Live vs On Time (2 Viewers)

[rckymtn3]

Good post, Larry. There will be some fans that may not appreciate what the crews do between rounds or they might find watching between round maintenance boring, but from seeing how crowded the pits are and listening to their questions at the ropes, makes me feel that there are a lot of fans that will be interested in watching some pit action on tv. I watched the race again last night, and I loved it as a fan sitting in my chair, but if I had been there working then I don't know how I would feel about this deal. My hats off to all the crews.

I think you hit the nail on the head Eugene.

Getting a casual or accidental fan to appreciate what drag racing is about is somehow, replicating the track experience on TV.

We, as fans of drag racing, absolutely love this part of the racing. There's always the people that can't respect the challenge, and ask questions of people as they work under pressure, but for most of us, we're happy just to watch them work their magic. The mechanical end of it has always been a draw. We, as fans, empty the stands to go watch between round pit action, then get back in time to see the cars run. It's a no brainer for us to enjoy seeing pit action as part of the coverage....we love it. I bet most current fans would vote for a knowledgeable voice-overs discussing certain tuning choices instead of silly interviews about how someone "feels". I know, I know...it's been drilled into people's heads that the human interest stories interest people, but I promise, I bet more people want to see what's going on and letting the racing decide what choices were best.

Instead, TV coverage has turned into "how do you feel about what's about to happen?" "how do you feel about what just happened?" "what do you think about what might happen?" "if this happens, what will you feel like thinking?" Just an endless sea of interviews has replaced full coverage of a run, from startup, burn out, backing up, staging, and the run. About 9/10 runs are interrupted by cutting away to an interview during the racing procedures.

I think that's why so many people love the ESPN3 coverage. It's raw, less cluttered, more like being at the track.

 

[Sandman]

I was prepared to not like the live format. I could see an oil-down causing it to run long and my DVR to run out of space, lots of "filler" interviews and so on. But to my pleasant surprise, I loved it! It was well done and really made me fee like I was there. My favorite shot was Wilk's crew trying to fire the car, and when it didn't light off, the sense of urgency was very real. We got to see everything as it was happening, from the crew thrashing to the pit reporter trying to get the scoop from the crew member in the cockpit to all the fans at the ropes watching the whole thing. The whole show as really neat for a change, not just the same-old same-old. I hope ESPN does more of them like that myself.

 

[Dave]

Actually had other sportsman classes been competing, they would have been late into the evening. First round took nearly 2 hours to complete. The pro stock bikes had a short 50-55 min turn around to get back from round 2 in order to go from last to first in the pro order during the live segment. It was really really pushing the clock all day. The alky classes finished 45 mins after the pros. They were a round behind all day. Conversely, Morgan Lucas being the first winner of the day had a little around 2 hours to turn the car around for round 2. I think the live tv will make run order real important. They kind of emphasized that with Cruz towing back and Wilk having the motor already torn down. Also the little bit about bypassing the scales for time. I wish they would have covered the PS and PSB between round maintenance a bit more than they did.

 

[robinjackson]

ESPN showed this Monday morning in Britain, recorded so we managed to miss out some of the ad breaks. I watched without knowing the results.

I must say I hadn't understood the need for this and the fuss NHRA was making over doing it. I had expected just the usual, straightforward coverage simply broadcast live, with the potential for all kinds of problems (rain, oildowns, solo runs because crews couldn't turn around in time, etc., etc.) that would have negated any advantage a live show might have been deemed to produce.

I watched and... I was gripped. Now I get it.

It certainly wasn't usual or straightforward. We all know a drag race has inherent characteristics in the way it functions that make it unsuitable for live coverage. But someone clever has used precisely those characteristics to generate an hour-long, real-time drama that plays out live on TV. The semis and the final began and ended it but the pit work was the drama's real meat. And the fact that it worked by the skin of its teeth, when so much could have, and nearly did, go wrong, was its particular success.

This was a daring and original concept -- I've not seen a motorsport show on TV like this before. I congratulate everyone involved, from whomever it was at the top who dreamed it up to the car, track and TV crews who made it happen.

