Steve Byrnes Quarterbacks SPEED's Fontana Coverage

SPEED Channel knew it had walked into a pressure cooker on Friday in Fontana, CA. The network had committed to almost eleven hours of NASCAR programming, including the practice sessions and qualifying of both the Busch and NEXTEL Cup Series.

Any doubt about the reality of the pressure cooker was erased when the crew encountered temperatures hovering around one hundred degrees for the better part of the day. Welcome to Southern California.

The day-long TV activity on Friday was once again quarterbacked by SPEED's Steve Byrnes. Combined with Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds, this trio worked their way back and forth between the Busch and NEXTEL Cup Series practices seamlessly.

Bob Dillner and Wendy Venturini braved the scorching garage area to continue SPEED's excellent relationship with the NASCAR drivers and personalities. These two worked hard to keep up with a wide variety of stories, including California's Jimmie Johnson appearing in the Busch race.

SPEED's cameramen in the garage needed to get the cameras off their shoulders and show viewers what the mechanics and team members were doing up-close and personal. NHRA style pictures, these were not.

John Roberts was manning the SPEED Stage early, and did a great job of directing network traffic between the on-track and off-track live shows. Roberts had Hermie Sadler and Randy Pemberton helping him in the garage, and rookie reporter Sadler turned in a good performance. There will be more about Sadler later. Pemberton is always enthusiastic, and his follow-up with the Goodyear Tire guys about the heat was smart and concise.

In NEXTEL Cup practice, Larry McReynolds just went off on the California garage area facilities. "These garage areas are the worst...on the circuit. Its the most aggravating place we go to. They put two cars in a stall where one should be." said McReynolds. That certainly was out-of-the-blue and Jeff Hammond agreed that things looked nice, but absolutely did not work nice behind the scenes.

As the day progressed, SPEED began to bring-in new announcers and offer some brief relief from the heat. Rutledge Wood stepped-in as a reporter, but his strength is not garage area interviews, and he leaves a lot of good information on the table. It was time for hardcore information, not continued goofing around.

The versatile Byrnes came down from the announce booth and moved to the SPEED Stage to anchor the late afternoon coverage that included the relatively new Go or Go Home show. This quick overview of who has to make the race on speed was good, and served as a primer for the qualifying that was up next. Bob Dillner did a lot of work in the garage speaking with the drivers in question.

By the time NEXTEL Cup qualifying came around, SPEED had decided to let some of their announcers spread their wings. The network put John Roberts in the booth, along with Jimmy Spencer and Hermie Sadler. This trio would take viewers through the live Cup qualifying which was the key to SPEED's entire day.

You couldn't wipe the smiles off the faces of Spencer and Sadler when they appeared on-camera at the beginning of the program. While Hermie Sadler has proven to be a quick study and continues to widen his array of TV skills, the same cannot be said for Spencer. The theory may have been there, but the reality was not.

Spencer struggled with his "TV mechanics." He constantly interrupted both Roberts and Sadler, because that is a role he knows from RaceDay. In the same way that Rusty Wallace began the season with his "I'll tell you what" catch phrase, Spencer coined "You know, Johnny..." in this broadcast.

This sloppy TV approach was a shame, because Spencer had good information and a lot of observations that only a veteran driver would have. As the drama of both the pole and making the race began to play out, Spencer's excitement level got hotter than Jeff Gordon's engine at Darlington.

This made things a bit tougher, as Spencer would just talk whenever he wanted, forcing the other members of the crew to pause over and over again. The concept of sharing was not in effect, especially when the drama was high. It might have made viewers aware that some elements of being good on TV come with practice, and not necessarily from being an experienced former driver.

Luckily, all three of these men work together on RaceDay, so Sadler and Roberts know how to deal with the raw energy and enthusiasm of Spencer. Roberts managed to keep things organized, and Sadler carefully added his analysis when he had a moment. Perhaps, with more play-by-play experience, Roberts would have kept the lid on Spencer just a little tighter.

SPEED wrapped-up their NASCAR block with the popular show Trackside. It was fitting that Steve Byrnes closed out this TV coverage alongside Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammond. After a long day, these three managed to keep the energy high and served-up a strong live hour.

Unfortunately, like everything else on Friday, there was only a sparse crowd on-hand for a memorable live interview of Ricky Rudd, who looks like he has finally come to peace with his retirement from racing. Time has mellowed this intense man, and he seemed to enjoy every minute of the conversation and stories that followed.

Elliott Sadler eventually joined the panel after cleaning-up after qualifying, and Sadler continued to show fans and viewers why SPEED has invested a lot of time and effort into developing his on-air personality. He has a natural television presence.

Ward Burton also stopped-by and the panel treated him with great respect, despite his issues this season and his struggles to get back in the sport full time. This is the type of small thing that endears SPEED's NASCAR crew to the viewers. They get it.

