TV Topics: Economy, Kyle Petty And Digger

ESPN continues to tackle the economic issues affecting the sport head-on in the daily NASCAR Now program series. Wednesday, host Nicole Manske was joined by reporter Angelique Chengelis, analyst and Sprint Cup Series owner Brad Daugherty and Eddie Gossage, the president of Texas Motor Speedway.

The starting point for the discussion were the recent remarks by President Obama in reference to the future of the domestic car makers. "Everyone recognizes that years of bad decision making and a global recession have pushed our auto-makers to the brink," said the President. "We should not and will not protect them from their own bad practices."

He called for a re-tooled and re-imagined industry to continue in the very country that invented the automobile. Chengelis put this topic in NASCAR terms. She reminded Manske that the priority was not NASCAR, but simply survival for these companies.

"It would be absolutely devastating," said Chengelis in response to the question of the auto-makers leaving NASCAR.

She reinforced that all three of the companies have to prove to the President they are viable in order to receive financial help. "If they are not viable, I don't know how the sport can be viable," said Chengelis of NASCAR.

Daugherty is a single-car team owner and he used the word "catastrophic" in reference to the potential pull-out of the domestic manufacturers. Gossage addressed the challenge for NASCAR tracks to sell tickets by outlining the reduction in tickets prices, parking fees and change in food policies at his facility. It has been a long time since $20 bought a ticket for a Sprint Cup Series event.

Kudos to NASCAR Now for addressing the economic issues head-on. Manske also had Whelen Modified champ Teddy Christopher in the studio to recap the recent test in Bristol, TN where the Mods will hopefully race later this season. The group shattered the track record in testing and ran both with and without restrictor plates.

Over at SPEED, the network is still trying to explain how the cast of the now defunct Tradin' Paint is suddenly involved in a game show that seems to be made-up as it goes along. NASCAR Smarts is a mess and while TDP has consistently called for more fan involvement with SPEED at the tracks, this ain't it.

Traveling Kyle Petty to the Sprint Cup venues for a thirty-minute game show also does not seem to make a lot of sense from an economic perspective. Petty appears in no other SPEED Stage programs.

Finally, cawsnjaws.com reports that Digger appeared 46 times in the actual California Sprint Cup series race. That number would be 47 for those of you who watched the pre-race show cartoon. This week there is another new episode. Here is a brief overview from Fox:

In the third installment, “Picnic Trick”, Digger’s girlfriend Annie accuses him of watching too much NASCAR and not spending enough time with her. In an effort to make it up to her, Digger comes up with the perfect plan – a romantic picnic on the infield during the race! But when his loving gesture looks to be ruined by a visit from Lumpy Wheels, can Digger and Annie work together to save themselves and their romantic day?

That wraps-up a very diverse journey around the NASCAR TV beat. Please feel free to add your comments on these topics. Just click the comments button below.

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Formula One "Skunkworks" In NASCAR Country?

The interesting saga of an American-based Formula One team played out on Tuesday with the formal announcement carried live on SPEED. The network is clearly caught-up in the fact that Peter Windsor, longtime SPEED F-1 analyst, will be a team principal.

Windsor is a bit hazy on the details but insists that by using the available motorsports personnel, facilities and infrastructure of the Concord and Mooresville, NC areas he can put togther a "super saver" of an F-1 team.

The role of SPEED in all of this is just a little bit strange. While the network does not have a financial stake in the project, there has been an incredible amount of time and effort invested to carry this announcement live and distribute media releases about the project.

It almost seems that Windsor and his partner Ken Anderson, pictured above with press conference host Bob Varsha, have hired SPEED as their public relations company. The flip side of the coin of course is that SPEED is the home of Formula One in the US and the network attraction to this open-wheel sport runs very deep.

Windsor made some good points in his TV appearance. Many Formula One parts and pieces are already created in the Mooresville area by the numerous specialty shops for motorsports. Shaker rigs and wind tunnels do not care what kind of car is in them, they just yield data when asked.