No, I shouldn't want to see every race shown this way -- that would defeat the object -- but once, maybe twice a season at most, might start grabbing the sport some wider attention. If there are awards given for sports broadcasting at the end of the year (must be, surely -- there are awards for everything else), this ought to be in the frame.

 

[Jim]

If I didn't know better, I might have thought the ignition screw-up was contrived for a reality TV show. (and, BTW, I could never imaging Wilk throwing a wrench at Wilber or some other crew guy

I was prepared to not like the live format. I could see an oil-down causing it to run long and my DVR to run out of space, lots of "filler" interviews and so on. But to my pleasant surprise, I loved it! It was well done and really made me fee like I was there. My favorite shot was Wilk's crew trying to fire the car, and when it didn't light off, the sense of urgency was very real. We got to see everything as it was happening, from the crew thrashing to the pit reporter trying to get the scoop from the crew member in the cockpit to all the fans at the ropes watching the whole thing. The whole show as really neat for a change, not just the same-old same-old. I hope ESPN does more of them like that myself.

 

[tom]

Obviously great for sport by getting more people involved. Need ESPN3 to show all qualifying rounds for the hard core fans.

 

[Leebone]

I posted this on another thread, but my feelings are the same.
NHRA ... please STOP this nonsense. It's a safety issue. The teams need more time to make sure everything is safe. Don't be stupid. Give them the time.
I don't work for a team and I'm just a fan, but with that said, I want the drivers to be safe. We're talking about 10,000 horsepower for God's sake.

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

I loved the show. But i watched it on dvr. Why does the show need to be live to bring this much excitement to the broadcast?? Keep doing what you did but give the teams more time between rounds. And for me the lesson here was the parity the rain brought to the racing. Less track prep will make for more driving skill and less domination by big teams. Lets level the playing field. Dave and mike et al were great. Forget about live-- cause if we had an oildown it would have gone to hell. Give us the same broadcast format-- show the drama. Get the viewer involved with the crews. Great stuff but who needs it live.

 

[Treeshaker]

The quicker turn around time isn't a safety problem. Many teams regularly service their cars and warm them up in about 35 minutes. Both dragster teams did it last Sunday. No rush, just efficiency, and given time all teams will be able to do it.

Tim's car was not going to blow up in his pits. What they were doing is a common practice before every run in every pit. You check each mag/ignition system separately on gas. He had spark, but it was very weak. When they were undoing the connections, they were separating the mag, triggers and box to see which component was the culprit. Nothing unusual going on with their car or team.

Cruz's team was doing the same dance, but it was the wires. Their team lost 5 minutes towing back because Cruz wanted to do the top end interview.

They need live shows to prove relevancy in the world of sports/TV. They also need to create the social media chatter that is required to be taken serious by advertisers in today's world. The 4 wide races create this even though it is shown on tape delay. There needs to be more variety in our sport to interest the everyday fan. Some of my thoughts include night races, different length tracks, less track prep to equal the playing field and bring more suspense to the outcome of an event, and changes in format from event to event.

The teams need to create more ways to eliminate oil downs in the first place and NHRA needs to create ways for quicker clean ups. There are already many potential delays averted by teams that have made their containment devices more efficient, but there is still more that needs to be done to eliminate the delays entirely.

In drag racing, as in any business enterprise, you are either growing or dying. Drag racing has been dying for quite a while now and it will take some bold decision makers that are not stuck in the past to get it growing again. The 4 wides and live telecast give me hope that someone is already there pushing to give our sport CPR so it can come back to life.

And nothing has ever been or will ever be created if all we do is focus on the negatives. Concentrate on the positives and prepare for the negatives and you will succeed.

 

[DrRocket]

For myself, I thought ESPN2 did a pretty decent job of tap dancing before the final round. I really enjoyed watching the pit action. Most of us here know what we're looking at, but my son, who watched the show with me, was fascinated by the choreography between the crew members, and with all of the hardware, tools, etc.

