Drag Racing in Austin, TX??? (2 Viewers)

[DrRocket]

NBC Sports has signed Bob Varsha, David Hobbs and Leigh Diffey for their F1 coverage for next year. Diffey will also handle IndyCar for the new network.

According to Racer.com, the NBC sports team for F1 will be Leigh Diffey, David Hobbs, and Steve Matchett. Diffey will be "play by play," Hobbs and Matchett will be the analysts.

Not sure where Varsha will end up, but I wish him the best. I like his work a lot.

NBC Sports confirms 2013 F1 announcing crew - Racer.com

 

[Gipraw]

still don't understand why when there is a multi-million dollar layout for
a brand new state-of-art facility to host by far and away the #1 motorsports
series worldwide our media chooses to not even recognize it?.....in
lieu of nfl and nascar highlites? it's as bad as our network/cable news.

Running the race the same day as the Series finale for NASCAR has a lot to do with it, I would think.

It is a beautiful circuit, and I can't wait to watch the Australian V-8 Supercars run their next year .. that will be a nice benefit of working for an Australian company ..

The venue is set up to host sporting events, concerts, etc. If they think there is real money in it, they can probably do it there.

 

[Mike]

Just a headsup. Speed has been bought by Fox. Be interesting to see where the programing goes.

 

[mick]

Running the race the same day as the Series finale for NASCAR has a lot to do with it, I would think.

It is a beautiful circuit, and I can't wait to watch the Australian V-8 Supercars run their next year .. that will be a nice benefit of working for an Australian company ..

The venue is set up to host sporting events, concerts, etc. If they think there is real money in it, they can probably do it there.

sure would like to see the place; have relatives in san anton so we'll see.
chris cook, were you there last weekend?, kinda' been waiting for your
report?

 

[tb]

Just a headsup. Speed has been bought by Fox. Be interesting to see where the programing goes.

I think it has already been announced the Speed will become Fox1 Sports sometime next year, they will drop the racing only theme and become a national sports programming channel.

Look for lots of Soccer and Major league baseball on the channel. They want to go head to head with ESPN

tb

 

[DrRocket]

Just a headsup. Speed has been bought by Fox. Be interesting to see where the programing goes.

yep. This has been known since earlier this summer.

Oh Boy! More stick and ball shows!! We don't have enough of them already!

 

[turbo ken]

Speed has already been running "other sports" for atleast a month already.

 

[vegasnitro]

Just a headsup. Speed has been bought by Fox. Be interesting to see where the programing goes.

Speed has been owned by Fox since the network was branded Speed. The auto only programming has not been a ratings boon ... so Fox is moving the programming towards ratings, which in this country, means stick and ball sports. It is my understanding they will still broadcast NASCAR practice and qualifying shows as they always have, but most of the ancillary shows (Trackside, etc) will go away.

 

[Larry]

Just a heads up. Speed has been bought by Fox. Be interesting to see where the programing goes.

Been owned by Fox for years . Fox owns a lot of cable channels .
I watch History Channel lots and its Fox too .
Speed 2 soon to be on the Net .
When Speed first came on they ran a lot of old Diamond P and Coke Cavalcade of Funny Cars Stuff .
It's amazing all that stuff exists and has no media outlet .
Drag Racing is still the largest Grass roots Motor sports Venue but alas doesn't transfer well to TV .

 

[Gipraw]

When Speed first came on they ran a lot of old Diamond P and Coke Cavalcade of Funny Cars Stuff .
It's amazing all that stuff exists and has no media outlet .
Drag Racing is still the largest Grass roots Motor sports Venue but alas doesn't transfer well to TV .

Most of those grass roots racers are out in the garage working on their car or at the track making passes instead of sitting at home watching TV.

 

[Rajunz]

I thought you had to buy Seat licenses?? Or is that just reserved? Yeah $160 for Gen. Is pretty reasonable, unless your in an area where you have a crappy view of the race!

With the general admission tickets, you can walk all around the track and sit on any of the grass hill sides, or stand in the GA areas in various corners. The seat licenses are for the Main Grandstands.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=30.136406,-97.636528&spn=0.016998,0.031714&t=h&z=15

 

[Toejam]

With the general admission tickets, you can walk all around the track and sit on any of the grass hill sides, or stand in the GA areas in various corners. The seat licenses are for the Main Grandstands.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=30.136406,-97.636528&spn=0.016998,0.031714&t=h&z=15

Looking at that map, where exactly could they put a Drag strip???

 

[Rajunz]

Looking at that map, where exactly could they put a Drag strip???

You're exactly right Joe. It would have to be it's own stand alone venue added to the property.

 

[mick]

front stretch from last turn to 1st turn is 1/2 mile.

 

[robinjackson]

Combining a dragstrip with an FIA circuit track is an instant non-starter. Check out the Hockenheim (Germany) drag race this past August.

 

[DG]

front stretch from last turn to 1st turn is 1/2 mile.

Unfortunately, it looks like there isn't any room on either end of the straightaway to add 330 or more feet of concrete for a professional quality starting line.

I couldn't really tell from the TV, but it looks to be uphill going along the straightaway. Not sure how much.

Sonoma ended up moving the drag strip away from the road circuit.

 

[Rajunz]

The hill is pretty steep, not sure that one would want to hit it at 330mph. If the COTA blvd. had not been placed so close, there could have been room to expand in that direction.

 

[Toejam]

Combining a dragstrip with an FIA circuit track is an instant non-starter. Check out the Hockenheim (Germany) drag race this past August.

Robin, haven't they always run that track???

 

[robinjackson]

Robin, haven't they always run that track???

A couple of short corner sections of the Hockenheim circuit abut on to the dragstrip. Late last year, in the rain, a circuit racer edged on to the wet strip, lost it and crashed heavily. An FIA inspector ruled the strip must be scraped clean of all rubber, grip juice, etc. The process wrecked the strip surface, including the asphalt itself, but was not discovered by the drag race promoters till just before the drag race this August (10th-12th). The race turned into an acrimonious farce -- glance back at some of the online magazines for full descriptions.

The Hockenheim drag race, it should be noted, is also an FIA-sanctioned event. The FIA ruling has now been confirmed that no circuit track can share a surface with a treated dragstrip.

Circuit of the Americas is an FIA-sanctioned track.

 

[robinjackson]

See here, for example:

::rag Racing Online::: Agent 1320 - 8/13/2012

::rag Racing Online::: Nitrolympx at Hockenheimring - 8/20/2012