Tuesday, April 19, 2011

TV Police: NASCAR on FOX from Talladega


Buford Pusser retired from professional wrestling and moved back home. He quickly found that corruption riddled his county. He ran for sheriff, got the job and proceeded to unleash a clean-up campaign that made for a powerful 1973 movie called Walking Tall starring Joe Don Baker.

Pusser wanted to deal with the elephant in the room, which was the gambling and moonshine activities in his county. It was an issue almost no one wanted to admit existed, but almost all wanted solved.

This week, the NASCAR elephant in the room was the two-car teams that drivers were forced to form in order to compete. No single car could race at Talladega and remain in contention. This was the single biggest issue that the TV telecast would deal with from start to finish.

The pre-race show contained all kinds of features and guests. Chris Pizzi toured the Talladega infield and discovered NASCAR fans eating food. The Auburn football coach got TV time as Michael Waltrip was driving a car with AU football sponsorship. The starting command was a tad weak.

Darrell Waltrip called the racing "different, but an exciting different." Waltrip, Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond were on the infield outdoor stage at the end of pit road. This time, fans were present around the stage.

Waltrip's "Revved-up" segment was about Talladega racing. His commentary was about last minute passing, accidents and surprise winners. Never in his comments did he mention the fact that the entire race was going to consist of teams of two-drivers who must stay nose to tail to win.

At one time, Waltrip appeared to drop the S-bomb. He did not, but was struggling in his unscripted commentary to talk about "sitting around a fire" (Survivor) as a reality show he hated and Talladega as a reality show he liked. This "Revved-up" segment has never clicked.

The race began with Mike Joy trying very hard to explain the new drafting format to fans. Larry McReynolds and his famous "pull the belts tight" is apparently gone for good as Waltrip screamed his customary "Boogity!"

The race immediately settled down into drafting practice with pitstops. There was not much the TV announce team could do. Some teams raced while others controlled the speed and hung in the back of the lead lap. Accidents between teammates were the order of the day early on.

FOX continued to deliver on caution flag pitstops with good angles and the graphic of cars as they left pit road. Green flag stops got a double video box with the leader on one side and the key car making a stop in the other. It worked well.

On the Kyle Busch accident, the network came back early from commercial. At one other point in the race, FOX returned to show a bumper bar on the track as the field continued to race under green. A caution flag was quickly thrown.

The event continued with little racing as the two-car teams just drafted up, then faded back as they had to swap positions to cool down the cars. It was a struggle for continuity as random teams appeared and then disappeared from contention.

A caution with less than 30 laps to go bunched-up the field and made it better for the finishing laps. The field stretched out again and then bunched up resulting in two accidents involving Ryan Newman. Waltrip claimed Newman's dirt track driving skills saved him from bigger problems.

The final segment was a two-car team dash for the cash with eleven laps to go. It was a lottery and ultimately resulted in Jimmie Johnson being pushed over the line by his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the race. The post-race interviews revealed drivers frustrated by this style of racing. Look for some changes by NASCAR to make this go away before Daytona in July.

This post will serve to host your comments on the NASCAR on FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Talladega. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

54 comments:

  1. What is an E-Ticket? Besides Matt Yocum's favorite saying.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The racing was a joke all weekend. Good camera work couldn't save the boring drafting practice for 160 laps. DW was all over the place as usual, at a certain point claiming anyone outside the top 8 was out of contention, only for 20+ cars to be in contention 3 laps later. An exciting finish was ruined by the winner. The last thing the sport needs is the continued dominance of Busch in the lower series and return of Mr. Vanilla in Cup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok, Darrel "almost" drops the S-bomb... and just a minute ago the F-bomb definitely slips through by accident on team radio during the Versus Indycar broadcast.