The only problem I had was figuring out how much extra time to add to the recording in case there were oildowns. I ended up adding an hour and a half, and didn't need any of it. Did anyone noticed they finished the program right on the top of the hour button??

I also noticed they were shooing Bob and his team away from the track, and I heard more cars firing up in the back ground. I figured they'd put some sportsman finals on hold until afterwards.

 

[mick]

......They need live shows to prove relevancy in the world of sports/TV. They also need to create the social media chatter that is required to be taken serious by advertisers in today's world........

intriguing stuff.
does adv't. world believe that online buzz will move short term sales
of specific products? or are they looking for brand awareness.....of nhra?.....of nhra sponsors?
....or the ability to sell more online advertising?, in this specific
case online advertisers would target nhra/performance/drag racing websites.

 

[Nunz]

Virgil nailed it. It's about relevancy. I thought it was exciting, I found myself more amped up watching than in a long time. And whatever the ratings were, I certainly hope people are smart enough to know ratings won't skyrocket with one telecast. We need to build a new, bigger audience. I think this is one of the ingredients.

 

[john]

Just wanted to say thank you for all the comments! Bad or good, they are all appreciated!

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

The quicker turn around time isn't a safety problem. Many teams regularly service their cars and warm them up in about 35 minutes. Both dragster teams did it last Sunday. No rush, just efficiency, and given time all teams will be able to do it.


.

They need live shows to prove relevancy in the world of sports/TV. They also need to create the social media chatter that is required to be taken serious by advertisers in today's world. The 4 wide races create this even though it is shown on tape delay. There needs to be more variety in our sport to interest the everyday fan. Some of my thoughts include night races, different length tracks, less track prep to equal the playing field and bring more suspense to the outcome of an event, and changes in format from event to event.



In drag racing, as in any business enterprise, you are either growing or dying. Drag racing has been dying for quite a while now and it will take some bold decision makers that are not stuck in the past to get it growing again. The 4 wides and live telecast give me hope that someone is already there pushing to give our sport CPR so it can come back to life.

And nothing has ever been or will ever be created if all we do is focus on the negatives. Concentrate on the positives and prepare for the negatives and you will succeed.

Virgil--you always know what youre talking about but this time i gotta call you on your last post. drag racing is relevant to the thousands and thousands of people that come to see it live each year. And to the [i dont know how many ] more who watch on tv and the internet.
also drag racing is dying?? wow- tell everyone on this forum and the packed stands of people in Houston. Also tell the thousand of sportsman drivers who come to the races each year and to the top notch pro teams who are providing the most exciting racing in the history of the sport. you wanna see something dying-- have you been to a baseball game lately or a concert ???
Truly what is dying is the US economy. And drag racing is reflecting that miserable down turn. and its not going to change for a long time even if the numbers get better. From my own business i can tell you that people are not spending money the way they used to. and they are getting used to that way of life and finding things they can do without and once they change their ways they find that life goes on and its not so bad to say eat out once a month instead of every weekend. same with drag racing. people are cutting back. but drag racing has loyal fans and it will survive. The broadcast on sunday was exciting and needs to become the norm. but imho it doesnt need to be live.

 

[vegasnitro]

Barry, I was at Houston, the stands weren't packed. They weren't even checking reserved tickets on Sunday when we went to our seats as there was plenty of room for everybody. Local friends in Houston were shocked at how bad Friday's crowd was. There was not the usual hassle getting in or out of the track.

And you are right ... But so is Virgil. The economy is down, people are more tight fisted with their dollars, which makes competition for those dollars tougher than ever. So NHRA has to try something to increase it's visibility, hence live TV and the attendant social media buzz. Increased visibility equals increased relevancy in our microwave society. Increased relevancy equals better ratings and more butts in the seats.

Hell, this site is way down from what it was 5 years ago in terms of number of active posters if you want to use that as some type of barometer.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Mr. Hartman, some interesting ideas.
I agree some variety may help, such as, night racing, 4-wide, and different legnths. But with night we run into noise restrictions in some areas.

