality behind the NASCAR information. Here is Nate Ryan from USA Today responding to some of the issues caused by the Wallace message:
Despite Tweet by @Kenny_Wallace, NASCAR apparently sent no memo demanding "Shootout Style". However, there were "terminology guidelines."
As the final seventeen races of the season approach, NASCAR is apparently trying to get the TV personalities to move away from some terms that have stuck for a variety of reasons.
NASCAR introduced the "free pass" and almost immediately it became the "lucky dog." Once the Car of Tomorrow was racing full-time, NASCAR suggested "new car" while many media members kept the COT term alive and well.
As fans know, NASCAR has used double-file restarts for a very long time. The difference this season is that the lapped cars go to the back and the entire field lines-up in order with the leader choosing either the inside or outside lane. The term that NASCAR suggested to make this clear for fans was "shootout style."
It was SPEED's John Roberts, Jimmy Spencer and Wallace on the two hour RaceDay show who began to have fun with the term. After a while, it was clear they were using it every chance they could get. As a result, fans told Wallace very clearly on Twitter during a recent RaceDay show that they needed a break.
Here at TDP, we have been using the term "new restart rules" because of the same "shootout style" overload. Maybe, we should leave it up to the fans to suggest some new terms that could apply for this as it spreads through the NASCAR series.
So, basically NASCAR was trying to remind the media members that the Car of Tomorrow is racing today. They also included the fact that the "free pass" does not mean that driver is a "lucky dog." No Aaron's gift certificates come with a wave-around in the truck series.
If you have any reaction to the "shootout style" issue, please leave us a comment. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.
How about we just call it a restart. Everyone knows it's double file. Same with the COT. It's what they race. Just call it the car or the race car.
ReplyDeleteI find it bizarre that NASCAR hates the LUCKY DOG but endlessly allows "DIGGER mentions aka PROMOTIONS."
ReplyDeleteI won't be watching much on tv at this point and will be curious what MRN says about the new restarts :)
John, that would make way to much sense!
ReplyDeleteJesus, why does NASCAR have to git involved with how the media describes race track action & the hotrods that are used? It'll just wound up being the same "cookie cutter" (where have we heard that word before?) play by play & coolor analysis on any network.
ReplyDeleteZig
Wow!!!..NASCAR fans sure can complain-about darn near anything!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the sport and don't worry about what things are called.
Just call it a restart like John says. If I'm an old fan, I know that it's different w/o them saying "shootout style" and if I'm a new fan I don't care that it's different.
ReplyDeleteThe only good thing about the overusage of the term is that it keeps them from endlessly explaining every little detail of the procedure (which half the time they act like they don't understand anyway and only confuse folks that haven't figured it out already) every time the restart the race.
Even the DFR part of DFR SOS is getting old. I think we get it now.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind Lucky Dog. We all want our driver to be that if he is the first car a lap down.
The COT does need to be referred to as just "car". Only the NW Series will be able to say COT since it will be new to them.
From Dot. Cheating @ work.
The sport I love is going down the tubes for a varying number of reasons & Nascar is concerned about broadcast terminology?? That Brian France, he's running a tight ship here...;)
ReplyDeleteDFR SOS grates on my nerves so bad and especially when JP uses it. He gets too excited saying it. Restart is good enough for me.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Am removing KW to follow on Twitter. Just too much. Maybe MW, too, although I like him a lot.
Don't TPTB at NASCAR have some really important business to tend to?
PammH
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. Perhaps soon like all the IROC style cars on the tracks, ALL THE BROADCASTS will use exactly same words/script/verbatim.
sigh...I did find myself enjoying Open Wheel sunday last week. . . :)
NASCAR does not deserve to suck all the time away from us.
AND OW races over in 2.5 hrs!
NASCAR 4 or 5..and that's just the actual race!!
but as you said pammh, so many problems where to even begin...
Ditto what Dot said
ReplyDeleteNewracefan also cheating @ work
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ReplyDeleteWhat John said. Since there's no chance of a different kind of restart it's a pretty stupid thing to be concerned with.
ReplyDeleteYou know it's kinda funny, I'm a member of the Nascar Fan Council and every since Pocono I've added "make them STOP saying SHOOTOUT STYLE" in the comment section every week. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I didn't get a survey this week.