    Is the FCC mad yet? :p

    ReplyDelete
  4. I thought much of the camera coverage was good today,especially the areial or overhead shots. The three stooges in the booth were no better or worse today. This is the way they roll. The finish of the NNS and Sprint Cup races were very exciting. They did take the time to interview more drivers today, but I would have liked to hear what Kurt Busch thought about the encounters he had today. Ditto for Logano and Kyle Busch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The best camera angles of the entire race were from the direct tv blimp! Why they choose to limit the use of the overhead shot is a mystery? This two x two racing is not what I expect from NASCAR, it may have been an exciting finish but it was a boring 187 laps till then. The momentum is gaining force against FOX, other blogs are finally speaking out about the coverage and JD yo have lead the way.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Roland, years ago I was at Disneyland in California and when you bought a book of tickets they were labeled A to E. An A ticket was for some simple ride or other simple thing to do but the E ticket was for the big rides. An E ticket got you the best rides.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So, Fox == A-Ticket. Sounds about right...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Today's race was pretty good. Camera coverage was decent and the finish was great. With a margin of 0.002, I doubt NASCAR will change anything before the Firecracker 400. Also, whether you like them or not, both Busch and Johnson earned their race. Busch didn't dominate the field yesterday, he just charged when the time was right. Johnson and Jr. did the same today.

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Roland: Disney originally did't have a one-price-for-all, but sold ticket books. The um, less exciting rides cost an A ticket, and others used B, C, D, and E tickets. As a result, a really exciting ride cost an E ticket, resulting in the more broadly used expression "that was a real E-Ticket ride."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well then today was an A ticket race with an E ticket finish

    ReplyDelete
  11. Buford Pusser, I love it! Only watched the last 20 laps. I did read through the entire blog today because I like to hear what your all thinking. Watching the IZOD race , very good stuff happening over there on Versus. Yes Rambo M, they were dropping the f-bomb big time, it was like real human emotion, the racing has me on the edge of my seat, Also following the Tiger's baseball game on MLB on line game day app, It's like they are trying to make it interesting to follow them, Yes the IZOD side by side during commercial is very nice, and sponsored by SUNOCO, Oh the humanity,

    Mike

    ReplyDelete
  12. I forgot to mention that the "Pit Reporters"---remember them? The pit reporters had a 'holiday' today. Talk about underutilized with all the action going on.

    ReplyDelete
  13. glad I'm not the only one who remembers the E tickets.

    DW was as annoying as usual. I should have turned on MRN, but I just didn't care enough to bother. Plate racing of any kind, old or new, is not a big fave of mine. They did do a little more wide shots but I think that was because of the type of racing. I appreciated them coming back from commercial for the wrecks. I have to say, I wonder about the camera placement, because they don't have the best overhead shots there. Frankly, I think people exaggerate the excitement of the old racing. 3 hours of freight trains going around, I used to not pay much attention til the last 30 laps or so...no difference there. The excitement was in waiting for the big one.

    But I would like to ask anyone with an idea--how is it that NASCAR is supposed to change this? The crew chiefs said after Daytona that smaller plates wouldn't change it, and they didn't. You'd have to somehow change the shape of the cars to make them not able to push, and that would probably just cause more wrecking. Maybe this is karma because they didn't lower the banks when they had the chance.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I watched the race live today. I can't really figure out why...maybe habit or some hope that the drivers would somehow make the overall race better.

    Camera work and director choices -- improved somewhat but still needs to be much better; was probably only tolerable at times because the director was forced into wider and longer-held shots due to the track and style of racing. Replay work was excellent but, as I said during the live blogging, it should be considering how much of any Fox NASCAR telecast is on replay.

    Announcing and information -- just plain horrible. Fox completely failed to follow up so many stories and events that I lost count of them about an hour into the race. DW's opinions are about as consistent as a lumpy bowl of Cream of Wheat. Mike Joy added barely anything of note other to describe the obvious (he needs to take a refresher course from Bob Jenkins over on Versus). Fox's stellar pit crew was yet again greatly underused. Overall, I got more information on this race from reporters and others that I follow on Twitter than I did the Fox crew.

