There is really only one IndyCar race that screams for national attention these days. Between the street circuits and the ovals, the Indy 500 seems to stand-alone as what open wheel racing used to be.
This year, Brent Musburger is hosting the ABC telecast once again. No one really knows why Brent is there or what he does. ESPN tried to put Brent in the very same role with several key NASCAR races and the results were not good.
In the end, Musburger snuck back into his stick and ball world for good. Only Indy remains as his racing moment in the sun. There are many other ESPN personalities that would be great in this role. The one that comes to mind right away is Dr. Jerry Punch. This is the type of role that fits him like a glove.
Instead, Punch will be on pit road with Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Rick DeBruhl. That group will be doing the heavy lifting for Marty Reid, Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear. Cheever is the character of this group, constantly disagreeing with everything Goodyear says and loving every minute of it.
Reid has been having a tough season on the NASCAR circuit. His lack of perspective has hampered him in his play-by-play role. I first met Marty back when he was deeply involved with off-road racing and bringing that sport to TV. Since then, he has worked both the NHRA and Indy Car series for ESPN.
Getting back to an IndyCar race might be just the right thing for Reid, but the executives at ESPN have to take a long and hard look at putting Reid back in the booth for the seventeen Sprint Cup Series races that network will carry beginning in July.
Former producer Neil Goldberg is gone from ESPN. It was Sr. VP Jed Drake that handled the pre-race publicity and answered the telecast questions. It should be interesting to see just how the race looks with Drake in charge.
The TV team has 64 total cameras for the telecast, including 12 cars that have multiple angle in-car cameras. The infamous bat-cam is also back. That is the little gizmo mounted on a wire that runs from the beginning of pit road down into Turn 1. It is used to zoom alongside of cars on restarts and offer pit road coverage.
NASCAR fans are used to safe races. Despite the improvements at Indy, this is going to be a telecast where the risk of injury to a driver or fans is a very real possibility. Several big accidents last year opened a lot of eyes, but the series is still not blinking.
IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard is still going to make the field utilize double-file restarts. The drivers are livid about this and it has become a huge issue. Once the race is in progress, there are "marbles" of rubber that build up outside the single groove in the corners. Literally, there is no way to run two-wide.
At the start and for tradition, the field will go wide on the green track. Unfortunately for those of us who can remember the incidents we used to see at the speedway on restarts, this year's race could bring back those old memories. The drivers requested single-file and Bernard said no.
Update: Robin Miller of SPEED announced at 10:30AM today that Randy Bernard has reached an agreement to restart the race differently today. It seems that the green will come out when the cars come off turn four and the field may well be single-file. Stay tuned on this topic.
The race has many great stories including several female drivers, some long-shots and lots of favorites. The media leader is Danica Patrick, who has been under the radar this week. After struggling early on, she finally qualified but never looked like a contender.
Typically, this race has early drama and danger and then settles down to a slow and single file pace while the remaining cars work on handling and fuel mileage. Then, business picks-up in the closing segments as teams maneuver to get themselves in contention.
Keep an eye on the crowd. No one is making predictions but between the price of gas, the rough economy and the outrageous hotel costs in the entire Indy area, it could be a real eye-opener.
This post will host your comments on the ABC coverage of the Indy 500. To add your TV-related comments, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
294 comments:
1 – 200 of 294 Newer› Newest»Should be fun guys. Possibly off-topic but I'll ask anyway. Do we have an actual green flag time? I realize the coverage starts at 11 AM eastern and the race is supposed to start somewhere around 12.
Cars have been running two-wide through the corners for years at Indy, so I think the drivers should just "shut up and drive" as the saying has been around IndyCar lately. The Indy Lights race on Friday had a ton of two and three wide racing, so I see no reason to throw Randy Bernard under the bus as you have on the double-file restart issue. They handled double file restarts a few weeks ago at Brazil in massive monsoon-type rainstorms and only had a couple incidents caused by some overzealous drivers. If they could handle those restarts in torrential downpours, there's no excuse for them to not be able to perform like professional race car drivers at a track like Indy where they have such a long distance to get to turn 1 anyway, and of course no rain to deal with.