So, on a huge day in Fontana for SPEED, the network put together a strong performance under difficult circumstances and gave NASCAR fans sensory overload. They worked to integrate their on-air talent in a variety of roles, and ultimately ended-up with the normal good and bad elements we see in live sports TV.

Very quietly, Steve Byrnes has emerged as SPEED's most high-profile NASCAR TV host. Without Fox Sports Mike Joy on-hand, Byrnes can bounce back and forth between the announce booth and the SPEED Stage filling both roles.

As the picture above confirms, this former high school football quarterback already had some experience with leading a team to a championship. Well, it was a Maryland state championship, but we all started somewhere. Now, about that hair...

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

One Man's "NASCAR On ESPN" YouTube Protest

Over the course of this season, we have mentioned YouTube.com several times when it comes to NASCAR video. One of these stories talked about "bumpstop3," the YouTube name used by Joseph Foster. This former racing writer has been working hard to create his own video universe on Internet pages hosted by YouTube.

His pages contain almost two hundred videos, many of them created by his own editing skills. He uses footage from all the NASCAR TV partners, and weaves it with his own graphics, voice, and music. To say it is well done is an understatement.

He recently added a long video of nine minutes and forty seconds. It was not about the latest NASCAR news, it was not an interview, and it was not meant to be funny. It was his protest against the coverage of the Bristol Busch Series race on ESPN this past Friday night. Did I mention it was almost ten minutes long?

Mr. Foster is expressing in his own way some of the same sentiments echoed here and on the various NASCAR radio shows. The unique thing is, he has been able to use ESPN's own footage and sound to bring his points of view across in a very frank manner. I think his video entitled "ESPN Bristol Busch Coverage" is worth taking a moment or two to watch.

Certainly, we all understand that TV networks have the right to do and show what they choose. They paid for the programming, paid for the production, and ultimately paid to transmit the final network signal to your home. His point, however, is that consumers and fans are the ultimate end users, and they pay a hefty price as well.

In order to make his case, he chose a problem-plagued event that was the topic of an earlier column on this site. Going into Bristol, The Daly Planet predicted a tough time for the new NASCAR TV partner, and that is indeed what happened.

ESPN could not buy a break on things like missing accidents, catching restarts, timing of commercials, and even trying to use the pit reporters and their Tech Center. Of course, to add insult to injury, their entire feed went down due to "human error" with about four laps left to go.

I direct your attention to this video not so much to knock ESPN, but to point out the fact that no one on any cable TV or broadcast network said a peep about this issue. Basically, SPEED has no platform for this discussion anymore. ESPN certainly avoids these things at all costs.

It was hilarious that the one hour Saturday morning version of NASCAR Now never even mentioned the fact that the entire network NASCAR feed was lost, never showed the lost portion, and never apologized for the error. If ESPN says it did not exist, then apparently even on the morning after...it never happened.

Meanwhile, on Internet sites and radio shows, the howl over the TV networks choices of everything from announcers to program content is louder than it has ever been before. Even on ESPN.com and SPEEDtv.com, the conversations are always in-progress about the TV side of the sport. We all know NASCAR TV is a frequent topic on Sirius Satellite radio's designated NASCAR channel.

Where then, can one find this type of discussion on TV? Tradin' Paint on SPEED has rarely ventured into TV coverage of the sport, and the Pit Bulls show on SPEED is long gone. Dave Despain never talks TV on Inside NEXTEL Cup, and his WindTunnel show is a blur of topics usually relating directly to racing itself.

It seems from recent articles on NASCAR.com and significant on-air changes in some TV race coverage elements that both ESPN and SPEED are listening to the fans...somewhat. This tug of war between what fans want to see and what TV networks want to show has been going on for a long time.

What Mr. Foster has done with one well-produced video on YouTube.com is to use the TV network's own content to prove a point. In the Internet era, this one video can been seen worldwide on a variety of devices. It can be watched anytime, is free to view, and can be emailed to a friend. That is a powerful communication tool.

As NASCAR fans peruse the Articles/Stories page on Jayski.com, they will not notice a lot of stories about the multi-million dollar NASCAR TV package. When they watch SPEED, they will notice that NASCAR's TV race coverage is rarely mentioned. Finally, when they tune into any NASCAR or News program on ESPN, they will never find a discussion of the "pros and cons" of this season's coverage.

These days, its up to guys like "bumpstop3" to voice the issues associated with NASCAR's TV coverage. Right or wrong, raising these issues brings a better awareness of what can possibly be done to better serve the fans who choose to hang-in there with the main TV network coverage.