    Racing quality -- despite the fantastic finish and actually enjoying seeing Jimmie "Mr. Roboto" Johnson be so excited upon winning the closest race since electronic timing was introduced, the overall on-track product was abysmal. To me, this "love bug" style of racing where drivers have lost what limited ability they previously had to determine their own destiny is just not fun...nor is everybody on Fox telling me how great it is when I know I'm nowhere near the only person that feels it stinks.

    How disappointing. NASCAR brings us tons of new cookie-cutter races with cookie-cutter cars, leaves great short tracks, ruins Bristol and the restrictor plate tracks, disrespects Darlington, and allows coverage of its top division that is driving people away ("ratings are up," my Aunt Fanny!).

    That ticking sound you hear is the clock running out on the life-long interest of more NASCAR fans, myself included. :-(

    ReplyDelete
  15. I still have a couple of old Disney World ticket books. No E tickets though, Just A & for some reason C tickets. I kept them because it says right on the tickets and the book covers they are "good forever." But, when they changed to one price they became "good for nothing".

    I'd give the broadcast a C Ticket, but mostly because of the blimp shots and because I have a few to spare.

    On the bright side, though most drivers were quiet about not liking the 2x racing, Jr. was not -- and when Jr. talks...

    ReplyDelete
  16. "KoHoSo" Nice review, thanks for confirming my feeling once again.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Listened to radio-didn't watch until last 30. I was on twitter tho. Last 2 laps were great, rest of the race sucked. btw, Jim Utter is making a HUGER azz of himself over on twitter, trying to say JJ & Jr. passed below the yellow line. The pic he shows for proof has JJ NOT passing at that time. SMH...

    ReplyDelete
  18. I watched about half the time today. Lots of other interesting
    sports on. The coverage would have
    been better if Jaws would just
    shut up.

    I think today was modeled after the
    alternative wrestling style. You
    know; Tag Team. BZF and Helton
    know what they want to show.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mr Editor -
    Send Sheriff Pusser into the FOX booth, maybe he can knock some sense into the duds we're stuck with ...if Mike Joy continues the way he is going, he'll be making Marty Reid sound competent ...and that's not saying much ...baby steps on video side, but no creativity in coverage ...two-plus-two racing a known quantity ...adapt your coverage, for goodness sakes ...the technology exists ...mute button works well; MRN PXP is a good fit ...Bob Jenkins got the boot from ESPN coverage, but makes FOX team sound like the amateurs we may be seeing them for now ...whazzup w/in-car camera at 200+ mph ...SPEED and Versus coverage head and shoulders above FOX ...TNT is coming
    Walter

    ReplyDelete
  20. I worked on other things today with the race in the background. I looked up when something interesting came along. I wasn't distracted very often. I will watch when there is an actual race on the boob tube and there are people other than boobs in the booth. I felt it was a poorly presented poor excuse for a race.

    ReplyDelete
  21. watching wind Tunnel, they just said that Junior & Jimmie decided Jimmie was faster...unlike what DW tried to convince us (with what evidence?) Just sayin'. More of DW's obsession of the 88.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I thought Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave his best interview in a long time after the race today on Fox. He seemed energetic and well spoken in describing his day.

    What NASCAR needs more then anything else is a heel that people will tune in, or go to the races, to see get beaten each week.

    The TV announcers always get criticized compared to radio, but they are essentially forced to cover the races differently. Every sport seems more exciting on radio if the radio broadcasters do their job correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I used the radio exclusively for today's race. Didn't watch any pre show either. I am happy.

    ReplyDelete
  24. nascar broadcasts on fox are why i love nhl playoff season & the beginning of baseball season. i don't feel as if i'm missing anything nascar when i watch my other sports.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Remember when the play-by-play man was allowed to call the finish of the race?

    Can you imagine what Dale Sr's 500 win would've sounded like had it happened on a FOX broadcast?....