Oh, one final thing. Delta Force? Please? Come on ESPN, Versus did it last week for qualifying. For the 100th Anniversary race, the Delta Force intro would be perfect.
I think they use Brent Musberger because he is a pretty face that most of the general public are familiar with. The event, like the Kentucky Derby, is televised for the very casual fan that has no real interest in the sport. They watch it because it is a "special event" they feel obligated to watch. It is the only race they will watch all year.
I try to watch the race every year but have a hard time maintaining interest. The speeds and exposure of the drivers in very powerful oversized gocarts makes me very uneasy.
If I may, watching the Monaco GP before Indy. One thing that immediately jumped out to me about this broadcast was the starting grid, as it was shown on screen and called out by Hobbs & Varsha. The screen would move to the next two drivers as the announcers were ready, a very natural transition. Some might have just their name called, others might have a sentence or two of discussion. Obviously the graphic transitions were triggered manually.
This is the opposite of FOX, where the announcers have to speed through the driver names just to keep up with on-screen, and often fall behind with not all of the drivers actually getting their names called out. Even worse is ESPN, who scrolls it all along the top, often with other distractions or interviews on screen.
Seriously FOX, how hard is it to begin the starting grid one warmup lap earlier, and be able to thoroughly go through the field of drivers.
Bobby,
Could not disagree with you more. Indy Lights have nothing to do with the big cars.
The accidents last year were often caused by a faster car catching a slower car in a corner because there was no way to run two-wide once the marbles had built up.
It was even very rare to see a pass attempted on the short-shutes. It was the straights that allowd for the passing.
There has not been real racing at Indy for many years as these ground-effects cars cannot tolerate even a wiggle or losing any air off the nose.
I understand the spirit you are embracing, but feel reality has long since passed that by.
JD
I don't understand why anyone would question the unanimous position of the drivers. They're trying to tell you something. Mussberger is pathetic and has LONG outlived his usefulness. I will watch much of today's race but feel the Indy 500 has rarely lived up to its hype in decades. My exposure to the 500 goes back 50 years. It was a Memorial Day tradition for my Dad and I to wash and polish the family car in the garage while listening to the race on the radio. Being from Nazareth,Pa., I had a bias towards Mario Andretti. In those days, USAC Indy Car racing was the premier racing venue. Now, it's a challenge to correctly pronounce the drivers names much less know the country they come from. Passing is rare which makes for a boring parade with endless, drawn out Cautions. As disappointing as it is, I can't wait to hear Jim Nabors sing!
Just got done watching F1, Monaco in HD is absolutely stunning!!!
I think theres going to be a huge crowd at Indy today. Probably double the crowd for the Brickyard 400. Charlotte is going to have some empty seats for sure. Indycar has been on a huge upswing since Randy took over and today is the day they have been waiting for for years. Theyve got new leadership, new rules, better racing, 4 female drivers, multiple storylines, and the element of danger at any moment, and a national audience to see it. Going to be fun to see how it all plays out.
I was lucky enough to find a radio stream of the Indy 500 so I dont have to listen to Marty and Cheever. Its no secret that I dont like MR, but Cheever just annoys the heck out of me. He has a really bad additude and hates Scott Goodyear with a passion. This booth doesnt work and Im surprised they are teamed together every year.
Thanks for live blogging the 500!
Robin Miller just updated from Indy that the restarts are going to be different.
Looks like the green flag will come out as the first car comes through turn four and the field will be single file.
Stay tuned on this one!
Happy Indy 500 Race Day Planeteers <3
Pray for a safe race today! PTL that young man form the FIL race is OK! Saw the hit and man alive!
What does Brent do that he'd be familiar to people? If they didn't force him on us for racing I'd have no idea who he is.
Best produced racing opening sequence ever! William Fichtner is a credible actor and an Irwindale Speedway regular.
Fantastic taped elements... hard to describe the integration into the piece.
Great job! Lets race!
I enjoyed the opening :)
anon 11:07--yes he is! He's visited the booth a few times for the Toyota Showdown. I really enjoy him. Miss Prison Break :(
@Gymmie--
Brent is the voice of the college football game of the week on ESPN/ABC and calls the major bowl games.
He;s still best known as the host of the award winning "NFL Today" on CBS years and years ago. He also called other sports at CBS, including the Final Four, until his contract was terminated abruptly on April Fools Day in one of the strangest sports TV business stories.
