Apparently John Force got hurt last year at Dallas (1 Viewer)

[Bullard Anderson]

What would really be nice is if someone would step up to the plate, be successful over the long haul in FC, and create a rivalry. That would help us all. Everybody's playing too nice these days.

 

[d'kid]

Why promote faked drama... this is racing. Rivalries come naturally, which is why the whole Hot Dawg Full-of-myself-er thing is all in his short little mind.

Tony-Dixon is real, Tony-Ant is real, Tony-JR is real, Tony-Brandon is real, Tony- Special K is real, Tony-Hillary is real... mix and match in any order you want... JR-Brandon, Dixon-Will, ect...

Flopper doesn't need the drama, you've got 18-20 good teams at each other every race...

If I wanted Drama, I watch Network TV... which is why I'm finding ESPN2 harder to watch every race... FAKE DRAMA...

d'kid

 

[FC138fan]

ESPN needs to pull their lips off John Force Racing's collective backside and realize there is a whole lot more to the sport than all-Force, all the time.

I'm lovin this quote.. I have to say I just tivo it and every time I see a Force face I skip 30 seconds ahead. And skipping commercials you can get through a 3 hour program in less then two hours.

I used to try to find reasons to hate force years back.. but couldn't do it, he's just to likeable. But seriously dude, when you want to turn on the races and.. well watch the races.. but they show the Friday "highlights" as "this is what John and Ashley ran.. and Saturday's first session is this is what the top 6 cars ran -- plus what team force ran reguardless of times -- then you start to resent him for hogging the air time. But realize it's not his fault. So I guess you got to hate the source of this piss poor lop sided coverage ESPN. But then again, tell that to an ESPN representative, theyd be like who gives an S, you people who watch it for the racing will tune in no matter what we show cause we have a monopoly, so we are after those people who have no interest in anything except a soap opera, those people who actually liked "Driving Force" (I say that but of course I still watched half the episodes till I couldn't take it anymore).

ESPN take a cue from Steve Evans and Dave McClelland and the old Diamond P shows on TNN, two guys who actually were friends with all the racers and knew what they were talking about for what to talk about and what to ignore.

They should follow Tim Wilkerson around, guy has 1/100th the budget, and literally 1/4 the information, crew, and runs and still beats people down.

 

[Al smith]

which is why I only watch the sportsman shows. I watched the ESPN show this weekend to see if ESPN moved the top end camera after the release of the NJ state police accident report. They did. finally.

 

[mike]

I'm a Force fan and I found it wayyyy too much...

I think whoever said ESPN was being lazy hit it on the head...the decision makers at ESPN either don't care, or more like don't know, what's important and what's not important to drag racing and are just going with whatever's the most obvious/easiest "theme" they can find and running it into the ground...

I remember when ESPN was a whole lot better, and it wasn't all that long ago

 

[Bullard Anderson]

ESPN is doing a great job. You have to remember how far televised NHRA has come in the past 20 years. At the end of the day on Sunday you get to see all the action on the track. 10 years ago ESPN2 would gloss over the 1st round in all classes only showing about 3-4 runs. Some of us didn't even get to see our fav's car/bike go down the track.

I understand ESPN2's situation. John Force is the most outspoken, dynamic driver in all of motorsports. And he has his hand in 4 Funny Cars of the 16 on Raceday. It's hard not to use that when the opportunity arises. Add to that a major section of fans automatically jumped on the Ashley Force bandwagon before she ever made a pass at a National Event in Funny Car because of her name.

I find myself (like most of you) saying it's too much John Force. But I also have to remind myself that ESPN2 is not catering to the diehards who frequent the Mater. There are other ppl out there watching this stuff who need to be sucked in and entertained.

As for me, I'm just happy seeing each race, in each category from 1st round to the final round.

 

[d'kid]

I have the stats before the race makes TV, there are times the TV starts before the race is over, I don't even think about it until it is... left coast races are hard to stay awake for... a lot of times I don't... Thankfully, the TV has a Mute Button, and commercials are long enough to do other things, like grab a cup of coffee or go to the head...

If ESPN2 edited it down and Gave us just an hour and half of nothing but racing, I'd be a happy camper... in the two hour qualifying show, they could show every pass...

Same way I watched baseball on TV growing up... Turn on the Tube, turn off the sound, and listen to the play by play on the radio...

d'kid
I'm not the target audience...

 

[Bullard Anderson]

Karl we agree. Just give me the racing. Me personally, I keep myself away from the PC all day because Bull Riding and the NHRA entertain me on Sundays.