NASCAR Images Caught In The "HD Crunch"

Back on November 13th, we talked about the on-going problems this season with several TV series being produced by NASCAR Images.

This company is the official TV production arm of NASCAR, and produces a wide range of shows from Survival of the Fastest on SPEED to Chasing Glory on ESPN2. They also produce the NASCAR programming from the SPEED Stage, including NASCAR RaceDay.

The column, which is linked here, summed-up the issues raised by the NASCAR fans who could not believe that "officially produced" programs from NASCAR were not exactly being truthful when it came to what viewers were seeing.

At issue were not the live shows, or the high-profile projects like the movie "Dale." Fans were angry about what is called "quick turn-a-round" shows. These series are shot on location, and then assembled into programs back at the NASCAR Images headquarters in Charlotte.

This type of series is called "post-produced," and the pressure is on the editors and producers to meet network deadlines for delivery of these episodes. Therein lies the problem.

Even before this company was called NASCAR Images, it specialized in producing weekly shows about the sport. Some older fans may recognize the name Sunbelt Video when Inside Winston Cup Racing was the big weekly show hosted by Ned Jarrett. Alongside of Ned was his young field reporter. His name was Bill Weber.

When The Daly Planet approached those connected with both Chasing Glory and Survival of the Fastest, it was clear that some "issues" had already been discovered by the NASCAR Images management team.

Basically, several editors and producers faced a couple of situations, and made the wrong decision. Both of these series have their new footage shot with film, but require a lot of older footage edited into the programs from other sources. Add in the fact that the TV networks require programs to be in High Definition, and problems pop-up pretty quickly. The bottom line is, the pieces don't fit.

You can't take older video and "make it" into HD. As the transition to this new TV format comes around, lots of producers find themselves having a tough time with the lack of older HD footage. What this means for NASCAR Images is that they have the current footage and sound all ready to go, but still have one little problem.

They need to "fill-in" the parts of the show that are not completely current with what is called "B-roll." That is the older footage used for reference in a show. The problem NASCAR Images ran into is that most of it is not in HD, and the networks will not accept it. That leaves only two choices.

First, shoot new footage to try and bridge the gaps. Second, take some old footage that is in HD and use it, hoping no one will know it is not "exactly" the right thing. Needless to say, the reason we are writing this story is because NASCAR Images made the wrong choice.

What they chose to do was take footage of the same team, or the same driver, or the same track and pretend that is was the day or week that they needed it to be for their story. They purposefully "mis-labeled" NASCAR footage.

In the year of the COT, it seems only fitting that the NASCAR Images producers were also handcuffed by the same thing making the teams crazy. With all the COT testing going on at "non-NASCAR" tracks, the availability of the drivers was at an all time low. Add in "The Chase" format, and the fact that no driver wanted cameras following him as he rose or fell in the ten race stretch.

The NASCAR Images mess only gets bigger when you consider they are waiting on their new offices and production facility to be built as a part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame complex in Charlotte. In the meantime, over one hundred production folks are jammed into a rented office and production facilities next to the highway that was originally intended for about forty.

Needless to say, they run the editing suites and the facilities three shifts a day to turn-out the volume of TV programs, corporate videos, and pre-production for the SPEED shows that has to be done each week. If you are a regular reader of The Daly Planet, you are familiar with the "ten pounds of TV in a five pound bag" theory. This certainly fits that bill.

Unfortunately, even with all this chaos going-on there is no excuse for trying to deceive NASCAR fans with announcer audio and added graphics put over top of footage that was months or even years old. Company policy at NASCAR Images should be put in place to end this practice by individual producers right now.

This issue has upset fans, teams, and even some drivers. Not a good idea to be shown on national TV with a "girlfriend" you no longer have happily having fun at the pool. It certainly is true that these types of production decisions in any TV setting can have consequences much further reaching than any editor or producer could imagine at the time.

NASCAR Images told The Daly Planet enough to let us know they are dealing with the staff members involved. ESPN and SPEED both had no comment. As usual, the mainstream NASCAR media was to busy with other "urgent issues" to even recognize this problem existed. I really don't think too many of them watch the NASCAR TV programs anyway.