Today's NASCAR offers a wide variety of viewing options, and the ESPN/ABC programs are not the "stars of the show" like races on network TV have been in the past. The challenge for the networks is to first get and then hold the short attention span of NASCAR viewers like myself who have access to various radio, Internet, and satellite TV options for the race.

As the network TV package for the NEXTEL Cup Series changes to ABC Sports, it will be the first time this group has competed directly with such elements as DirecTV's Hot Pass and even the NASCAR.com viewing and listening options.

After this weekend in Fontana, there is no doubt that "bumpstop3" will have a new set of videos ready to go. I'm going to stop-by on Monday and see if his video statement fits-in with the opinions and comments here on The Daly Planet. After all, I'm not going to get that kind of perspective anywhere else.

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.

"NASCAR in Primetime" Blows An Engine

Melissa Rivers on-camera can bring a NASCAR show to a screaming halt faster than the best Raybestos brakes. Chef Mario Batali can take the focus off a backmarker like Johnny Sauter quicker than instant pudding. Kelly Clarkson's perky face removes any intensity from a Jeff Burton super-speedway crash.

Mixed-in with a very interesting bunch of "fans" who curiously appear to be saying exactly the right words, this strange blend of NASCAR and entertainment is this week's NASCAR in Primetime on ABC.

Far from the curiosity of the original episode, and light years away from the promise of last week's show, ABC unleashed an hour that was deep in the type of phony entertainment drama that makes NASCAR fans cringe. What could cause ABC to get sucked into this hype? One word: Talladega.

The track is absolutely a blast. Its a great party, and almost any NASCAR fan knows its also Earnhardt country. The race is great on TV, and even better in person. But, its just a good sporting event, and not the type of life and death "super-drama" that ABC made it out to be.

This is the first program in this limited five episode series that was absolutely off-track. It smacked of entertainment executives making the editing decisions, rather than the solid ABC News and documentary crew that shot the original footage.

When a program goes through the editing process, the production team has a big decision to make. The question is whether they are going to truly represent reality, or use the resources and TV technology available to create their own. In this show, ABC clearly decided to create their own. What a bad mistake for this promising series that ABC continues to say is "documentary" in nature.

ABC used footage for shock value that was years old. This "B-roll," the footage used to cover commentary, was often so out of date and irrelevant it was laughable. All semblance of a documentary feel was gone with Jimmie Johnson "suddenly" crashing into the wall at Watkins Glen in his Busch Series driver's suit. That was seven years ago. The editing decisions in this program doomed it from the start.

Episode two of this series was wonderful, and certainly brought a lot of fans back for this week's show. Unfortunately, it was completely different. Gone was the slice-of-life feel, and in its place was the hyped drama of "is he hurt or dead in the car after the accident?" That was complete with swelling dramatic music...and then a commercial break.

As you may know, I am sometimes a guest on Dave Moody's Sirius Satellite Radio show called Sirius Speedway. I say that because a lot of the on-track commentary in this program was lifted from Dave's radio work at Talladega during the NEXTEL Cup race. Often, the pictures seemed to be edited to his words. Unfortunately, his words were chopped-up, stretched-out, and turned into a melodrama worthy of the "ABC Soap Block." It was tough to take.

NASCAR has been racing live on TV for a long time. The sport came of age on ESPN in the 1980's. Today, almost every lap of even the practice and qualifying sessions is broadcast live to an audience that just can't get enough of NASCAR. Americans have been exposed to the thrill of racing at Talladega twice a year for decades.

Unfortunately, this episode of NASCAR in Primetime chose to ignore all that. They were there to create drama, and it was going to be of the highest order. It did not matter that the drama ultimately consisted of Juan Montoya rubbing the wall, Jeff Burton getting caught-up in a wreck, and Johnny Sauter getting turned on the last lap.

Jeff's wife Kim Burton is great, and her words about risk were true, but they did not match the drama on the track. It had to be created. Poor Johnny Sauter's girlfriend was shown as if she was reacting to both the team radio and the action on the track. It did not help the ABC cause that she had earplugs and no headset on, or that she could not see the backstretch from her viewpoint. The drama needed to be created, and it was.

Ultimately, I was looking for more slice-of-life documentary and less "who might be hurt" on the track hype. Maybe, because last week's episode was so good, this was just a bigger letdown than normal. The fans on the bus were fun, but we have seen that story before many times. Montoya's wife seems nice, and seems to understand his ego just like she did in the last episode.

Veteran NASCAR fans have to get a kick out of not what ABC edited-in, but what the network edited-out. If there was ever a show that could have made a statement about the beer can throwing at the finish and on the cool down lap, it could have been this one. With all those cameras on-hand, that would have been tough to miss. Unless, of course, that didn't fit in the "reality" script.

Two more episodes of this series air on Wednesday nights at 9PM Eastern until this summer special is done.

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 stopping-by and leaving your opinion.