Here we go with the final day of Daytona testing for the Sprint Cup Series teams. This has been an interesting experience as a fan. The morning online sessions and the afternoon TV sessions have been two very different styles of programs.
John Roberts is hosting the coverage and channeling his inner-Musburger from the infield. No information on whether or not he is wearing his sneakers in full tribute.
Rick Allen and Jeff Hammond have been having a blast doing the morning online sessions. They have been working the social media angle hard as both are active Twitter users. Steve Byrnes, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds are calling the afternoon sessions.
The reporting from the track has been first class. Hermie Sadler has been outstanding and his absence from RaceDay will be missed this season. There has still been no information passed along to me about who will be replacing Sadler on that series.
Wendy Venturini, Bob Dillner and Randy Pemberton have been working the garage area from every angle and passing along a ton of information. The best thing about the SPEED reporters is that they are also active on social media and tweeting directly with fans as the sessions are in progress.
This has been the season of social media so far. Fans asking for interviews have seen the producer and reporters follow up quickly. SPEED has every member of the on-air team on Twitter as well as the show producer and other TV crew members.
It's been a kick to watch an interactive live NASCAR TV program in every sense of the word. SPEED and TNT were the first two NASCAR TV partners to understand the power of Twitter and Facebook in terms of opening up the "wall" between the sport and the fans.
While TNT has a very limited presence in the sport, SPEED is NASCAR's top TV partner due to the total amount of coverage throughout the year. It should be interesting to see how SPEED leverages this ability to communicate directly with fans during the season on other programming.
This post will serve to host your comments on the SPEED.com and SPEED coverage of the final day of Daytona testing. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. Thanks for stopping by!
Good morning! Chilly day in Daytona I am told. Here we go.
ReplyDeleteThese guys shooting vids while they're driving is insane!
ReplyDeleteThey need rules for everything! I know it has to get boring after a while. Round and round.
ReplyDeleteHerringbone Hammond!
ReplyDeleteMorning everyone.
JD- Were you able to read my post at the end of yesterday's blog?
ReplyDeleteBill, that was too funny. I was at Sunbelt in the early 90's for two years until it was sold to Street and Smith.
ReplyDeleteLived over in Southpark for one year and up at the lake for the other.
Small world!
I lived in Southpark for a year as well; right after Hurricane Hugo. I worked for IVS Media Productions, if that sounds familiar. We moved out of the Stuart Andrew office in around 1990.
ReplyDeleteThat company was absorbed into another company since then as well.
Small world indeed!
Any news on trackpass raceview being developed into an app for iPhone/ iPad ?? It would really be a nice thing to be able to use iPad to follow the action of a race. Seems like now that sprint got the iPhone maybe we'd see something....
ReplyDeleteThe Turner deal is still in place for one more year. NASCAR wants to get back its online digital rights for 2013.
ReplyDeleteI would not expect that this pending divorce between Turner and NASCAR will be yielding any technology innovations for this season.
In other words.....it's ugly!
JD- Are you trying to say Turner doesn't want to let go? Is there any indication that the technology currently available may be compromised?
ReplyDeleteBill, NASCAR is buying out Turner to get their own rights back.
ReplyDeleteNothing will change for this year, but I don't see anything advancing technology-wise.
PS - Price for getting digital rights back two years early is rumored to be $50 million. Nice.
So, did SPEED have to pay Turner for the right to stream this testing session online?
ReplyDeleteAnd, how does SPEED make any revenue off this? Or is this just as much a test as what we're seeing on the track?
Bill, no they did not because this is only a test. Since SPEED is on site for the afternoon TV, this online deal is a bonus and drives NASCAR fans to the SPEED.com site.
ReplyDeleteSorry for all the questions.
ReplyDeleteIs Scott Ackerson's influence already being felt, or is he just minding the store?
I'm sorry, but Hammond is only marginally less annoying than DW. Everyone else is great tho.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be nice to have free scanner for this
ReplyDeleteBill, existing contracts don't go away when management changes.
ReplyDeleteIt always takes at least one year for a new direction to take place in a cable TV network.
We have seen countless new managers, VP's and even head honcho's at SPEED over the years.
The real issue is what will FOX make the network become? They have the power, NASCAR has nothing to do with this agenda.
Jimm, that is a great indication of just how far out of the real NASCAR look the Turner guys really are.
ReplyDeleteJust a reminder, we expect pack drafting at Daytona here shortly after 1PM. Live on SPEED.
ReplyDeleteGood Afternoon!
ReplyDeleteI hope we have some packs today. What we saw of packs yesterday was good while it lasted
AR, they are pack racing and SPEED is zooming in and taking close up shots.
ReplyDeleteIt's making me nuts. Rather have a robot cam or a blimp.
JD --Lots of talk this morning I see about Turner.
ReplyDeleteWill the "divorce" affect who gets the summer series on TNT or is it a separate issue from the digital stuff?
As if Speed doesn't screen all of those twitter comments on the ticker. Do we seriously need more cheerleading being broadcast than already is? Come on.
ReplyDeleteThey missed the accident while showing us pit reporters, close ups and fans in the fan zone.
ReplyDeleteso the pac racing is better/safer than the two-step HOW?
ReplyDeleteThere is some gray in Jr.'s beard! Imagine that! I have live long enough to see him go from "not shaving yet" to beginning to get some gray in his beard!
ReplyDeleteOh My!
forgot to add - Pack racing is also more fun wo watch HOW?
