"Johnny TV" Takes A Preseason Swing At "The Daly Planet"

It seems tempers are getting a little tight after only the second week of NASCAR TV coverage on SPEED. The disaster that has been the two weeks of Preseason Thunder and the single week of Trackside seems to have gotten the host of one of those series a bit upset.

The lack of any hard news TV reporting by SPEED on NASCAR issues during this critical time has been beyond puzzling. While Randy Pemberton and Jeff Hammond have tried briefly to address some real issues, most of the TV time has been spent on the normal preseason "fluff" as if nothing was going on behind the scenes.

The only exception to this was a miscue by SPEED that allowed candid Trackside comments made off-camera by Darrell Waltrip to be aired one time. That tape was quickly edited for the re-air and the original content was wiped off YouTube in a day. This (click here) is the TDP column on that incident.

Meanwhile, fans read that ten trucks (click here) might make the trip to California. Brian France boasted that fifteen new teams (click here) have brought COT cars to the R&D Center for approval, but The NASCAR Insiders say most of those teams are "one and done" efforts for Daytona only.

That same day, France announced (click here) a company-wide hiring freeze for NASCAR and all the companies it owns and operates. It also suspended financial bonuses for the top executives. Somehow, all of this never got mentioned on Preseason Thunder.

Friday, SPEEDtv.com unveiled a new column by John Roberts that took a nice big swing at those who dare to question the integrity of some NASCAR TV announcers. Well, apparently that would be the Internet site that you are reading right now. Why Roberts has made the transformation from TV host to columnist is a completely different issue.

Here is part of what he had to say:

Many bloggers have opined that guys like Ray Evernham, Brad Daugherty, Jeff Hammond and others are somehow biased announcers because of their ownership role but I couldn't disagree more. In fact, these professionals at times have gone out of their way to be unbiased. Naturally, there are times when they cannot discuss certain aspects of their businesses on the air and for that, they owe us no explanation.

Ray Evernham has a small interest in a race team, yet you can’t assign a value to his knowledge and experience. He revolutionized the crew chief position, won three championships and brought an entire manufacturer back into the sport, yet people say he’s biased or owes us some information he’s purportedly withholding. Come on, you’re not watching the same race we are.

What Roberts does in rather spectacular fashion is miss the point entirely. It is disclosure that fans want to keep the playing field level.

Veteran TV announcer Marty Reid stepped-in to anchor a single episode of NASCAR Now last season and before he asked ESPN studio analyst Boris Said the first question, he made sure TV viewers knew of Said's relationship with Jack Roush and that Said actually co-owned a Sprint Cup team. What Reid did was disclose the potential conflict before asking for an answer.

One of Robert's key points is that Ray Evernham is not to be questioned about his ownership role or the integrity of his comments as an ESPN analyst. As TDP has said many times, there is no doubt Evernham's history is amazing and his TV abilities are solid. But, writers like Jay Busbee (click here) have called the situation "ethically awkward" for a good reason.

ESPN avoided asking Evernham about issues connected with his Sprint Cup teams on-the-air. This was a decision made in advance and the network stuck to that all season long in 2008. What TDP has objected to is when current team owners get a free pass because of their TV role despite something happening in the sport that is directly connected to them.

This situation has also happened with Michael Waltrip and the old Inside NEXTEL Cup on SPEED. Now, the new host of the replacement program titled This Week in NASCAR is Steve Byrnes and he goes right after Waltrip when there is an issue with MWR.

Byrnes puts Waltrip right on the spot just like Reid did with Boris Said on NASCAR Now. There is a big difference between dealing honestly with NASCAR news issues and trying to hide them from the fans.

It seems ironic that Roberts would pick this weekend to raise the conflict of interest issue after what has to be two weeks of the most disappointing NASCAR TV coverage in years.

SPEED is alone on-the-air for one more week with Preseason Thunder before ESPN returns with the team of Mike Massaro, Nicole Manske, Allen Bestwick and Marty Smith to begin the daily NASCAR Now TV series.

With times tough and tempers tight, it is going to be interesting to watch how the TV analysts navigate through a sport in crisis. Evernham, Daugherty, Hammond, Rusty Wallace, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip will all return in 2009 as both TV announcers and NASCAR owners.

To read the entire column by SPEED's John Roberts, just click here.

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Three TV Topics For The Weekend

This certainly has been an interesting week of NASCAR TV from SPEED. This weekend provides the first live racing that fans will see as several high-profile NASCAR stars join the sports car gang for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Coverage begins on Fox and then transitions over to SPEED while the race itself has a much later start time in the afternoon. The TV listing information is located on the right side of the TDP main page.

Although this is the first big North American race of the season, it did not apparently deserve even a blurb on ESPN's SportsCenter or ESPNEWS. The stick-and-ball frenzy continues with plenty of time for endless talking heads, but once again ESPN swings-and-whiffs where motorsports in North America is concerned.

