Now that the NASCAR Now changes have been formally announced by ESPN, it is no surprise that there is an opening in Charlotte at the SPEED Report.
What may be surprising to TV viewers is that there are actually...two openings.
In addition to Nicole Mankse moving on to ESPN, her former co-host Drew Johnson will also not be returning to The SPEED Report for this season. Instead, the network will use a variety of announcers from their diverse motor sports stable.
Among those will be NASCAR fan favorite Krista Voda. This is certainly a big circle for Voda, who departed SPEED under tough circumstances and is now returning to participate as one of the hosts of their one-hour primetime motor sports show.
Voda will be joined by Bob Varsha, Leigh Diffey and a group of other announcers who will basically rotate through on weeks that fit into their motor sports schedules.
I think this is an exciting and dynamic change for a program series that has been having a bit of a tough go recently. SPEED has the production staff to make this show a franchise in terms of multiple types of racing, and now they will have a wide group of racing-oriented personalities to make it run on-the-air.
Veteran fans have seen several different versions of this show, and still feel remorse for some earlier fan favorite announcers that were released to make room for the Nicole and Drew pairing.
SPEED has certainly had a lot of faces in the anchor chair, including former ESPN veteran Bob Jenkins, South Carolina TV anchor Connie LeGrand, and current AMA Supercross announcer Ralph Sheheen. This program used to be called SPEED News.
The series will remain a one-hour look at all forms of motor sports, with SPEED using the network's field resources to keep viewers updated on the race results. The Sunday night series will also add a full one-hour Daytona preview program on Monday, February 11th at 8PM Eastern Time.
It certainly is proving to be a season of change in "TV land."
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19 comments:
Drew Johnson leaving the SPEED Report? Yay!! I'm sorry, but he made SPEED Report unbearable. Now that there will be actual racing reporters hosting, I may actually watch again.
Sorry, but I never liked the Barbie and Ken show, either.
Will look forward to this season now.
:-)
This is great news! Krista is awesome and did a good job in the one show last year when she filled in for Nicole.
Now if they would only stop showing those motorcycles...
elena,
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I'll take genuine racing reporters over Cleavage Girl and Highlight Man any day.
I've watched less and less Speed Report because the best I could say about the people who were supposedly giving me my racing news was that they were better than the people at ESPN.
Now if they could just make it a daily show.
Now, this is an interesting development. Seems a long time coming, but, Chris Long's "innovations" on SPEED are being corrected.
I might actually give the new show a look.
I haven't been watching the show at all. Finally Krista is back on a Nascar show. Someone that actually knows racing! I will start watching now.
This is great news I couldn't stand LeGrand as she was never able to pronounce the driver's names a la Rusty. Now all I have to wait for is the lineup of INC or oops ISC and I'll be all set for the 2008 racing season. Krista will be great on the show.
Great news!! Krista's back. Now just get rid of the Waltrip idiots on any broadcast and the world will be right!!
I used to watch SPEEDNews every Sunday, but I haven't watched in over a year now. "Buh and bye" to Ken and Barbie!
I wholeheartedly agree that as SPEED gets rid of the Chris Long pestilence, it might become a network worth watching again.
Once again, SPEED shows it is responsive to viewer complaints and concerns.
Thank you. I will continue to watch!
Yeah, Ken and Barbie are dead. Long live the real announcers!! Now, I'm really looking forward to the Speed Report in 2008.
Drew Johnson fired - (tongue in cheek) - didn't see that one coming - yeah right. JD he was lookin like a Chris Berman look-alike and a candidate for that diet that Golik is on. in other words - if the suit does not fit you must go.
I though he actually had potential but was a pompous you-know-what spoiled brat kid as it turned out.
Way to go Ralph Shaheen. A real gig other than six races on TNT and Super Cross.
Glad to read we are going to get more of Krista, that is always a good thing. I really only paid attention to the taped pieces on the show this past year but now I I'll pay attention to much more.
Yippee!!! Krista rocks and as far as I'm concerned, she could be on nearly every NASCAR related show out there and make them all worth watching. We need more Krista's out there in NASCAR land.
Wouldn't it be great to have Voda and John Kernan together on a show? Wouldn't it be even better if we never had to listen to either of the blithering Waltrip babies ever again?
I too agree, Krista-good; Nicole-bad!
It got to the point on Sunday nights I would only watch Wind Tunnel.
John Kernan? That moron? Surely, you jest.
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