Basically, he was Jim Nantz before Jim Nantz at CBS.
This is not a knock on him personally since I of course don't know him, but Brent's best days are behind him. There was a time when "you are looking live" was energetic sounding, but now he just sounds so tired.
Brent isn't a bad guy, but Jerry Punch IMHO would be great in that role.
Did I hear correctly that Paul Page is on the radio?
Mr Editor -
Brent Musberger out of place - he's a reader; agreed that Dr Punch would be a better fit in host role ...his genuineness comes across quickly ...I'll be searching for IMS Radio feed (mute button ready)and pulling for Alex Tagliani ...I can think of no better result than for 'Tags' and Sam Schmidt to wind up in Victory Lane ...pre-race segments credible; let's hope broadcast team can put that element into today's show ...F1 Monaco Grand Prix on SPEED - super work by Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Steve Matchett, Will Buxton and professional production team in Connecticut, not to mention consistently superior F1 world feed ...why can't others learn from these consistently strong professionals
Walter
Boy, Dancia got alot of boos!!
Paul always does the radio now that he is out of Indy TV.
Oh I see I don't watch those TY oldnewenglander :)
Nice segment on Charlie :)
Apologies to Brewer, that was the best Craftsman Tech Garage segment ever.
Restart Update:
I read earlier on the IRL website that the restart green will be as they are in the north short chute entering turn 4.
Danica is getting booed because she's moving to NASCAR full-time. NASCAR is still a rather dirty word in the Indy 500 circle.
Still waiting for restart details. This show is all scripted. Going to have to wait for Marty and the gang.
Reporter Brant James is updating from the Indy 500 that one of the celebrities on the grid is.....NASCAR's Brian France.
TV and Radio are so much different with their pre-race coverage. Radio is doing all the pageantry.
Long time no see folks! Sorry but FOX has beaten the life force out of me for this year. Ready for Indy though.
Come on folks, let's go racing!
12:12PM ET for green.
Oh dear - maybe the worst and most disrespectful National Anthem I have ever heard.
Why can't they just sing the song?
At least the Stealth was cool.
nascar take note and learn..brought a tear to the eye..and the stealth fly over..wow
bevo,
Wasn't it the Coke 600 last year where we closed live chat because the racing coverage on FOX was sooo awful?
Only time we have done that and everyone agreed they had better things to do.
I remember we had no clue where anyone was except the ticker and DW was telling stories about himself.
Horrible, disrespectful anthem, imo.
@JD- Yes sir, I thought about that this morning. Didn't want to raise the specter of that with you. Best to leave trauma like that in the past :-)
Comments running 50-50 on the anthem. I must be old'ish....er...
i generally don't like it messed with, but compared to the screeching and out of tune of natscar, i thought it was pretty good. The best have been in the playoff hockey games..they got guys who just do it straight but good. Like the canadien anthem also when they do it.
Gomer time!
At least we still have our good friend, Mr. Jim Nabors
Why don't you ever blog F1 coverage. Monaco today was a very interesting race.
Open wheel racing at 220 plus MPH, I got goose bumps!
That was great! I never get tired of hearing Jim Nabors sing before the 500. About 25 years ago, my wife and I took an early ride past Diamond Head in Honolulu. Here was Nabors out for a morning jog.The papers said he had a home there and we were fortunate enough to see him.
The Indy 500 has never been the same since the CART-IRL split.
Tony George got greedy and the fans of the 500 lost.
The ratings have declined significantly and fewer and fewer fans have attended.
That is what happens when you get greedy. You lose a lot of people who have been loyal to you for years, even generations.
I just turned on an old standard definition tv and noticed that they aren't squeezing the box with the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.
saltsburgtrojanfan...
IMO, there was plenty of greed to go around on both sides. The biggest problem with Tony George is he couldn't properly organize a one-man run to a two-holer outhouse much less a racing series.
Anon, the F-1 races on SPEED are just three guys sitting in a Charlotte studio talking overtop of a world feed they do not control.
Thank goodness SPEED added a live reporter.
Looking good in OTA HD
Always love Mr. Nabors! :)
Missed lead change, oh well.