Hopefully, our discussion of this topic in a public forum can push things along for next season. Several of the key NASCAR Images folks came to that company from NFL Films, as you can tell by the style of program they produce. Somehow, I just can't believe that Steve Sabol and company would have allowed even one second of mis-labeled footage to walk out of the door and onto the air.

With many TV viewers now questioning the integrity of NASCAR Images as a result of these incidents, the management team in Charlotte needs to use 2008 to re-build the company's relationship with the NASCAR fans.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below, or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and leave your opinion.

38 Races In 22 Minutes Cheats NASCAR Fans Again

The season rolled out of the garage in February at a cold and windy Daytona. It ended ten months later under beautiful South Florida skies with a smiling NEXTEL Cup Champion.

Thirty-eight events and thousands of racing miles comprised the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season. For the three TV networks covering this series, the commitment was huge in terms of manpower and logistics.

As TV packages go, NASCAR rivals tennis and golf as manufacturing hundreds of hours of live national TV coverage in a single season. Luckily, NASCAR racing is just a tad more popular than those two sports.

Putting aside the TV coverage of the practice and qualifying sessions, the Cup races alone generated over one hundred and fifty hours of live TV in 2007. Spread over ten months, it is easy to understand how this sport is very attractive to TV networks.

On this past Sunday afternoon, scheduled up against the early NFL games, ESPN2 presented their NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season-in-review program. As one might expect, it was produced in cooperation with NASCAR Images in Charlotte, the sport's official TV production group.

ESPN is the new "big daddy" of NASCAR. They televise the entire Busch/Nationwide Series, produce a daily NASCAR news program, and host the final seventeen NEXTEL Cup events live on either ESPN or ABC. This year-in-review program was a chance to look back on an incredible season that saw many first time events for both the network and the sport.

Before ESPN's Cup coverage began, they broadcast an outstanding series called Ultimate NASCAR. It gave viewers a chance to bond with Dr. Jerry Punch while he hosted a series of shows on diverse historical topics that really showed-off the best parts of the sport. The editing, sound effects, and grandeur of these programs was often breath-taking.

Now, after a year of hard work, ESPN was going to recap the entire season of the highest level of stock car racing in North America. Viewers could look forward to the ESPN and ABC TV team of Rusty Wallace, Andy Petree and Tim Brewer sharing their views.

Also, summing up their thoughts after a long year would be Allen Bestwick and Mike Massaro, two high-profile NASCAR veterans that were the backbone of ESPN's coverage of pit road this season.

Marty Smith would be there to give a good synopsis of an incredible year in NASCAR news. From Junior and Kyle changing rides to Toyota buying their way into Gibbs, this was a huge year of NASCAR news, even without the COT.

But, a funny thing happened on the way to this party. As the NEXTEL Cup year-in-review program began, there was absolutely no mention of ESPN. There were no ESPN announcers on-camera. There were no ESPN graphics. Something was very wrong.

Then, the voice heard next was the "generic voice-over announcer" that fans have come to understand works for NASCAR Images. His booming tones signaled another "NFL Films style" presentation of NASCAR action highly-edited into a set format. This was the NEXTEL Cup season-in-review show?

The 2007 footage began to zip by in a flurry of announcer voices that were never introduced, but magically seemed to be scripted for every moment. Using announcers from all three TV networks, from both radio networks, and from NASCAR Images the on-track action flew by at lightning speed. There was a very good reason it was so fast.

The entire thirty-eight race NEXTEL Cup season was going to be recapped on ESPN in twenty-two minutes. Let me say that once again. The 2007 Cup season was going to be pulverized into twenty-two minutes of video footage.

Twenty-two minutes is the amount of content that is left in a thirty minute show on ESPN after eight minutes are subtracted for commercials. Twenty-two minutes to cover one hundred and fifty hours of racing as a final tribute to the teams, drivers, and fans. Twenty-two minutes.

Regardless of the parties or the TV contract issues involved in this decision, it is completely amazing. NASCAR fans have been knocking down the email door at The Daly Planet asking about off-season TV programming. Other than this show and the Banquet...the NEXTEL Cup landscape is barren.