    "20 years of trying. BOOGITY BOOGITY 20 years of WHIPPEE DAAAALLLLEEEEEE!!!! HE DID IT!!!! ALLRIGHT!!!!! Dale Earnha---WINS THE DAYTONA 500!!!"

    Poor Mike Joy.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I did myself proud...I listened to my innerself and didnt turn the race on til I saw 25 laps, which was 24 laps too much.Bumper cams,bumper talk,barebond talk,and whay appeared to me to be Dw's disappointment that Jr didnt win. Once again Fox finished 3rd behind Versus and Speed's coverage of their respective races.Can I get a job as a pit reporter???. I wont see good race coverage on Fox til they show F1.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The announcers did the best they could with a boring product. To keep fan interest in restrictor plate racing, it must be fixed.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Is FloridMatt indeed Matt Yocum? Thanks for the Inside Info - Great Job Today! It was definately a EEEEExciting finish.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Just a friendly reminder to reference the TV telecast or a current comment thread please.

    This blog is not about racing, teams or rules. We try to stay centered on TV and media topics.

    Thanks!

    JD

    ReplyDelete
  30. At least they didn't hesitate to show the empty stands.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This is not good racing and frankly I slept more than I watched. I also want to know why we need a boring one hour pre-race show? The broadcast as usual was lame and Waltrip well was Waltrip that I am sick and tired of and the racing sucked. When is NASCAR going to get off of their butts and give the fans what they are demanding, or else they are going to be worse than what Indy cars used to be.I switched to the Indy car broadcast after that fiasco of a race in Talladega and it was fun watching it. The racing was interesting and the broadcast team obviously enjoys what they are doing and seemed to really respect each other and have fun with each other and maybe Versus needs to get the NASCAR contract back and frankly it was great hearing Bob Jenkins call a race again.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I didn't think the coverage was all that bad considering what Fox had to work with. We heard more from the pit reporters, good use of the multi-car radio systems, and some good explanations as why the 2-car tandems work and a 3-car or more tandem will not work.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I had other things to do on Sunday so i missed almost all of the broadcast except for the last 3 laps. I'm not a big fan of RP racing to begin with and this 2 car deal makes me even less interested, but since I'm a Gordon fan, I was very excited at the end -- at least until the duo of 88 pushing the 48 to the win prevailed.

    Not sorry I missed this telecast.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I was very interested to see what some of the users would post on here. I'm pleasantly surprised by some members on here, and not by others. Some people actually give FOX a chance and grade their performance week by week, others already have an agenda coming in, decide to bang their head against the wall for most of the race, and then blame FOX for giving them a headache.

    Week after week I read about people wanting more wide shots and less hyper-tight/in-car shots. And although I think it was the style of racing that forced them to do it, you got a lot more wide shots today on the coverage and it really helped.

    At least FOX was able to bat .500 on capturing wrecks live. Both Ryan Newman crashes were in camera frame when they occured, the Vickers/Cassill crash and the "big one" with Keselowski/Ragan/Bayne ect. was also missed (I don't count the Kyle Busch/Kenseth crash because they were at commercial, but cut in live, also kudos for cutting into commercial).

    The X-Mo coverage of the Cassill/Vickers crash was great as well, exactly what I like to see with those kinds of cameras, used sparingly and only when great action is captured.

    They were wide angle for the finish and stayed with the front pack of cars even after they crossed the line, then gave us a quick drop-down menu of where the entire pack of cars finished.

    I do agree, the booth is terrible, you can't change the fact that DW is annoying, you can change the camera angles to give better pictures to help block out DW. But even to their credit, this style of racing is "sit and wait" for 3 hours and go in the last 20 miles, so there isn't much to talk about.

    I also agree the pit reporters were underused, especially as to why Bill Elliott got out of the 46 and J.J. Yeley got in.