Tagliani swipes the lead, and of course they don't cut away from Simona to show us until replay. Charming as ever!
11 laps before sise by side, Oh thankyou powers that be.
I bet they could make the box that shows the race smaller and still say they are doing side by side.
"Air conditioning." That ad never gets old.
And ESPN says that the powers that be at Nascar wouldn't allow that until this year?
i have a frozen image of vince welch and the crawl with broken audio on wsyr-tv in syracuse,n.y.time warner is showing the same image.also lost audio from ims net.radio affil.
Anon can you pick up WUTR (channel 20) where you are?
this isnt my cup of tea but im watching. To be honest im just waiting for the 600!
Aaaaand Taku Salad's bad, crashy side returns just in time, it seems!
JD
Wasn't Formula 1 on ESPN a long time ago
sbtf
The trouble with this booth mentioning that Paul Tracy still thinks he won the Indy 500 . . . is that Mr. Goodyear probably still thinks he won, too.
sbtf,
Yes, I did it with Jeff Hallas (now the Exec Prod at Fox Sports Arizona) at ESPN back in the 1980's.
Hey JD. I don't know if this is a Comcast issue or an ABC issue, but I notice that in live events on ABC there is always a blurry picture for a few seconds when they switch from one video source to another, such as a replay to live. Does anyone else notice this?
Oh wow. The juggernauts ARE making it easy for the 500-only entries!
No probs here and I am watching on Comcast Xfinity. Seeing as this is the most awful cable television system in the history of mankind, it probably your set.
Horrible National Anthem IMO, and would it have been too much for them to actually have Jim Nabors mic on when he started to sing? *sigh*
On a good note, I'm loving the easy to read crawl on the top of the screen. So nice to be able to actually read it, unlike on Fox where it's such an unreadable mess.
Sounds like he been having a few lol
WOW EJ hard in the wall!
JD, are you sure about Comcast? I'd like you to see Charter sometime...ugh.
I have not a problem with Jim Nabors singing Back Home Again in Indiana. He always did a good job.
For those of you on twitter, @darrenrovell is not a fan
No video issues in HD using over the air in North Texas
Sorry to say this, but there is huge weather puffing up to the west of Indy, UGH!
Marty says -Lets take another example.
Example of what.
The King looks like he's having the time of his life!
Here in West KY Newwave Communications (formerly Charter) has HD issues. standard channels are fine but HD is forever breaking up and freezing. Gotta love seeing "This channel should be avaailable in a momoent". By the way, did I just hear a tv booth actually "analyze" a wreck and give their honest opinion????
Well, until EJ got into his usual excess of heroics (he is never going to learn), that first restart actually looked like an improvement on the original start...
@ Charlie
You noticed that too, sometimes it's nice to have someone to confirm what I thought I just heard. Lord have mercy
ONE, he only sees things from one perspective and is hard to take sometimes.
Wow, Marty actually called a pass that wasn't shown on screen ...is he actually looking at the race for a change?
Mike (Detroit)...are you looking at the Chicago area? For now, that looks to me like it's no threat as that is heading east-northeast.
brad:
Viso and Sato have long had reputations as the most frequent crashers in the series, moreso the former. I do believe there was a youtube "greatest hits" compilation of all of the cars KV Racing wrote off last year due to their efforts!
I have never heard Marty use the "meat in a sandwich" metaphor!
Can't believe they just went to more commercials when we just had a yellow 10 minutes ago.
I want to take a moment during this break to say that, yes, there are a few things I could criticize about the telecast so far especially in contrast to how Versus covers an IndyCar race. However, I am too happy watching wide camera angles, not hearing "me, me, me" all of the time, and generally knowing much more of what is going on all over the track to bother at this point.
KoHoSo,
Yeah was looking at satellite and some big tops are forming to the west of Indy. checked Chicago radar and it's there heading west. I hope your right and it doesn't mess with the race. So much rain in this part of the US don't need anymore
I can't believe Marty just said the meat in the sandwich! I don't particularly enjoy hearing S. Goodyear or Eddie Cheever I think they should have kept Wally & Jan instead. The restarts are very exciting.
Man that blimp shot is sooo nice
Amazing how the low angles really deliver the speed and the danger even when the field is single file.
