End of an Era (2 Viewers)

[Terry]

Heard the sad news last night that next Sunday will be the last edition of Wind Tunnel with Dave DeSpain. I know that Dave didn't do much drag racing coverage, but I always enjoyed listening to his candid talk, and he was truly a dedicated motorsports professional. I'll really miss Wind Tunnel on our beloved Speed, especially the shows before this year when the call in format was still in effect.

I'm afraid this is just the first of many not-so-good changes for the motorsports world we will see as Speed becomes Fox Sports 1.

 

[Wayne]

dis-like

 

[mick]

maybe john kernan could help with this answer but i remember watching
dave d. on espn, had to have been around the same era that john had
his weekly 1/2 hour show on espn which i believe was rpm2nite?
can't remember what show dave was on, thinking it mite have been a
sunday evening weekend wrap-up show on espn?

 

[Nunz]

That really stinks, while Dave had to cater to NASCAR like everyone else, I think overall that show did a great job of highlighting all motorsports, drag racing included.

 

[vegasnitro]

maybe john kernan could help with this answer but i remember watching
dave d. on espn, had to have been around the same era that john had
his weekly 1/2 hour show on espn which i believe was rpm2nite?
can't remember what show dave was on, thinking it mite have been a
sunday evening weekend wrap-up show on espn?

You are thinking of Motorweek, and pre-dated RPM2Nite by quite a bit. My favorite memories of Despain were doing play by play with Larry Rice on Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN in the late 80s and early 90s. Sprint cars on TV every week!!!

I will also miss Wind Tunnel, and Dave did a good job of getting the NHRA stars on the show.

 

[parrotwhisperer]

The SpeedTV site is all but dead. Nascar has been moved to Fox Sports and FI, Indy car etc are seldom updated. I hope Dave D and some of the other talent resurface elsewhere after the dust dies down.
I remember the first show I saw on Speed was combine races from Australia. It was pretty cool. Combines were top ending at 40 MPH on a course laid out in a big field.
Maybe F Lucas will put together some SPEED type programming for MAV TV.

 

[mick]

....My favorite memories of Despain were doing play by play with Larry Rice on Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN in the late 80s and early 90s. Sprint cars on TV every week!!!......

I will also miss Wind Tunnel, and Dave did a good job of getting the NHRA stars on the show.

thanks Chris, that is the show i remember, was always a fan of all the
motorsports talk shows around that era, and yes, do remember thursday nite
thunder as well.

 

[T.Smith]

I to remember the Motor Week Illustrated days. Dave always managed to squeeze in drag racing results and along with George Michaels’ Sports Machine, you could at least know who won before the National Dragster showed up in the 1980's.

I'm going to miss the Wind Tunnel show, I hope that format can land on its feet somewhere else.

 

[T.Smith]

The Thursday Night Thunder Sprints and Midgets shows were awesome.

I also loved watching the speedway bikes on Friday nights.

 

[Nick Name]

I had never seen his show, but when Mini Sprint race cars first hit the scene, we had a booth at the PRI show with a mini sprint in it. Dave came in the booth and introduced himself and wanted to know all about mini sprints. I believe that as the first one he had ever seen.

Later I happened to see on of his shows. Well done . I have since run into him at PRI shows. Nice guy

 

[The Little Lizard]

Nice guy-always diverse racing topics and subject matter-Sad to see him go. Fox Sports one has the exclusive for NASCAR Campway trucks, Nationwide series and will be televising first 14 races and sprint cup first 16. They finished the new T.V. package a couple days ago. Will be interesting to see what else they offer? FOX Sports extends NASCAR broadcasting agreement through 2024 - NASCAR News | FOX Sports on MSN

 

[Bullard Anderson]

Plan on seeing a ton of soccer on FoxSports1. The door is open for someone to produce a weekly cover-all motorsports show now that SpeedCenter will be history.

 

[Larry]

I wish Mav TV or someone would start a Custom Car , Drag Race channel .
I would love to see the old Diamond P stuff and Cavalcade Of Stars Drag Racing series .
Should draw more viewers than some of the niche Cable channels draw .

 

[NYNitro86]

Plan on seeing a ton of soccer on FoxSports1. The door is open for someone to produce a weekly cover-all motorsports show now that SpeedCenter will be history.

Plus a lot of UFC & NFL. The new Season of Ultimate Fighter w/Ronda Rousey & Miesha Tate is gonna air there.

They will still have Rolex Grand Am Series & Monster Energy Supercross.