    You can also credit this to the style of racing, but all 40 cars that attempted to run the full race got TV coverage at some point. Following the Dave Blaney story was excellent, the booth did a good job developing the story of the underdog.

    Kudos on the post race coverage, followed up on the Blaney disappointment, there was good raw emotion there. Interviewed a fair amount of drivers at the end. Also credit the booth did not talk about points or the chase at all today, first mention of points was in the post-race.

    Was the coverage great, no, not at all. I'm no fan of FOX coverage, but even I have to admit they came close to getting it right, I just wish there were more members on here that could swallow their pride and admit that as well, instead of pursuing their favorite past time...complaining.

    ReplyDelete
  35. FNG,

    I chose to use your post because you have some good points about the TV coverage.

    I am telling you loud and clear that no one on my blog tells others what to do, think or say.

    Your opinion is equal to the other posters on this site, no better and no worse.

    We welcome your comments on the race coverage, but trying to tell other adults and hardcore NASCAR fans that you are right and they are wrong is ridiculous.

    JD

    ReplyDelete
  36. yesterday was very productive day..got done with some housework, finished quilting, and oh yeah, listened to most of the race.

    I did peek at the t.v. when the voices got high, however, it was kind of a let down. The intense action that the broadcasters were talking about, didn't quite conincide with what they were showing.

    What can you say about DW that hasn't been said before? Past his time and out to lunch. And yes, those Toyota drivers do make mistakes, but you'd never know it by him.

    I thought that Fox had pit reporters? Didn't see any of them? Why?

    I'd like to hear more from Mike Joy. I'd suggest he bring some duct tape so that he could finish his sentence before the booger man interrupts.

    Basically, I will just continue to "listen" to the race, because the t.v. coverage DOES NOT translate well with Fox.

    When is TNT taking over?

    ReplyDelete
  37. I am giving FOX somewhat of a pass this weekend because I just didn't enjoy the racing until, of course, the last few laps.

    Once upon a time I loved listening to DW, Larry Mac and Mike J. It was like 3 guys sitting on the couch with you having a conversation while weaving in some stories of the past.

    Maybe we have just heard it all after 10 years.

    It just seems DW has become a caricature of himself.

    Still believe that the overall production/direction of the pre race & race are the fundamental problems. Get people that know how to present racing and booth won't matter as much or may even improve.

    Of course racing isn't covering life and death, but all the goofy clowning, aren't we a bunch of hicks presentation is dissapointinga and demeaning to the sport.

    Model should be the F1 guys. China race was outstanding. Why they can watch a race on a monitor and make it exciting when FOX/ESPN can't do it live is beyond me.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Yesterday I started with the usual multi tasking to attempt to "watch" the race. After the first 25 mins. I started watching Indy light on VS during commercials. Sometimes I missed a few laps of pairs tag team driving at Dega. No TV coverage - IMHO- could have saved that debacle.
    It was lots of things, what it wasn't was racing.

    The coverage from what I saw was semi decent. Wide shots, even showed empty seating sections.
    Multiple groups of partners, overhead shots very nice.

    I watched the last 25 laps all the way to the end. Last 2 laps showed racing, the rest was rubbish.

    What can I say again about DW. He needs to be quiet. For long periods. He should not be allowed to utter a word nor sound during last 2 laps. He needs to be less biased. He needs to grow up & realize he is not a "fan" - he gets paid. When you get paid you are professional ( allegedly ) and should act like it.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Update from FOX:

    "Fox NASCAR Sprint Cup from Talladega earns 4.6 overnight, down from 4.9 for same race last year."

    ReplyDelete
  40. I thought DW's final speech before the race - about how this is "Talladega Racing" was him at his best. He really got me excited for the start of the race.