Mike (Detroit)...I switched to satellite view instead of radar and, yeah, I see what you're seeing now. Oh well...what would Indy be without at least a threat of rain. ;-)
Yes I agree JD, even the in car shots are thrilling, sooo close to that wall, wow
@KoSoHo - I'm with you on that ...interesting though that radio broadcast is behind tv enough so radio call syncs w/tv shots
and IMS much have called an exterminator to rid the place of 'diggers'
Tight shots.
Since they are doing side by side they can do more commercials.
Show 3 laps go to commercial.
I wouldn't doubt when ESPN sells their IndyCar ad packages they're having to throw in an abundant amount of commercials in the 500 to get the companies to come on-board.
JD...if only Fox would figure that out. Their camera angles make Cup cars look so slow and plodding. When Speed does trucks, they look like they're flying almost as fast as an IndyCar. To use the currently popular Internet meme...
FOX Y U NO UNDERSTAND PROPER CAMERAWORK?
I'm not a fan of that flower box shot though, although, it is much easier to take than a "Digger Cam"
The TV contract sets the amount of commercial time a network can sell. Of course that changes with rain, red flags and other problems.
But ABC is staying on format and doing a solid job.
Mike, before they put the flowers there the angle used to be a little more down the straight.
You could see them drifting off the corner and then getting it under control for the run down to turn 1.
more commercials.
Also keep in mind, the majority of this race has been run under green....obviously laps clip by faster under green than yellow...and if the commercial breaks are evenly spaced out by the laps, the commercial breaks are going to occur more often under green.
Digger-cam is blatant rip-off of 'tread-cam' from Thursday Night Thunder at Manzanita and ESPN's JD-era
Veteran IndyCar writer Curt Cavin estimates attendance at 230K!
ESPN won an Emmy for it. I did a story on it and showed the award.
2 Marty-isms I have caught - "It makes the hair on the end of your arms stand up" and when he said that the crash was "Jimmy Viso"... Plus the obligatory "meat in the sandwich" comment....
I notice they keep referencing the crowd as a "great" one. So I figured they ended up short of being sold out.
Didn't realize that you were doing a live chat on this.
The exact schedule from the anthem to green flag was posted. It and at no time were they more than four minutes off.
NASCAR seems to drift by fifteen to thirty minutes every race.
My problem with Fox "introducing" the Digger cam was not the use in and of itself but how they promoted it as if they had invented it.
Oh, and someone needs to tell Vince that John Andretti isn't Mario's grandson... Maybe he was just starstruck talking with Richard Petty...
Danica having issues with the spotter, well that sounds familiar, doesn't it?
That's been Fox's philosophy since they got into NASCAR....that they're the trend-setters in the sport. That's why they refuse to acknowledge something that another network comes up with. NBC came up with the phrase "lucky dog"....therefore, Fox refuses to acknowledge that term.
Missed restart.
Oh, well.
we have replay.
JD I realize this topic isn't Nascar but the attendance yesterday for the NW race was only 45,000. Wonder how many they'll have today. OH dang, missed a restart!
Ok missed that restart,,
can't get wutr20 on time warner basic cable or over air dtv in morrisville,n.y. i wis i was back running the audio board on wndr-am,like i was in 1993-1995.the indy-charlotte double header was cool.
Four Steps,
The big video board brought in by Jay Howard Productions for the All-Star race intro's broke when they were setting it up.
Took 20 min to fix it and that made the break between races almost an hour. It was bad.
Danica's way of racing the 500. Holding back and stay out of trouble...by process of elimination and a little pit strategy towards the end, get a finish close to the top 5, if not in it. And then for the next year, you're talked about how you were in contention for the win all race long.
The new IndyCar guy wants some NASCAR drivers to do the double.
Don't know if that will ever happen again. Too daggone dangerous for the NASCAR guys. Lots to lose.
I saw Jimmie johnson on twitter this morning say he had always dreamed of running the 500 but now that he is a parent it is off the table.
That's why they moved the start of the 500 back to noon eastern. They said they did it because of "fan feedback". But I believe it was done to try and spur the double again. They'd probably have to offer some monetary incentive for someone to do it.