Hermie Sadler appeared on the final Preseason Thunder show of the week on SPEED. Sadler has come a very long way in a relatively short period of time with his TV skills. He covered a pretty wide variety of topics with good credibility, but once again SPEED ducked the issue of what the Truck Series would look like after Daytona.

This has been a strange phenomenon all week long, as the Camping World Truck Series is carried exclusively by SPEED and Fox. For some reason, the network has turned almost all the attention and effort toward the Sprint Cup Series alone. Sooner or later, the real story about the trucks will come out.

This week's Trackside shows, also on SPEED, were taped on Sunday at the Daytona Fan Fest. Friday's program featured an interesting interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski.

Since Keselowski lives in one of Junior's rental properties close by, Junior tagged Keselowski on-the-air as the friend who never calls and just comes over. Keselowski responded by admitting that he is, in fact, Junior's "Kramer."

A relaxed and happy Junior shared several family stories and had fun with the Trackside gang. After a long winter, it was refreshing to see the biggest star in the sport speaking about his family and friends openly and with pride. He also spoke candidly about the struggles for sponsorship on the Nationwide side of the sport.

While John Roberts on Preseason Thunder tried to preach to the viewers that NASCAR does not have its collective head in the sand about the real world struggles of the economy, that was never the issue that TDP raised. Roberts took a shot at "the websites" that were complaining about the smiley-faced approach of the pre-season TV.

The reality of life is best understood when those involved in the struggles are openly and honestly talking about them. This week on SPEED has been a parade of "fluff" with moments of candor. It should have been the other way around.

If NASCAR and SPEED were trying to keep the veteran fans and win new ones, the approach of having endless conversations about winter vacations, children and the fact that there has been no testing at Daytona did not do the trick.

After the Rolex 24 and the Toyota Shootout are over, SPEED has another week of Preseason Thunder at 7PM Monday through Friday. The Charlotte media tour is done, the drivers have all been interviewed and the rust has been knocked-off the brains of the NASCAR fans.

Next week will be the final opportunity for SPEED to be center stage, as NASCAR Now on ESPN2 returns on Monday, February 2nd. Now that new pets, scraggly beards and winter vacations have all been discussed, SPEED has the opportunity to step-up and do some real reporting on the issues in the sport including the Nationwide, Camping World Truck and regional series.

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Darrell Waltrip Finally Gets Honest With The Fans

The Thursday edition of Preseason Thunder on SPEED promised to be a good show. John Roberts hosted with Darrell Waltrip as his co-host via satellite from his home in Tennessee.

Waltrip's commentary was mixed with soundbites from various drivers and personalities from the Charlotte media tour. The faces of Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and others flashed by, but it was the comments from Waltrip that made it worth the wait.

In this setting, where he is alone and allowed to speak his mind, fans finally got a glimpse of the frank and honest opinions that used to be a hallmark of SPEED. The network has wasted almost two weeks on "fluff" programs that have painfully avoided all the issues dominating the sport on a daily basis.

Trackside and Preseason Thunder have been off-base from day one as an endless parade of smiling drivers have fielded softball questions from both the SPEED and Fox on-air personalities. It has not been pretty.

Watching SPEED, one would not believe that two of the three NASCAR touring series are rumored to be in dire trouble after Daytona. It was Darrell Waltrip who remarked that the second race in California might resemble a "ghost town." That one comment was aired earlier in the week by accident and was actually replaced in the program's re-air with more happy faces and polite chit-chat.

Even reporters Wendy Venturini and Randy Pemberton have been following the SPEED script as they both cover the media tour. The smiling faces of freshly scrubbed drivers at beautiful shops are about as far away from the reality of what this sport is actually going through as humanly possible.

How can the "other side" of this equation not be reported by SPEED? Where are the DEI and Gillett comments about downsizing to two teams? Where is Max Siegel on his departure from DEI after all his bold predictions of growth for the company?

Where are the voices of the drivers and owners who are not happy and have comments about this season that might not be all rainbows and sunshine? The answer is they are not on SPEED.

Waltrip talked about topics from Stewart's new team to the outlook for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009. Viewers at home could have used a full hour of Roberts asking Waltrip questions and then letting him speak. Waltrip's time in this show was far too short and left a lot of great content on the table.

His final comments that closed the show were the most compelling.

"Look folks, it's not all gloom and doom," said Waltrip. "Yeah, we got problems with the economy, we got sponsors and all kinds of things that we have to work on (like) attendance and ratings, but this is the most resilient sport with the best people in the world. We know how to get it done. We will work hard and we will survive."

This is the kind of straight talk NASCAR fans have been waiting for from Waltrip and rest of the SPEED experts and analysts. Hopefully, speaking directly to the fans and offering honest opinions about the NASCAR journey for 2009 will be allowed to continue.

The final Preseason Thunder of this week is at 7:30PM on Friday, but the series continues on Monday through Friday of next week at 7PM ET. This should give SPEED one final opportunity to open up the coverage and let the reality of the challenges facing the sport become a topic that is open for discussion.

Fans who like the picture can click directly on it to see it full-size.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page. Thank you for taking the time to stop by.