No "SPEED Report" This Sunday Is Bad News

Things have been going very well for SPEED as the network moves from rented studio and production facilities to a new High Definition broadcast facility just north of Charlotte, NC. Click here for a link to David Poole's story about the move.

Many TDP readers have also been checking-in with the good news that SPEED-HD has been recently added to their cable systems. SPEED's goal is to get all the 2009 NASCAR programming in HD and continue to grow the HD availability of the network.

The move to a permanent facility is great, but unfortunately it comes at a price.

SPEED is not ready to go on the air from the facility and will not be able to produce the first live SPEED Report this Sunday at 7PM. This program (click here) is still listed on the SPEEDtv.com website. Hopefully, the network will be ready one week later and start the racing news coverage on January 11th.

NASCAR fans know that the off-season has been packed with news and SPEED has been left out in the cold where TV coverage of the sport is concerned. This Sunday would have been a perfect day to catch fans up on the Elliott Sadler lawsuit and explore other topics like Ray Evernham's strange silence on the issue and Richard Petty's thoughts on the end of Petty Enterprises.

While NASCAR may be the focus of this blog, it is Grand-Am fans that are also not very happy with SPEED. This weekend is the only test session before the Rolex 24 race in Daytona. An on-site reporter would have been able to update SPEED Report viewers about the wide variety of drivers participating in the big race this season. Now, there will be no TV coverage of the test at all.

Compounding the issue is the fact that SPEED is the official TV network of Grand-Am racing and will carry all the key races live this season. No matter how you slice it, missing out on a report from the test session will put a dent in the Grand-Am Series season opener.

Since SPEED committed to revamping The SPEED Report the series has taken-off in terms of viewership and credibility. The days of Ken and Barbie are long gone as the network now rotates SPEED's own on-air talent through the co-anchor positions each week during the season.

Viewers have seen Krista Voda, Bob Varsha, Leigh Diffey, Ralph Sheheen and others present a fast-paced and exciting hour of news and highlights from all over the motorsports world. 2009 should bring an even more sophisticated program from the new SPEED studios.

Regardless of the reason, the SPEEDtv.com homepage (click here) for The SPEED Report explains none of these facts to readers and instead promotes Jimmy Johnson in NYC and the upcoming 2008 Sprint Cup Series banquet. How is it that this website continues to be such a mess?

Hopefully, it will be just over a week when SPEED returns to live motorsports news programming on Sunday, January 11th with the first edition of The SPEED Report. There is little doubt that this first program will move quickly, as the network has a whole lot of catching-up to do.

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Bob Margolis Starts A New Chapter

Yahoo! Sports, Bob Margolis and NASCAR seemed to be a very good combination. Based in Pennsylvania, Margolis was always able to keep a safe journalistic distance between himself and the personalities in the sport. His observations for Yahoo! were often quite different than the Charlotte-based media folks.

His last post on the Yahoo! Sports NASCAR page was November 16th. In low-key style, he offered his thoughts on the 2008 season and signed-off with "that's all folks." That phrase was a bit more prophetic than most readers knew.

Margolis was leaving Yahoo! on his own accord and December 31st was his last day on the payroll. 2009 will allow him to start a fresh chapter in his life. It is a life that took on a brand new meaning only two short years ago.

Many of you read the TDP post entitled "Daytona as a Place of Healing." At that time, we were celebrating Bob's return to the Rolex 24 sports car race as a very personal victory over a daunting opponent.

Margolis had stopped many race fans in their tracks with his brutally honest story on Yahoo! titled simply "A Survivor's Story." For those seeking a fresh perspective in this new year, just click on the title.

Now, after a full season of covering the NASCAR beat one final time, Margolis is headed in several diverse directions. Full of energy and a zest for life, he is turning his writing talents from weekly race observations to a long-form biography.

Project one is a biography of Jack Roush. The man who NASCAR fans either love or hate is one fascinating individual in the world of motorsports. As Margolis reminds TDP, many fans do not know the lifelong love affair with speed that has driven Roush for decades.

While Carl Edwards and the Roush NASCAR teams may be in the headlines, Roush has won with several class entries in the Rolex 24 sports car race in Daytona over the years. There was also a time when he dominated the SCCA Trans-Am category, winning over half of the races his team entered. Margolis clearly has his work cut-out for him where Roush is concerned.