In terms of logisitics, Windsor essentially said he was going to use FedEx or UPS for shipping and his F-1 team would always be traveling very light. In the days of the Lockheed-Martin "skunkworks," the best minds worked on new projects with minimum assistance and still came up with some wonderful machines.

Windsor's idea is to keep that concept alive by using the manpower and materials available after the recent NASCAR contraction. There are certainly plenty of engineers and team shops available around the area, but once again Windsor offered no specifics.

There was no driver named and the financial partner or partners were also not disclosed. This leads to some speculation about the reality of this effort to begin racing in 2010. If Windsor had been alongside a high profile investor, it may have made for better TV. Instead, the on-camera personalities appeared to be just generally discussing this concept as if things were still very early in the planning stages.

One thing Windsor did make clear is the impact of both SPEED and TV in general on his team. Following the NASCAR model, Windsor is planning to make his shop fan-friendly with tours and open access areas for easy viewing of team activities. There will also be a TV studio in the facility. The NASCAR model is apparently a strong influence for Windsor who will certainly find himself surrounded by examples of both racing success and failure once he relocates to Charlotte.

If you watched this press conference live on SPEED or would like to add your comments about this American Formula One team concept, please feel free to do so below. Just click the comments button.

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Ricky Craven Finding A Home At ESPN

Last season on ESPN2's NASCAR Now, Ricky Craven was used as a part-time analyst. He would appear on select Monday night shows and sometimes lend his expertise to the Sunday programs as well.

In the Monday format, Craven would be paired with two other panelists and the program host, Allen Bestwick. On Sundays, Craven would be alone in the studio with a single host. All of Craven's appearances originated from the Bristol, CT network studios.

This year, it seems that Craven's hard work is being rewarded by the network as he has been featured in both of the Monday "roundtable" editions of NASCAR Now. Last week he was joined by Rusty Wallace and Ray Evernham. This Monday it was Evernham and fan favorite Randy LaJoie.

This group works well together because of their diverse personalities. All of them clearly respect Bestwick, who continues to ask the right questions and address the issues still lingering from the weekend.

It is Craven, however, who has begun to stand out with his comments. Here are some from the Monday show:

On Matt Kenseth's final pit stop: "There's more ways to lose races on pit road than there are to win. You need to be nearly perfect. The 17 team is as close to perfect right now as you can get."

About the final restart: "A great indication of a good, strong race car is restarts. If Jeff Gordon comes out of the pits first, I think we would be talking about Jeff Gordon winning the race. I think the cars were that equal."

On Kenseth's focus on the final laps: "I don't think he wins this race if he had not won the Daytona 500. What the heck? He's got the wind at his back. If he loses or finishes second the world does not come to an end. He just won the Daytona 500."

On the first and second place finishers: "How good a weekend did Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon have? Well, they beat Kyle Busch."

About Kyle Busch: "I have seen him drive cars all across the country. It does not matter what he is in, he is that fast. He finished third (in California) not only because of his driving talent, but because he perfected what he needed (on his car) throughout the course of the race."

On the Las Vegas track: "Speaking of change, it's always difficult. They have reconfigured the track and the progressive banking, I think, is the wave of the future. It gives you options and drivers love options. But like Ray said, the track has to age a little bit to be able to get better racing."

Craven has always been a class act and continues to contribute to the Yahoo! Sports NASCAR section as a columnist. Click here for a link to his latest column that contains many of the same themes as his NASCAR Now comments.

It is always interesting to see ESPN focus on developing a new talent and give them an opportunity to shine. Craven certainly seems to be making the most of this moment in time. Apparently, ESPN also likes the way things are going as it was just announced that Craven, Evernham and LaJoie will return as the "expert panel" next week for the program on Monday, March 2 at 5PM ET.

Have you watched Ricky Craven on ESPN? What is your opinion of his analysis and commentary on the first two races of the 2009 season? We welcome your comments.

Just click the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, profanity or hateful speech will cause your comment to be deleted. Thanks again and happy posting.