FS1 Coverage Continues To Suck.......Again (1 Viewer)

[KennyG]

Well they managed to get through Round 1 in each category in under 4 minutes apiece. Followed by 5 minutes of ads.
Then we spend extraneous time (again) on Leah's win last week. OK, let it go. In the past. Big deal.

Run in 4 seconds followed next run in 4 seconds followed by next run in 4 seconds, with a 10 second top end interview every 4th or 5th run.

No burnouts, no commentary on cars, crew, drivers or races.

No intelligent commentary whatsoever.... examples:
TP - "What is carbon fiber? It's fiber made from carbon" REALLY?
DR - "Cruz Pedregon reaches the line first" Yep. His competition spun out at start, so I guess he did make it to the line first.

Please FS1, get some people who 1) have knowledge of drag racing, 2) have a personality and 3) can say something meaningful for more than 3 seconds.
And try to SHOW SOMETHING

 

[PJ]

I don't know that it sucks but they still have room to improve. I've like Dave in the past and think he and TP are still working on getting in sync.
My teenage daughter got a good laugh out of Tony's carbon fiber line, her response "that's something stupid my friends would say" Makes me wonder about her friends but that's another topic
Tony's still not 100% comfortable, even his stance when they show him and Dave on camera is like some guy at the club about to drop the "How you doin" line on some lady. It's not easy to have a camera and mic in your face and having to do it right on the first take every time, all the time. He's better than that first night in Pomona but still has a ways to go.

It seems in an effort to get to the live show they blow through the early rounds but then we sit and wait through so much down time before we see more racing. Live finals might be the best answer instead of live semi's and finals. In the past we complained that all the interviews were the same, now they've gone a little too far the other way and show so few of them or cut them off. When you are about to go through 40 minutes of white noise there was no need to not let Hector keep going or at least ask another question to refocus him. It appeared someone was in John's ear though to move on.

Not perfect but I'm still hopeful. Just the fact that they have real times that actually stick make me happy enough that I can live with the growing pains.

 

[sdwarf36]

I'm with PJ-I think just live finals would be enough- if it would change the flow of the show from rush rush rush---hour nap---finals. I came real close to switching over to the Nascar race knowing i was going to be watching nothing for that time.

 

[cat]

Audio was terrible.
With the track announcer talking in the background, the cars sounding like they are in a tube and Dave & Tony trying to add exciting commentary, I almost had to mute.
Also, They were again Inconsistent with the staging & reaction time graphics. Sometimes they showed it, sometimes not. No graphics for the drivers names, I believe in the shortened first two rounds they didn't show it.
Looks like they ran out of time in the end, but would've liked an interview with JF or AJ on Brittany's win. Was Supercross live? Every other event is allowed to run over, right to the very end with all the interviews but NHRA has to end there show on time. Doesn't seem right.

 

[DixonFan]

Everyone has to remember this isn't Fox Sports putting this all together. They only broadcast what NHRA gives them. So if you want to throw rocks it needs to be thrown in the direction of NHRA Media.

 

[The Counterfeiter]

Everyone has to remember this isn't Fox Sports putting this all together. They only broadcast what NHRA gives them. So if you want to throw rocks it needs to be thrown in the direction of NHRA Media.

You are correct and someone at NHRA should know better than to air a product like this. These are the people who decided to show Mike Dunn the door. Do ya suppose a bean counter was involved?

 

[Johnson]

The glitchy frame rate is also annoying. Seeing the video stutter every few seconds is very distracting. Everyone I've asked about it sees it, so I know it's not my feed.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

I did enjoy the improved graphics VERY easy to read & compare with items in center RT - ET - MPH, the numbers on either side for each driver. They could leave them on screen a little bit longer. And green the quicker RT, just a thought. I did not miss the burnout shots, but it did rush the broadcast, and not much time for the announcers to tell about each team & / or driver. Our sport just doesn't work for LIVE TV . Far too much down time, (50 mins?).

I would much rather see a tape delay, well edited, calm broad cast, than the hurry up first half, then super slow second half. Show Alky or T/S or Super stocks, or anything to fill the turn around time................. except the T-Stop classes. The "hard core fan' will wait but the channel surfer that sees, oh drag racing maybe I'll check it, will not wait 50 min and see no racing. (jmo)

 

[FABMAN]

I know everyones tired of Force interviews but i was shocked they didn't interview John and Alan after Brittany's first win.

I know talking to NHRA is like talking to death ears but I'm sending a letter to let them know of my concerns. If they respond i will pass it along.

 

[sdwarf36]

Ask them if they read this site.

 

[fatcat]

Not a Tony fan, but Dave and Tony do what the producer wants. Live with it, it's what we've got.

 

[FC138fan]

I watched 10 minutes of the race this weekend (first time in a few years).