    I thought Pizzi was funny, but somewhere Rutledge is thinking his whole act has been stolen.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Of course the Fox coverage was subpar, mainly because DW is so unprepared, and shows no evidence of ever being prepared to call the color man's actual duties. All he seems to do is shill out the first thing that comes to mind, which detracts from the other two in the booth. Unload him Fox, and let Mike and Larry do the race.
    The interview with Jr. showed what a class guy he is, helping JJ get the win, and actually being happy about it. The pit reporters were grossly underused, which is really too bad. And summing up, let's all chip in to buy Berggren a new hat. He looks like he should be at a concours event, buying a Rolls or something.

    ReplyDelete
  42. JD. I think the ratings are inaccurate. How many Tvs were on with nobody watching? How many Tvs were watched by one when they used to be watched by several? Many of us had the TV on but were doing something else until we heard something happen in the race. I didn't listen as much as I heard excitement from the booth monkeys. I was frequently fooled by the fake excitement but I just went back to what I was doing.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I still can't comprehend the purpose of cutting to a shot that shows me the hood of a car. It tells me absolutely nothing about that car(other than the sponsor perhaps) or the race. And amazingly, I don't even find it cool, which I guess is the intent.
    I know regular RP racing is not everyone's cup o' tea, but this two by two just leaves me feeling ill. You can't do anything on your own. For example, Jeff Gordon jumping in front of a charging Tony Stewart back in 2007 to win at Dega.

    ReplyDelete
  44. And another thing I forgot to post about. Clearly we're being sold on how exciting the racing is because of 80 lead changes or however many (MR gave us that stat ad nauseum during the NNS race). I don't know about anyone else, but if you watch RP racing, you know the leader will change alot. I don't get all excited if my guy takes the lead halfway or three quarters of the way through the event. It's kind of meaningless. If the number of lead changes is that important, why not trumpet that stat in every race, even if the race has 5 lead changes.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Another thought. The only thing that saved me was watching the race on HotPass. Being able to listen to the scanners is alway interesting, educational and fun. But, especially for this race, listening to JR, Jimmy and TJ was the only thing keeping me from doing other stuff. It really allowed you to understand the intensity and strategy of the race for them. Did you hear Jimmy asking Chad after the race if he could listen in to JR's radio at other races...LOL! Chad said no.

    I'm just hoping the new car design fixes this.

    In the meantime, if the RP races have to be this way, TV had better figure out a way to incorporate more of the scanner talk...less booth :-)...into the broadcast to keep it interesting. (I know they did some, because 2nd window on HP is FOX with audio which is low, but still can hear it. )

    ReplyDelete
  46. (mounts soapbox)

    Once again having been lucky enough to be there and then to have come home and watched the dvr I can understand the home viewers' frustration.

    I do not know if it is because of the truck's agenda or what, but despite the fact there were two car tandems running all day, there was, partucularly the last 40% or so of the race, some great strategy being played out on the track; a point TV all but missed, and probably would have missed completely had not Jr. & Jimmie been involved.

    TV just did not show it. But they should have. Just for example, on the scanner there was Voldemort telling Weasley what to do and Jr. coaching Weasley and calling the position shots so all Weasley had to do was drive and he would, and did, win. But did the booth make this plain? Noooo.

    Same was true for Mark and Jeff. But did TV show this? Noooo.

    About 20 laps out the plan all began to come together, and knowing on-the-scene eyes and ears with scanners could see it and hear it setting up, but did TV show this? Did the booth talk about it? Noooo and Noooo.

    So as a broadcast it was a fail in my opinion, but as a race it was a well-played chess match and I thought delightful to watch.

    JD, have you ever considered leading a coup? Like storming the truck and taking over? I'll help. I've been a lucky duck this season for reasons not of my making (bus owner got divorced and has little to do except truck us around) have been at three races and will be at the Southern 500. All three races have been good. All the TV has been dismal.

    Nuff sed.

    (steps down)

    ReplyDelete
  47. Osbornk, I don't think they can ever measure that--but I'm guessing that's true of *many* sports. I was multitasking as well, but I often do. 2009 was a 4.5 in the overnights (I looked it up--highest was, I think 2005 with a 6.something.)