Pretty wild to see Jimmie Johnson and Darrell Waltrip debating the tire rules under the red flag at the Formula-1 race in Monaco!
Anon @ 1:27:
Sounds bogus to me - not like Indycar drivers don't have their own kids! I think it more likely he's worried about a crash curtailing his racing career altogether.
It sure does seem like ABC has crammed in a lot more commercials into the "500" in recent years. However, I wonder if that's really true or if it just seems that way because we're all here analyzing it so closely.
Mike,
Tony Stewart said you cannont win the 500 in a "one-off" car. You have to run the season and know the issues before the race.
That is why I am so interested to see how the "one-off" drivers in this race are doing.
I agree with Mikec. I've watched Danica for years. She just rides until the very end of the race while the guys ahead of her break or wreck out. Every once in awhile, she'll actually pass someone. Not often, but it does happen. I'm just stating the facts.
KoHoSo, it's all green flag racing!
I agree that she races by attrition. That got her a win.
JD...yes, I realize that and am glad for it. Even with that, it still seems like more and that goes for the past few years as well. I'm not complaining all that much...just slightly frustrating as I am finding this to be a very entertaining race.
I'm not talking the All-Star, I'm talking every race. They advertise the race start (not pre-race) at 1pm and don't get the green until 1:20.
Indy said (two weeks ago):
Taps 12:06
Nabors 12:08
start your engines 12:09
green flag 12:12
Not more than 4 minutes off. I turn on NASCAR at 1pm and they haven't even played the anthem yet.
I believe your looking in the wrong locations for green flags for Nascar. When the race is listed as 1:00 that is just before prerace ceremonies at the track. The green is typically at 1:18 in that instance. The start time on program guides is not the green flag, it is more for folks that don't want to watch the pre race show.
Has Penske started to split the pit strategy yet? He usually will start that around halfway.
I really like the play by play on this race. I knew that DW annoyed me, but I didn't realize by how much.
Just wait a couple of hours, you will remember...
Yes, how dare the IndyCar color commentators not talk about themselves and their man crushes for the whole race! :-D
Just here to state the obvious; side by side commercials are wonderful!
Great aerial shots and love the bat cam
I'm enjoying the coverage...actually adjusting to the race instead of sticking to a script!!!
Pretty wild that Marty got his groove back on this series but it will be interesting to see him when he gets back to NASCAR.
Back on the weather, let's hope this system stays to the north as this just showed up in my Twitter feed...
NWS: "Destructive hurricane-force winds" of 80mph+ moving into Chicago metro. In addition, Tornado Warning for Kankakee. =:-o
I don't think Mussberger is doing that badly. I do miss Paul Page's knowledge but his voice takes some getting used to.
This Harroun interview should have been pre-race though.
This segment with the old man is bad.
Yeah you don't want to be in Chicago right now, pray everyone comes out ok. frigg'n weather!
Speaking of Paul Page, that restart deserved a WOAH!!!
So, who's more senile in the Booth during this interview?
Disappointed to see John Andretti falling back. He posted the highest qualifying speed over all of his high visibility teammates and made it on the 1st day while they were struggling to make it in before the bell on the 2nd day.
Plus I've always pulled for the King.
Firestone does a much better job associating it's brand with Indycars.
Much better than the constant reminders that "JJ has pulled in to pick up four new sticky Goodyear tires"
Those blimp or high aerial shots are great. I agree, Marty is almost tolerable today! Lol
If this was NASCAR, the script would call for Helio to win his 4th at the 100th anniversary.
I'm glad this isn't NASCAR. I like Dario but I'm hoping it will be someone else at the end. The thing about the 500 is that the guy who leads with ten to go is almost never the winner.
That's another reason why you need a medical doctor as a pit reporter.
I told DeLana Harvick on Twitter to get Simona in a KHI truck after the IndyCar series was over and she responded that she would love to!
Got to dig social media.
I wish GoDaddy wasn't sponsoring this race. I'm real tired of seeing Danica.
JD, did you make clear to Delana that you'd prefer a LEGAL truck for Simona? Sorry, I couldn't resist!
Don't worry, when she comes to NNS fulltime next year you will rarely see her!
It's NASCAR! They will always tryo to get away with stuff.