I wish Mav TV or someone would start a Custom Car , Drag Race channel .
I would love to see the old Diamond P stuff and Cavalcade Of Stars Drag Racing series .
Should draw more viewers than some of the niche Cable channels draw .

I could see MAV getting Monster Jam, Lucas Oil On The Edge, Lucas Oil Off Road etc

 

[Terry]

Just heard this morning that Fox Sports 1 is demanding a higher fee to cable and satellite companies to "replace" Speed with Fox Sports 1. So it's entirely possible that when the Aug. 14 changeover comes, those of us with Dish, DirectTV, and a host of others may have nothing when the time comes unless they can settle the dispute.

Unfortunately, my guess is on how this will end will be a settlement involving kicking Fox Sports 1 up a tier, and it won't be available on the tier it used to be. Hope I'm wrong, but actually looking a the programming they are hyping for the "new" network, since I'm not much of a NASCAR fan, or a stick and ball fan except college football, I may not be missing much if I do lose the network to an upper tier. Who knows? I just don't see much good for the non-NASCAR motorsports fan coming of the revamping of our lost and lamented Speed network.

 

[vegasnitro]

Just heard this morning that Fox Sports 1 is demanding a higher fee to cable and satellite companies to "replace" Speed with Fox Sports 1. So it's entirely possible that when the Aug. 14 changeover comes, those of us with Dish, DirectTV, and a host of others may have nothing when the time comes unless they can settle the dispute.

Unfortunately, my guess is on how this will end will be a settlement involving kicking Fox Sports 1 up a tier, and it won't be available on the tier it used to be. Hope I'm wrong, but actually looking a the programming they are hyping for the "new" network, since I'm not much of a NASCAR fan, or a stick and ball fan except college football, I may not be missing much if I do lose the network to an upper tier. Who knows? I just don't see much good for the non-NASCAR motorsports fan coming of the revamping of our lost and lamented Speed network.

This is true ... SPEED is currently 20 cents per month per subscriber, they want 80 cents per month per subscriber for Fox Sports 1. You will see similar rate demands for NBCSN, they are just playing nice and riding out all of Versus' old contracts. Fox doesn't seem to want to play nice.

 

[Johnny Mopar]

Heard the sad news last night that next Sunday will be the last edition of Wind Tunnel with Dave DeSpain. I know that Dave didn't do much drag racing coverage, but I always enjoyed listening to his candid talk, and he was truly a dedicated motorsports professional. I'll really miss Wind Tunnel on our beloved Speed, especially the shows before this year when the call in format was still in effect.

I'm afraid this is just the first of many not-so-good changes for the motorsports world we will see as Speed becomes Fox Sports 1.

Terry,

He'll certainly be missed. For a motorsports reporter, he was more of a professional broadcaster. Great writing, great voice, great delivery.

 

[DrRocket]

...........Unfortunately, my guess is on how this will end will be a settlement involving kicking Fox Sports 1 up a tier, and it won't be available on the tier it used to be.

I honestly don't think that will happen Terry. (How ya doing by the by???) Fox will want to stay on the same tier as ESPN because if they move up a tier, they won't be able to charge the same advertising fees they can if they stay on the "main" tier. Not nearly as many eyeballs on the screen to watch ads. (As if I watch them now.)

They're playing hardball for now to see what they can get.

My guess is that the various outlets and Fox are going to have a "staring" contest to see who blinks first.

If the outlets DO blink first and pay Fox what they want, you can bet that another channel or two (Like Velocity) will go bye bye.

 

[Terry]

Doin' well Dave. And you? Wishing I was getting ready to head to Brainerd...love going to that facility...especially when I was running Super Gas a while back and Courtney Hansen was running the lanes!!

Your take on the Fox 1 deal is probably correct, although I would hate to lose Velocity...I find myself watching that network more and more!

 

[NYNitro86]

I honestly don't think that will happen Terry. (How ya doing by the by???) Fox will want to stay on the same tier as ESPN because if they move up a tier, they won't be able to charge the same advertising fees they can if they stay on the "main" tier. Not nearly as many eyeballs on the screen to watch ads. (As if I watch them now.)

They're playing hardball for now to see what they can get.

My guess is that the various outlets and Fox are going to have a "staring" contest to see who blinks first.

If the outlets DO blink first and pay Fox what they want, you can bet that another channel or two (Like Velocity) will go bye bye.

Remember FOX back in the day. It spent a LOT Of money to get the NFL from NBC. Rupert Murdoch is a ballsy dude.