    BTW, sorry if my comments may have helped steer the blog astray. It's just frustrating to see people here blame NASCAR (and I'm certainly no fan of the PTB) for the 2packs....frankly, I'm guessing they are not happy at all and would love to see it go back. Although, you would not know that from DW's cheerleading. The sad thing is, I used to like him, and now it's just become so bad. I agree with those saying he sounds ill prepared. I get that you want to appear spontaneous, but you also have to do your homework. And this business of him always knowing what the drivers are thinking...makes me insane. I agree with FNG--I do think that the type of racing did force them to talk about guys like Blaney. But I think it's obviously more of a fluke, not something they would make an effort to do, so it almost doesn't count. It would be hard even for them to ignore the guy up front. I don't think I'm even going to risk them messing up Richmond--I'll just put on MRN.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Certainly one of the better races of the year, both on the track and on TV.

    As for the 2 car draft, drivers and NASCAR have wanted to break up the big packs for years-and they finally did. Yet everyone is upset about it. The 2 car draft is safer and still exciting. 4 wide for the win and tying the all-time record for lead changes at 88 with last year's race. If I were NASCAR, I wouldn't change a thing.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I love how you guys (Ancient & Gina) refer to you-know-who as Voldemort and Weasley.... We were watching the Burn Notice marathon. About 2:45 my husband says "What time does the race start?" We put Nascar on shortly after 3 PM but (not kidding) started to nod off almost immediately. Switched over to Long Beach and stayed there except to flip back, see who had won, and then went back to watching Long Beach. Hate the new style of racing there but also hated the packs (I am NOT one who tunes in "just to see the wrecks"...) so maybe there is no pleasing me. From the comments I read this AM I don't think that I missed much - and Mike Conway's win at Long Beach was cool to see. Always fun to see a new winner!
    Cathy in NJ

    ReplyDelete
  50. No, I'm not Matt Yocum, just a retired computer guy.

    To me, the two big annoyances were DW and the constant emphasis on the count of lead changes.

    In a relaxed setting, DW can offer interesting commentary. In the booth, it's as though he thinks he's the only one who can bring excitement to the telecast.

    In restrictor plate racing, the lead simply is irrelevant until the end. Even the booth knew that, telling us over and over about the number of races won on last lap passes. And yet they kept also hyping the lead change count.