In the meantime, over at SPEED, NASCAR fans are being treated to daylong "theme blocks" of classics like PINKS, Unique Whips, and Payback. The NASCAR programming is completely gone from a network that basically survives because of the sport.

Can you imagine a two hour version of Inside NEXTEL Cup recapping the season?

How about a studio version of RaceDay where John Roberts leads a discussion looking back at the season with Jimmy, Kenny, and Wendy?

Maybe Steve Byrnes could lead the Trackside gang of Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond through a season-in-review with lots of guests on the phone and some in the studio. Viewers would not mind Junior checking in from the beach on his cell phone.

The point of this column is that NASCAR fans deserved more than just a thirty minute "generic" recap show on one cable network on a Sunday afternoon. This NASCAR Images show was a "throw-a-way" that was probably mandatory in the ESPN TV contract.

What other explanation could exist for a TV network that committed so many resources and so much time to NASCAR? Consider this, the NASCAR pre-race shows on both SPEED and ABC were longer than the year-in-review program. Does that make any sense at all?

SPEED can do a three hour RaceDay from Homestead but no three hour season-in-review? ESPN tells us they have spread NASCAR across five TV networks, an InternetTV site, and their own ESPN.com and Jayski sites as well...but they do not want to waste their time on a look back at their own efforts?

Maybe NASCAR will make a little note about an expanded post-season TV programming mix for 2008. With new sponsors, a new car, and struggling TV ratings, it just might be a good time to expand that season-in-review show to remind fans of the action over the ten months of the season. For this year...its just a little too late.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. To add your comment, simply click on the COMMENTS button below or email editor@thedalyplanet.tv if you wish not to be published. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and leave your opinion.

Jimmie Johnson Left All Alone At ESPN

Jimmie Johnson gets to hang-out with some pretty cool people. On the Tuesday following the Homestead Championship Weekend, Jimmie Johnson made an appearance in Bristol, CT at the headquarters of ESPN. Johnson was there as the two-time champ to appear on the network's daily motorsports program, NASCAR Now.

This was a tremendous opportunity to "pay-off" the season for this TV series, which has struggled with both the fans and the ratings. Now, they had the champ on the set, and he was going to stay for the entire thirty minute show.

Over the last ten months, ESPN has used Stacy Compton and Boris Said as the analysts for this series. Compton has worked especially hard, and put himself through a brutal season of driving fulltime in the Craftsman Truck Series while still appearing regularly on this program in Connecticut.

For NASCAR technical experience, the show has brought in Tim Brewer all season. Added to Brewer's experienced perspective were the commentaries on the sport from both Brad Daugherty and Tim Cowlishaw. While Brewer represented the "nuts and bolts" of NASCAR, Daugherty and Cowlishaw offered opinions and predictions.

The bright spot for the show has been the hard work of the reporters. Shannon Spake has provided yeoman's work this season, and is clearly the MVP of this series. Also, throughout "The Chase," ESPN's highest-profile NASCAR veteran Mike Massaro has been flying to Bristol to appear in-person with "Chase" updates each week.

On the hard news side, Marty Smith's "Lead Reporter" role has been complimented by Angelique Chengelis and Terry Blount. David Newton will be the subject of a Daly Planet column later this off-season.

Along with Jerry Punch and Rusty Wallace, this daily TV series has been a seemingly endless array of veteran NASCAR personalities who all functioned in support of only one person. Back in 2006, ESPN chose a non-racing experienced host for NASCAR Now. He almost ran this new series into the ground right out of the box.

Erik Kuselias is a stick-and-ball guy, a lawyer by trade, and his second career is sports radio. He had never hosted any type of TV series on ESPN before NASCAR Now. The network knew it was crucial that he be surrounded by experts and analysts all the time simply to be able to provide even the basic information about the sport to the viewers.

On this day, Kuselias introduced Jimmie Johnson as the camera opened wide on the High Definition studio set of NASCAR Now. It was strangely quiet. The reason was simple, no one else was there.