The American Drag Racing Association is the group that races down an eighth-mile distance and this season is title sponsored by the National Guard. As they grow to a ten race schedule in 2009, Margolis is going to coordinate both the Internet and media side of that business as the VP of Communications.

Finally, the Internet continues to be home to a growing selection of social networking websites with all types of different themes. iTeamSports has the idea of allowing participants to own various kinds of professional sports teams, including NASCAR. Margolis is going to be helping that company expand its motorsport presence in several series. It certainly is an interesting concept.

So, for all of you who have been emailing about why Margolis has been gone from Yahoo! Sports for the last several months, there is your answer. Here are some words from Margolis to TDP readers that will ultimately put his move in perspective:

I've been very blessed in my life. Having survived cancer has changed the way I look at everything. Every day is a gift and I plan on enjoying each and every one of them. Ever wonder why they call right now "the present?" It's because it is a gift. I've had to learn that, the hard way. Never take ANYTHING for granted.

For more information, Margolis was a guest on the Rowdy.com podcast. Just click on the "Listen Now" button on the right side of the page.

Best wishes to Margolis on his new challenges and many thanks to him for being a good friend of our efforts at TDP since the beginning. Please feel free to add your comments by clicking the COMMENTS button and following the easy directions.

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Key Story Of 2008 Breaks With No TV Coverage

Lee Spencer from Fox Sports was up at 1AM to author this (click here) story on the end of a legendary NASCAR family franchise.

Several hours later, ESPN.com followed with a blurb (click here) about the same issue. No reporter's name was mentioned, but the details were the same. Even with the Petty name possibly tied to the new merged company, Petty Enterprises was officially closing.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Petty VP Robbie Loomis (click here) was busy denying merger rumors and painting the future as bright. Now, the reality was finally playing-out on a national stage. Unfortunately, that stage did not include TV coverage.

On SPEED, the lifestyle programs continued to race by on Wednesday as the off-season frenzy of truck towing and auto auctions was in full swing.

This (click here) single story by Tom Jensen on SPEEDtv.com talked about the Petty legacy and the reasons this situation was about to have a profound effect on the sport in general. Jensen was not seen on Wind Tunnel, the SPEED Report or any other SPEED TV program. NASCAR on SPEED is closed for the winter.

The nerves were raw at ESPN because the breaking sports news was overwhelming the capabilities of the on-air crews. "Welcome to the machine," said the ESPNEWS anchor on Wednesday morning as the 24-hour network continued to grind out the "content."

Denver's Mike Shanahan was fired, Brett Farve might need surgery and the coaching wheel in the NFL was in full swing. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were going head-to-head in the highlights. Alcoholic golfer John Daly was suspended by the PGA and Charles Barkley was busted for DUI. NASCAR's Petty story had no chance.

Over on the "mothership" of ESPN, the SportsCenter franchise had already made its final statement of the year where NASCAR was concerned. The season's best video clips in all sports had rolled-by and most of them were predictable. But, when it came to NASCAR, ESPN had selected the best moments of the season. Well, as far as they were concerned.

"Michael Waltrip is the worst driver in NASCAR," growled Clint Bowyer again during the red flag in Bristol. Then, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards showed the best face of the sport with post-race slamming and spinning on the high banks. Topping it off were the threat and response soundbites from both those drivers.

ESPN inserted the Petty information as a blurb on the lower third ticker and credited Spencer and Foxsports.com for the confirmation. So, there it was. Petty Enterprises had effectively gone out of business as a lower third graphic on ESPN on a Wednesday morning.

The background of TDP is blue to celebrate Richard Petty's 50 years in NASCAR. Regardless of the bad business decisions, the end of Petty Enterprises is a major story in the history of NASCAR. With the passing of Dale Earnhardt Sr., there was perhaps no more recognizable and iconic figure in the sport than Richard Petty.

We are weeks away from the start of the NASCAR TV season. Perhaps, both SPEED and ESPN will take some time to follow-up on the Petty story and put this transition into historical perspective when they return to the air. Today, there will be no opportunity to see a reporter or hear an expert to help fans understand this news.

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