ReplyDeleteover/under (how many weels) til Montoya and new crew chief trading obscenities on radio?
ReplyDeleteAnon, happy to have your TV related comments.
ReplyDeleteAR, he watched his words on TV pretty darn good right there.
ReplyDeleteCould have set the table for some hard feelings heading into the race.
@Anon 1:22 Sapnish or English? :)
ReplyDeleteSure is hazy in Daytona today looks like.
didnt watch morn session? - brush fires in Volusia County away from track
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:29
ReplyDeleteThanks!
No didn't see this morning. Stuff to do. Hope it's a contolled burn. Going on near me. Perfect day for it. Dead calm
Things AncientRacer did not know and has learned today:
ReplyDeleteVoldemort is not present. In Africa did thay say? Why did no one on the TV crew bother to tell me this over the last couple days, or did I just miss that bit?
You can take your steering wheel with you. I guess after all this time I should have known that, but I did not. Makes sense, but seems wrong somehow. Maybe it is because mine are firmly attached and in our POS race cars we are not so uptown as that. Just never crossed through my pea brain before.
And then this:
I mentioned the BIG shark fin yesteday, but that shot of Jr. getting out of Weasley's car really showed it. It is HUGE. But I have not yet been told how large it is.
Finally, looking at Johnny TV I see #blazergate continues....
and Wide Feakin Open
ReplyDeleteI was at Daytona testing in 2011 on last day - Saturday. by 2PM teams were packing up and leaving and we left.
ReplyDeleteI love that wide backstretch shot.
ReplyDeleteIt's #Blazergate2012 - This time, it's for real!
ReplyDeleteTesting is calming down, going to put veri-word on for the rest of the session.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your patience, little spam action going on today.
JD
AR, they mentioned Vold...errr...Chad's trip on the TV broadcast either yesterday or Thursday. Hendrick okayed it, apparently they thought it was a good idea for him to totally get away. Probably true.
ReplyDeleteThey did talk about the shark fin Thursday....not sure they said how big it was though.
I'm thinking maybe they ought to give them pastel t-shirts & deck shoes & let them go all Miami Vice.
I wonder if that was a genuine nod shot by Johnny, or pre-recorded? Are there two cameras in their "pit studio?"
ReplyDeletenevermind. :)
ReplyDeleteThink they said the fin was 5 inches.
ReplyDeleteDVRing practice. will read more comments before watching :)
ReplyDeleteJust turned on briefly and was great to hear Steve Byrnes & other voices. Not sure about the camera work or graphics I'm reading about. Hope they get rid of the tandem deal.
Currently listening online to Ciscoe's garden show. Sun is out so will run errands & watch Daytona later!
I know Target's colors are red & white, but I really like Juan Pablo's car in the black & white
ReplyDeletePS:Booth must be reading The Planet. After I crabbed about not knowing Voldemort is in Africa the booth got into a whole trip about it. Ahhhh, the power of The Planet. ;-)
DW: Blazer two sizes too large #Blazergate 2012
About 90% of the broadcast has had tight shots.
ReplyDeleteThe director will now read about how well this test session went and how the fans liked it. He will now go back to the office and tell his camera crew to keep the shots tight because the fans like it
If the fans start complaining about the tight shots during a race he will just ignore it because the fans loved it during the test session and he is sticking to what the fans liked - Not realizing that camera work for a test and a race are different.
if I remember right the 42 has run the black & white scheme before. But it would be convenient to have black cars like when the 2 & 12 were blue & white. Wreck one, just change the decals.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Darian is fitting in with the 11 team.
You know, the big packs always left me breathless. However, I'm not thrilled about the tandems...one guy having to decide to finish second or worse to push someone else across the line first somehow just seems wrong for racing.
ReplyDeleteveri: repant ;)
I'm sorry, but does anyone else find pressing your nose up to the glass separating you from a driver to get an autograph as insulting as I do?
ReplyDelete@Sally
ReplyDeleteFor a driver maybe. For The Beatles and The Stones back in the day not so much. :)
I don't find it insulting. Things are way too chaotic in the garage area, frankly, I think it's dangerous, and this is a good way for drivers to sign for a bit without causing issues. Especially fun for kids; who can't get in anyways. I'll never forget seeing a kid be sooooooooo excited when he caught a glimpse of Ernie Irvan behind a fence at the Glen. His mother explained that you had to 'know someone' to get in there, and the kids says 'but I know Ernie'. And he meant it.
ReplyDeleteTo follow up on a previous posting, if FOX is all in with ol'DW, I purely do hope they have been listening to the commentary between Larry and Darrel, because my ears have NEVER been exposed to a more moronic conversation that continualy repeates itself like the noise comming out of the "BOOTH".
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments over the last three days, folks!
ReplyDeleteIF. That is a big word. Maybe What If is bigger? I just wathed several episodes of Speed TV's "The 10" on DVR. One thing that could greatly improve ESPN's race broadcasts would be IF Dale Jarrett had the spirit and excitement of his father, Gentleman Ned Jarrett. I saw segments with Ned reporting from the pits and the famous Daytona 500 from CBS where he called Dale's win of the Daytona 500. Those were the days, my friend. What If Dale could call a race like Ned?
ReplyDeleteIt is now Sunday and I am bored out of my skull. No racing today and I simply will NOT watch any game involving Baltinapolis.
ReplyDeleteStill praying for the Colts to come home am I.