For the longer tracks, 1320 would be fine. I can't go along with the less track prep. Thats a safety issue. To me all tracks should be preped to the best they can be. Also it would'nt be fair to the other classes, to run them on a poorly preped track. If we want the "big show' cars to spin, just put them on 15" tires.

We need to make it more spectator friendly if you want more butts in the stands. Get rid of the track side walls, and track side photogs. jmo

 

[Treeshaker]

The economy will always be cyclic in that there will be times of prosperity and times of famine. The people who prepare for these cycles prosper in both, but they have to adapt to the economic times. Those who do not prepare fall by the wayside during the economic down times, basically thinning the herd of the weak. The key is to adapt to the situation.

NHRA was very close to bankruptcy when Compton was brought in to right the ship. He tightened the budget and paid off debt, by squeezing every penny he could out of all his current sources. Many of his decisions were made for the short term good and they worked for a while. Now the NHRA is back to losing money every year because the product is stale and many sponsors are turned off by the management style. In a bad economy, sponsors and patrons alike are more choosy where they spend their money.

Track prep is not a safety issue. The teams will adapt but it evens the field because you just can't keep throwing more and more horsepower (which translates to more and more money) at the track, the crew chief has to think more and the driver needs to drive more (there are several ways for a driver to save a run, or ruin it). There were problems for the Pro Stock cars with the top end at Charlotte. They showed on TV Erica's team putting more wicker on their wing and this simple change made her car more stable and it still ran the numbers.

Look at all the numbers and you will realize drag racing as a whole is dying. How many tracks close each year and how many new ones are being built? Car counts are way down in most all classes. Purses have been the same for a long time, most young people do not have a clue what drag racing is, and the main sanctioning body is losing money. To change this, I believe you need to improve the product, and I don't mean by making every one go faster.

Nascar's attendance was down. Their cure was to build new cars that look more like the originals and are not as aerodynamic. Bristol reconfigured their track back to the way it was for more "bump and grind" racing. These things are working to bring back the fans. And the sanctioning body works with the teams to get sponsorship and more money for everyone. Nascar really started becoming popular when they started their live broadcasts and the first race ended with drivers fighting on the back stretch. Very non PC but it brought the sport to relevancy with the general public, which brought in more fans and sponsors.

I think each event, or group of events need their own unique identity. Only have night races where it doesn't cause problems. Right now Pomona has 3 days of qualifying, Indy has 4, Charlotte has the 4 wide, etc. I am sure other unique features could be thought up, and I know they will all irritate the purists. But they should all be live telecasts.

If you don't like the live telecasts, DVR the show and reformat it to the way you like it to be.

 

[vegasnitro]

Mr. Hartman, some interesting ideas.
I agree some variety may help, such as, night racing, 4-wide, and different legnths. But with night we run into noise restrictions in some areas.

For the longer tracks, 1320 would be fine. I can't go along with the less track prep. Thats a safety issue. To me all tracks should be preped to the best they can be. Also it would'nt be fair to the other classes, to run them on a poorly preped track. If we want the "big show' cars to spin, just put them on 15" tires.

We need to make it more spectator friendly if you want more butts in the stands. Get rid of the track side walls, and track side photogs. jmo

Zappy ... Get rid of the sidewalls in favor of what?

 

[Professional Fan]

I didn't see the need for live TV as I always DVR show and watch it later. However, I did enjoy the show because of all the time spent before the finals showing what the crews were doing, the suspense of whether Cruz/Tim were having problems and would make their runs on time, etc.

I'm not a car guy so I'll defer to Virgil's comments since he has been there/done that. I am not a purist so I do like the idea of mixing things up with night racing, different distances and different track prep. Hopefully this would be more likely to give us more varied results instead of the Force/DSR cars being dominant so often.

End result-for me I thought the short turnaround added a lot of suspense to the show, even though I watched it several hours later!

 

[tb]

If they can get this live feed to stay on schedule for several more times, could this not be a way to get on a major network (ABC, NBC etc). You would get more people watching by accident than you are now on ESPN 1 or 2.

I have also read here earlier that some here want to go to another station, mainly NBC sports, I think you need to ask IndyCar how that has worked out for them