Have you noticed that they rarely miss an incident?
JD:
Won't see Danica in the race maybe; in commercial breaks we will doubt be as inundated as usual.
*no doubt
It's been solid so far in my view.
I'm afraid that we'll see Danica in the NNS race far too often. Despite the fact that she'll be running at the back of the field.
She really doesn't deserve all of this publicity. She's a solid top ten runner but not a superstar.
She's shown a lot of talent and Indy but nowhere else. I'm fairly certain that her NASCAR contract will guarantee an Indy 500 run every year. It's not like she'll ever be in contention for a championship and can't afford to miss the World 600.
Restart! Talk about a wad! WOW
Bummer for Ryan Briscoe.
Today is soooo cool. So much racing.
What will I do tomorrow?
AR, replay it of course!
I get a larger impression these guys are racing rather than riding around waiting for the last ten laps.
The size of the cars and forty? mph greater speeds really make it appear like these guys are skilled drivers.
The boxy COT often looks like it's going highway speeds. Back in the bias-ply tire days the stockers would at least hang out the rear end when they really got on it.
I also don't feel like the folks in the booth are trying to sell me a story for the race. They're letting it play out and rarely emphasize a particular driver.
Restart! Holy Smokes!
Lots of quiet time in the booth. Not so many people jockeying to get a word in.
Four steps... if TV would widen out their camera shots during the NASCAR races, I think the stock cars would look a lot faster than they do nowadays.
I also notice that they almost never show the guys in the booth. The camera is either on the track or in the pits.
I could be wrong but it seems that Fox does a booth shot about every five minutes.
The low angles are fantastic.
You notice when the go to side by side that the lap count stays the same and then all of sudden it moves ahead 2 or 3 laps.
commercials, commercials.
Has anyone counted these commercials there seems to be so many of them in this race.
Robin Miller hates the ABC/ESPN guys but I think they're doing a pretty good job.
My complaint is that most of the races are on pay cable but that applies to F1 and NASCAR as well.
Solid effort so far, a few hiccups here and there. Only problem I have is when they go to Vince Welch - he's really gotten worse the past two seasons. Used to be a solid pit reporter.
commercial overload
The Indycar organization will be very happy if Graham Rahal gets the win. he's young, American and very saleable.
The race seems to be going very quickly. Does NASCAR usually get a race done in 3 hours?
Vicky--feels like 800 and 50 million :(.
One green car on the track?
what about the guys who don't need to stop for gas like franchetti, they have forgotten about them
Gymmie - at least that many commercials!
but Danica's leading!! that's the biiiig story rite now...sarcasm
The Belgian as race winner isn't very marketable.
He's a one-time runner though, which gives the lie to the NASCAR apologists.
whats the gap between franco and the guys that got fuel, how much can he slow down? that's what they need to cover
Fuel mileage mess! Imagine that.
They say the timing of the yellows hurt Danica. They forget to mention how many times in the past she benefitted from the timing of the yellows. They were trying to do the same this year.
Where's a debris caution when you need one...
Half this race was under commercial from lap 108 to 178.
From lap 108
6 laps of live
4 laps commercial
1 lap live
6 laps commercial
3 laps live
4 laps commercial
9 laps live
5 laps commercial
3 laps live
4 laps commercial
5 laps live
2 laps commercial
1 lap live
3 laps commercial
7 laps live
6 laps commercial
To lap 178
34 laps commercials
35 laps live
How slow can you go?
The leader at 190 almost never wins.
Dario is running 208??
Lets talk side by side, shall we?
From a broadcast point of view
Monaco was ok. Indy has been real good, but we have Charlotte to go.
So, Speed, ESPN/ABC, FOX.
Side by side by side on broadcasts.
Might make for an interesting discussion in the TV Police Squad Room later today, um, ur, tonight or tomorrow. :o)
Hildebrand and Franchitti in a side by side on the last lap
have the computers destroyed the racing since you can now calculate gas so accurately
This race is always soooo weird.
they have telemetry in the pits in indy racing yes?
What makes the finish of this so weird is it seems like it's always a rather long green flag run to the end.
This is the Trevor Bayne storyline
That's why I love INDT
That's why I love INDT
wow
OH.
My.
God.
Post a Comment