ReplyDeleteI had a nice tweet chat with Ramsey, very nice man :)
ReplyDeleteIt does get annoying with these "fancy" terms for darn near everything. After chatting with Ramsey it is understandable why they would send out a "list" of acceptable terms. So I'll be annoyed everytime they DFR SOS.
The term "Lucky Dog" was, I believe, coined by the NBC crew (possibly Dallenbach), and had nothing to do with Aaron's until some smart person there figured out that it would be a good sponsor tie-in.
ReplyDelete"Free Pass Car" was, I also believe, coined by Fox, which didn't want to say "Lucky Dog" when NBC was saying it.
NASCAR 4 or 5..and that's just the actual race!!
ReplyDeleteSophia, there has been a lot of talk on Sirius NASCAR Radio about shortening races lately.
The callers who comment, overwhelmingly--like 100-to-1--don't want that.
The most often-voiced sentiment is, "I pay a lot to go to a race--I want to see all the racing I can, not less."
Shorten the races? How about shortening those overlong, repetitive pre race shows? But maybe all the media people are just worried about getting their stories in before their deadlines, since races generally start so late in the day now?
ReplyDeleteAnd if Aaron's ponied up the ad money for it to be the "Aaron's Lucky Dog driver" then Nascar would be sending out a new memo in a hurry wouldn't they?
ReplyDeleteIt is ridiculous what money has done to how Nascar is run.
Shorten the races? How about shortening those overlong, repetitive pre race shows?
ReplyDeleteI don't get this sentiment.
If you don't like the pre-race shows, don't watch them. Just turn on the TV when the race begins.
Kanny Wallace 4:15PM:
ReplyDeleteSo!.I Turned My Phone Off for a Day!.To Race Dirt Cars In Canada. Turned it Back on. Looks Like I am in the Media for The Nascar Memo WOW!!.
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ReplyDeletemoon,
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome to repost without the political reference. Thanks.
JD
Seems like NASCAR is trying to control every aspect of the sport. I am sure if someone is dedicated enough to watch 2 hours of Jimmy Spencer, they are well enough versed in the sport to understand what any of the broadcasters are saying in reference to restarting and the car they drive.
ReplyDeleteI am more turned off by the annoyance of DW and his boggety...boggety...boggety and Wally talking about the way it was when he raced. Did he race a year, maybe 2?
Actually Kenny is heading to my do not follow list soon. With all he HAHAHAHAH stuff.
ReplyDeleteJD is he implying he didn't send the Tweet about the memo?
nrf,
ReplyDeleteNo, he is just surprised at the reaction, much like Waltrip.
These are high profile guys now and that Twitter phone in their hand can either be very good for them or very bad.
Either way, they do all the typing.
JD
Like almost everyone else who's posted here, I too suggest just calling it a 'restart'.
ReplyDeleteNo 'double file'; they've always been double file if there were lap-down cars. No 'shootout style'; that's a meaningless term dreamed up by some marketing twit in Daytona.
And if NASCAR doesn't like Mikey thanking Aaron's every time the Truck series throws a caution, then they can darn well stop taking Aaron's endorsement and advertising money.
Yes, just call them restarts...and don't miss them when coming back from a commercial!!
ReplyDeleteThis prerace show thing is driving me nuts. Am I missing something? Are people tied to their chairs with a gun to their head. And if so, who is doing this and why isn't it happening to me?
If watching live, just start later. If DVRing, FF for Fox races and just don't hit record for ESPN & TNT prerace shows. If a lot of people don't watch, it will mean low ratings and they'll change format!!
moon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to come back, that was a classy move.
JD
If the networks continue to use the "shootout style" phrase, I am seriously considering just not watching the last races of the season. ESPN sucks as it is and if they have to use that stupid terminology, then I will have no problem finding something else to do on my weekends.
ReplyDeletei have given up following kenny wallace after this silliness. i was hanging in, despite all the exclamations points and "hahahah"s but when he can't correctly read a memo and then tweets out inaccurate info? for me, that's the kiss of death.