Then with two clicks I went to Youtube on my smart TV and watched the 1996 Gatornationals and felt much more satisfied.

I know how the ol' timers feel when they talk about the good ol' days.

Not sure I give a crap about today's NHRA... but I'm not sad its gone, just thankful that it happened. Helped me bond with my father for about 10 years.

 

[parrotwhisperer]

If NHRA does read this I suggest they go back and watch some Diamond P produced races with Steve Evans and a production staff who really understood the sport. Their production methods made the watching audience feel much more like they were actually attending a race and Evans usually asked the questions the audience wanted answered. NHRA actually owns the Diamond P tapes now so take a look.
This new quick quick slam bam presentation of the race runs is particularly bad and rerunning the same footage of each driver saying "I am from Podunk" is getting old fast.
If NHRA thought they needed to reinvent the wheel they reinvented a square wheel. Just look at Diamond - PLEASE!

 

[FC138fan]

Just look at Diamond

As much as many would like to think that fixing the broadcast would fix the sport, the product would still suck even if Steve Evans, Bob Frey, and Dave Mac were calling the show.

I remember taking heat in the 90's friends saying how can you watch that, its only five and a half seconds... which in todays terms seems like an eternity. Seriously I've passed gass longer then a drag race today. The biggest turn off for me yesterday had nothing to do with the broadcast, the drivers... anything - it was the fact that the runs were so short.

96 Gators they were thundering down the track. 2016 Gators they burped down the track. The product is not the same.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

My .02, even though based on what's being said here will be wildly unpopular.......

I think the Sunday broadcasts are good. They have made some serious strides in only 3 races, TP included. Can all of the above improve? Of course! Hell, ESPN had a ton of room for improvement and they had been doing the broadcasts for YEARS! LMAO!! Fox is just getting started, folks. And although I was certainly one of the skeptics at the start, I still recognized change needed to happen and to say that Fox AND Tony haven't made considerable improvement in a very short amount of time is just not true. But we've chosen to be fans of the world's quickest sport, so I guess being impatient comes natural.....

I'm kinda on the fence with the whole downtime issue between the highlights and live finals. For me, it's no issue at all because I enjoy many of the things they've chosen to fill the time with. But like was mentioned earlier, the channel surfer likely won't stick around. But understand, the live stuff needs to happen. Otherwise we'll get shuffled to the sh!tty timeslots, and the already brutal sponsor hunts will become tougher yet.

Sean D

 

[dboxell]

The Saturday Qualifying show was more of a highlights reel than a show, but Sundays show was an improvement over Pomona.
Tony needs to quick talking about his team was "more Satisfying" than when he was with Force, Force got him in the game and now his arrogant s$$ talks about how great he was.

 

[Guy]

I thought all along that TP would do some Force bashing.
Glad I missed it yesterday.The Allaccess was great.
Thats the way I'll be watching from now on.

 

[Nunz]

I don't mind the "rushed" feel with the Friday & Saturday qualifying shows, an hour long recap is fine. On Sunday, maybe it would be better to tape through the semis, then go live as teams are buttoning up for the finals. that way there is less need for filler, and just enough time to build suspense and drama for the final rounds.

 

[sammi]

I think the pieces are coming together. I really like the on the ground camera at the starting line.
A couple of suggestions.
1)tape and run the factory stock thing during the down time inbetween semis and finals. A couple of good things might come from it. You get to see real street cars battling it out. Also, manufacturers(advertisers) might spend a bit more on sponsorship and ads.
2)A larger role for Bruno Massel....he is an ex-champion in comp, drives a 6 second turbo car and has won Indy. Add to that he speaks well and has TV looks. Can't you find a better thing for him to do besides being the pit guy?
3)More time spent showing what fans can do at the races. (Hey Peter, how about extending the welcome banner for drag related businesses to come back to the Manufacturers Midway?) I

Overall, I like the change and I think this show will go from good to great in a relatively short time.

Oh, you could run the Kalitta Lounge thing if you really want engaging TV.

 

[mick]

watched the final rounds on youtube last nite....from what i saw coverage probably on par with what espn provided.
so 3 races in, time to improve.....yes, i agree; to this day there are things diamond P did that still excel over any broadcasts
following their era.
example: show starts with cool 'cavalcade' music and often a helicopter shot of the facility; brock yates, steve or mac introduce
event and provide brief historical points about the event. i also think the map of the USA with stars depicting the events and
the large one flashing for that particular event was really good.....it quickly showed the viewer the entire nhra tour
covering all regions of the country.....then the actually race coverage; well, it was really, really good.
that era IMO is a great benchmark to assimilate moving forward with FSN1.

and yes, how could you not interview john or alan following brittany's first win?.....dsr may field
more cars, but jfr is hugely significant to nhra today and was before dsr......to not do that interview
was a mistake.