To Johnson's left there was no Stacy Compton, and no Boris Said. Tim Cowlishaw was not waiting to have his turn with the champ, and Brad Daugherty was not standing-by on the satellite video screen to offers his thoughts and questions.

On the TV monitor wall where the reporters appear, there was no Marty Smith or Terry Blount. Over by the Home Depot "garage" on the set, there was no Mike Massaro.

In what may have been one of the worst studio television production decisions of the year, ESPN plunked the NEXTEL Cup Champ on the set with the one person on the entire NASCAR Now staff who knows absolutely nothing about stock car racing.

Here are some excerpts of questions asked to Johnson by Kuselias:

"Were you nervous (before the Homestead race)?"

"Did you know where Jeff was on the track (at Homestead)?"

"Did you have a winning car at Homestead?"

"What are you thinking there (while crossing the finish line for the NEXTEL Cup Championship)?"

"How did you celebrate?"

"How would you feel if you averaged a 5.1 place finish for "The Chase" and came in second (like Gordon)?"

"Boris Said described your life as the American Dream...what other (non-NASCAR) things would you like to do?"

In closing the program segment, Kuselias said "I saw you in the ESPN lunch line...people were happy for you."

Kuselias had nothing more to say to the champ, because he knows nothing about the history or dynamics of NASCAR. He is NASCAR illiterate.

As with most NASCAR professionals, Johnson is made of Teflon and everything thrown at him by uninformed media types like Kuselias just slides right off. Stripped of his Lowe's, Chevy, and NASCAR logos by the ESPN fashion police, Johnson still managed to maintain his cool and take this embarrassing interview in stride.

After ignoring Dale Earnhardt Junior in Homestead, ESPN assigned Shannon Spake to follow-up with Johnson's new teammate. The relief on Junior's face after the race was clear, but his words were absolutely amazing.

"It will be nice to get around good people and quit having to deal with jerks," said Junior about his move out of DEI. This set Johnson up to welcome him with open arms on the show, and predict that both Junior and Casey Mears will wind-up making "The Chase" in 2008. That would be the last thing Johnson contributed.

Out of the next commercial, and with Johnson still on the set, NASCAR Now ran a pre-produced feature talking about the "silly season." Ryan Burr lent his voice to a three minute review of exactly the same content fans can read on Jayski.com anytime.

Amazingly enough, although the Jayski site is wholly-owned by ESPN, it was never mentioned. Imagine choosing to run a three minute "old news" feature with the 2007 NEXTEL Cup Champion sitting silently in the studio.

After the feature, as a closing question, Kuselias turned to Johnson and asked "when did you know you had made it, and could drive with anyone in NEXTEL Cup?" Johnson deflected the question by saying he was still hungry and fearful for his job. Then, he just couldn't resist any longer.

As if to end this absolutely awful interview with a parting shot, a smiling Johnson said "the second Championship might have helped."

With even more NASCAR egg on his face than usual, Kuselias threw to yet another ESPN screaming rock music video to end the 2007 run of NASCAR Now.

One can only wonder what was going through the heads of Marty Smith, Stacy Compton, Brad Daugherty, and the entire on-air crew of this TV series. After working hard all season in support of this racing-challenged host, the entire group was shut-out of the final program. What a bizarre ending for the season.

There were no smart or informed questions of Johnson. Stacy Compton and Boris Said with the champ would have been wonderful. Marty Smith putting things in perspective and asking his brand of questions would have been great. As ESPN's lead racing analyst, Rusty Wallace should have appeared in this program, even with a pre-recorded soundbite about Johnson.

This program should have shown-off the "NASCAR Now family" and put a "face" on this series for 2007. Instead, it ended as it started. Bad questions from a host who cannot hide his "deer in the headlights" look when he has to talk NASCAR.

Rumors of wholesale changes on this series for 2008 have been buzzing around for several weeks now, and certainly the network executives know an upgrade is needed. Someone with a firm hand needs to guide this TV series into mainstream NASCAR coverage, and then push it into the sport as a whole.

The Daly Planet will keep you up-to-date on this situation as it begins to take shape for the 2008 season. We would welcome your thoughts on the performance of NASCAR Now for the past ten months.

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