    ReplyDelete
  51. WOW!IDK whatcha watched!that was best race ive seen all year!guess I need2watch some old races!maybe id understand whats2complain bout each week!
    Im gonna make myself unpopular here,but im gonna say it anyway,cause it needs2b said!!
    if I was DW Id stop readin reviews from most nascar fan blogs,maybe all of em!remember! hes not a professional broadcaster!hes a former driver turned analyst who like a true fan simply loves the sport!give him a break!He cant help it if he wants2tell us stories of the old days when he was racin!He said he really misses drivin a great deal!so dont u think itd b very dificult4him2b in the booth week after week&not reminiss!hes just talkin bout how racin used2b,wich is what u guys do!u just dont like his perspective!DWs only1man & he can only give us his view!he cant say what other former drivers think/thought unless he spoke2em!even if he did many ppl would still say its just his opinion&that he was putin words in other drivers mouths!it seems2me,most fans just want/need a place2complain!wich is ok cause we all need2vent sometimes,but Y is it always bout1particular person!afterall, it takes many ppl 2do a broadcast!not just1!&every1makes mistakes or do they?im sure none of u ever made a mistake b4...thats how u r treatin DW!he cant make a mistake or change his mind bout anything!!:((
    Fox did an exseptionally good job this week comparitively speakin!my fam agrees!they dont always!
    b happy guys!we herd more from the pit reporters this week than in previous weeks!I think every driver in the field was mentioned@least once wich is unusual!Fox cut commercials short twice2report a wreck or something else,instead of waiting tell commercials ended like always&then doina buncha replays2show us what happened!in the postrace show they interviewed more drivers than ive seen em do in a long time!Im blind&can't actually see TV screen but herd from my fam that Fox used a lot more airial shots this week2!I could go on but wont!
    now the part u'll like!the complainin:
    I really HATE the use of in car cams2show what happened durin wrecks!what if a driver was seriously hurt!some1told me they dont use em tell they know a driver is ok but still! it really bugs me a lot!& I agree w/whoever mentioned how Fox should have had the pit reporters explain why Elliot&whats his name switched places--sorry cant remember his name--but woulda like2hear y this happened!didnt even know the change had been made tell way later cause the booth didnt mention it right away...:((
    I dont like how drivers can talk2so many ppl on their radios durin a race!if its not safe4regular drivers2talk2just1person on a cellphone Y should it b different/better4drivers goin200MpH on the track2talk2a million ppl on a radio!not cool!but I must admit it makes4some of the most exciting racin ive ever seen!!
    I know what u r gonna say:
    if Im blind y do I say watch/saw?cause itd b weird2say anythin else!sayin see/saw/watch when talkin TV is the norm & y should me or any1 talkin2me say anythin different!
    all I can say bout Fox is,if u dont like it,dont watch it!if u complain bout whats wrong,but dont do anythin,nothin will change!the networks only care bout ratings!thats that!they arent gonna change anythin if ppl keep watchin!if ratings r down consistantly,maybe theyd actually believe somethings wrong&make changes!so if u want things2change u better start followin races somewhere other than TV!
    I41will keep followin races on Fox tell they go2the cable networks where i cant watch anymore.:((I like mosta what they r doin!i realize they wont please every1no matter what they do!
    I love DW!I enjoy his stories bout the old days!his excitement over what hes watchin on the track makes races more fun/interesting2watch!:))
    u r a great guy DW!I apriciate how u talk bout ur faith&share scriptures on twitter!!

    ReplyDelete
  52. "If you keep doing what you are doing, you are going to keep getting what you are getting." Darrell Waltrip
    this quote seems very appropriate for the readers of this blog or at least those who post comments anyway. complain complain complain! week after week!
    you dont like the Fox broadcast! you talk bout how its better to get the info somewhere else! then the very next week you watch the broadcast again!
    are these methids doin any good?
    is anything changing as a direct result of that complaining?
    based on the comments every week I'd have 2 say the answer is NO!
    heres a novel idea! quit watching all together and see how fast something changes!
    like DW says, if you want different results try doing something different! stop watching or maybe even try writing 2 some1who could make a change! is there a way 2 contact nascar or Fox directly and tell them what you don't like? I don't know but I'm just guessing that the big wigs over there prob don't even read this blog so they aren't even seeing all the complaints anyway! so what good is it doing?
    I'm just sayin!
    don't get me wrong, i'm not trying2say the Fox broadcast is perfect! its not by any means! but sitting around griping bout what needs2change without taking any action 2ward that change never did anybody any good!
    in this case its apparently not helping2creat a better nascar broadcast! it may be helping you feel a bit better but in the long run doesn't it just make you more frustrated when things don't get any better?

    ReplyDelete
  53. Hey DW Supporter...I have done exactly what you suggested. I don't watch any more. I DVR and watch the last few laps with TV muted.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Like Larry, I have moved on to other options.

    I watched the Burn Notice marathon and only checked the Fox broadcast during commercials. I also watched the last 10-15 laps. That was plenty of Fox for me.

    Burn Notice doesn't annoy me the way Fox does. I look forward to a new TV contract that does not include Fox or anyone named Waltrip or Wallace.

    As far as any restrictor plate racing goes, I never cared for it much. The current version reminds me of a clip that I saw on Wind Tunnel some time ago. It featured vehicles racing while they towed RV trailers. As I recall, it was on a figure 8 track. Perhaps they could turn Talladega into a figure 8 track.

    ReplyDelete