ReplyDeleteand if we're counting, i'm with john: it's a "restart" and "the car." and either eliminate it or go back to calling it "the free pass" -- because that's what it is.
man, i miss petty and dallenbach already . . .
I stopped watching RD FAITHFULLY when the started making it 2 hrs all the time last year. And then THREE hours. Are you kidding me?
ReplyDeleteI would have it on low while I did things to see Wendy's stuff but even that got old unless it was somebody I really liked.
I DID enjoy TNT's stuff and would watch it..just because it was for 6 weeks probably. :)
I still say I am going to the shorter IRL races..I enjoy the oval racing more than the street courses, though.
NASCAR has messed up with too many changes over the years.
On TWIN I heard Mikey talking about having to QUALIFY for the Brickyard years ago..take away the top 35 I have heard for all the years I've been watching NASCAR..only since 2004
Why keep fixing things that were not broken.
I still dont understand Daytona 500 qual. Like a calculus problem and I stunk at that, too.
KW does use up many 140 with hahaha, doesn' he?
Cant beat the first comment posted here.
ReplyDelete"SHOOTOUT STYLE" has wore my last nerve to the bone.
KW needs to be put on Ritalin and that SHOOT OUT STYLE needs to be sent the way of that damn rat!
ReplyDeleteSheesh... when will the powers to be figure out that not all race fans are nit wits, why the continous repeition? We get it NASCAR.. we get it... we get it... we get it...we get it!!!!
It should be illegal for K Wallace
ReplyDeleteto have a tweeter to continue
his moronic harangue. Please don't tell DW about them.
JQ,
ReplyDeleteNice to see you here. Thanks for taking the time to post.
JD
I seem to remember that Wally D was the first broadcaster to use the term Lucky Dog. Aarons later tied it in with their mangy hound logo.
ReplyDeleteDodge boy from Canada
That's right, it was the old RCA dog on the hood of a car...wasn't it Mayfield?
ReplyDeleteNo more "Shootout Style"! I am tired of hearing the term. It seems like they (TV folks) are trying to make it out to be more than it really is. It is a "Restart". Can the ridiculous term and call it a restart.
ReplyDeleteJD - The SIRIUS dog on the car was known as "Mongo", and it was on Jimmy Spencer's car.
ReplyDeleteWally did coin the phrase "Lucky Dog" during the first race the rule was applied. I remember it well. During the first caution, when they identified the car who received the free pass, Wally said something to the effect of, "boy, that guy sure is a lucky dog!" Everyone laughed, and at the next caution Weber asked Wally to repeat what he had called the first guy. Everyone thought it was funny and they kept using the term. It eventually stuck like glue.
Oh, and as for Aaron's, I think they created the mascot just to tie in with their racing themed commercials with Mikey, after the term "Lucky Dog" was in wide use in the sport.
ReplyDeletei havn't posted in about a year, but i'm a faithful reader. thanks for taking the time to keep up with site, i'm sure it can be a pain. THANKS!!!!!!
ReplyDeletethey should just call it a resrart. they should just call them racecars, not c.o.t. and while when changing terminology, lets get rid of the green, white, checkered and just call it a 2 lap shootout?
with espn taking over, i guess the radio will get turned on. i just can't listen to jerry punch more than 5 minutes. i sure hope they've made some changes from last year. (don't look real promising judging by the nationwide races)i got a feeling we're going to see espn's rating are gonna be worse than fox and tnt. hope i'm wrong
"Shootout style", "boogity, boogity, boogity", "COT", and the seemingly endless stream of catch words or phrases don't only exist as a minor annoyance in NASCAR broadcasts but in everyday language on the streets, in the office and about anywhere else you go. How about "polictically correct", "it is what it is" and oh, my favorite, "warm fuzzy". (I'm really glad that one finally died, just wish it hadn't been kept on life support by one particular moron in my office the as long as it did). Like most cutesy words or phrases, they all go away eventually and the ones currently in the NASCAR TV media are no different. But don't worry, I'm sure they'll be replaced by some other equally overused word or phrase that all the monkey see, monkey do announcers latch onto. There's a lot of other more important things in life to worry about so, "chill out", "take pill", "cool your jets" (see, most of you probably had already forgotten about those oldies, sorry I had to remind you of them).
ReplyDelete