NHRA, if this is true, I'm outta here... (1 Viewer)

[PJ]

I don't get why so many people push for live tv coverage. I don't believe we fit well with live tv.


It takes roughly an hour to run first round. Even if we squeeze the turnaround time even more Can the nitro cars really turn it around fast enough to go tf. fc, ps, psb then right back into tf? Especially as the rounds go later. Also how often do we go through one event without some time of down time. Thats just the nature of the sport. So then they will either need to lengthen the tv time slot to 4 hrs (not gonna happen) or squeeze the racing action even tighter in order to give them at least a 30 min opps gap. Either that or events will be cut off, moved to another network or possible be allowed to finish. But I would find it difficult to see espn allowing us to run over on any type of regular basis into higher rated events.

I like the current same day tape delayed format. I think it works well for us

 

[Toejam]

I can't imaging with the kind of money and support Knoll Gas and Lucas Oil Products injects into our sportsman programs that anyone with an ounce of brains would make a decision to get rid of any class as significant as TAD and TA/FC.

Good point, makes you wonder how this sport keeps getting folks that have absolutely NO racing background to make all the decisions! Tom Compton when he first came to NHRA made some pretty good decisions, the last couple of years however his ignorance about Motorsports in general has been on FULL display!

 

[Nunz]

Randy, I agree that it seems crazy to force the alky cars to run on some of these divisional tracks, especially with speeds anywhere from 250-275. Will Hanna has talked about this, and has offered good ideas. Since most divisionals really don't do a lot of promotion and live off of the back gate, I think that this requirement needs to be re-thought. Maybe use the fast outlaw cars, like TS and TD to become the draw, along with Comp, for those who do want something to promote, and let the alky classes run just national events. No matter what, the alky cars should always be part of the "big show", IMO.

 

[Larry]

HD will have to build their own tracks cause the lack of cars would hit the track owners in the a$$ big time.

 

[rocketman]

Lets not forget about the HD Partners clause that A/Fuel car speeds must be restricted. From all that I'm seeing, I don't think the HD Partners are good for NHRA or the Sport.

 

[Dave]

Randy, I agree that it seems crazy to force the alky cars to run on some of these divisional tracks, especially with speeds anywhere from 250-275. Will Hanna has talked about this, and has offered good ideas. Since most divisionals really don't do a lot of promotion and live off of the back gate, I think that this requirement needs to be re-thought. Maybe use the fast outlaw cars, like TS and TD to become the draw, along with Comp, for those who do want something to promote, and let the alky classes run just national events. No matter what, the alky cars should always be part of the "big show", IMO.

Is it being suggested that alcohol cars no longer run divisionals? If they were to do away with the alcohol cars at the divisional level I think you would see a dramatic decrease in the number of alcohol cars. Most of them don't have the resources to run national events only and are strictly regional racers. They can run the divisionals, a few nationals and still have a shot at the divisional championship. IHRA runs TAFC as a pro class yet don't have anywhere near the number of active drivers that NHRA has.

 

[Wes]

The only perk the alky teams have is being able to run at national event prepped tracks. I bet most alky racers would hang it up and buy a bass boat rather than just running divisional races. Remember when they stopped running top fuel at division races? It was because the divisional type tracks were not capable of safely handling the speeds and et's. Here we are many years later and the alky classes are significantly quicker than the nitro cars were when they stopped running divisional events yet they are required to do it in order to run national events.

You forgot the TV package as a perk.

We are lucky in D4 that we have some great tracks on which to run the alky/nitro classes. I can only think of one that needs a bit more shut down area and one other that needs to be laser-ground. We get to run divisionals on three current NHRA national event tracks, one former IHRA national event track, and three others that can handle the power and speeds of the dragsters and funny cars.

 

[Professor Dave]

Some of you have mentioned this but it needs to be stressed-talent in the pros for the most part comes up from down below. As it should. And one place people get to see talent is how they do at national events. And I don't mean simply on the track, but in other aspects as well-how they handle large crowds-are they rude to fans or do they treat them with respect on the way to the staging lanes or when they win.

And the pros know who is good too. When Lee Zane agreed to drive my car in the fall of 2004, a Pros Stock driver said to him at the PRI show two weeks later, so I hear you are going to be racing comp next year? We had made no public announcement of that fact by that time, but word got out because people knew he was good.

And do you think that Don Schumacher would have gotten back into nitro racing car if he had not seen Tony first spend some time in Super Comp and then drive for someone else? I doubt it-he's just too smart a businessman to do something like that.

And Ashley Force definitely benefited from the time she spent interacting with fans while racing SC and TAD. She had to deal with more fans that most alcohol racers because of whom she is, but far fewer than she's had to since she's moved up to FC. And while she had to deal with sponsors while running TAD, the pressure was less. She got to do some valuable learning in all of those things while running SC and TAD.

 

[Jay]

I don't get why so many people push for live tv coverage. I don't believe we fit well with live tv.


It takes roughly an hour to run first round. Even if we squeeze the turnaround time even more Can the nitro cars really turn it around fast enough to go tf. fc, ps, psb then right back into tf? Especially as the rounds go later. Also how often do we go through one event without some time of down time. Thats just the nature of the sport. So then they will either need to lengthen the tv time slot to 4 hrs (not gonna happen) or squeeze the racing action even tighter in order to give them at least a 30 min opps gap. Either that or events will be cut off, moved to another network or possible be allowed to finish. But I would find it difficult to see espn allowing us to run over on any type of regular basis into higher rated events.

I like the current same day tape delayed format. I think it works well for us

PJ...you bring up some good points here...BUt let me give you a few thoughts from the perspective of someone who has produced more than a handful of sports TV broadcasts....

First, lets say you run eliminations from 11 am-4 pm, in a perfect world...

Your 3 hour TV broadcast starts at 2:00...what you do is "live look" the first round, second round, and by the time you get through that, you should actually be just finishing racing the semis...This assumes that you have 2-3 oil downs at 20 minutes each...done right, your finals should be live...in fact, you should pick up the last part of the semis live, too...Here would be the breakdown...

TV TIME BREAKDOWN
1st Round-1:15 min./2nd Round-:45 min/Semis-:30 min/Finals - :15 min/Add 15 minutes of filler, extra stories, etc..

ACTUAL RACE BREAKDOWN (this is in a typical scenario, allowing for oil downs, delays, etc...) 1st Round-2:00 hours/2nd Round-1:30/Semis-1:00/Finals-:30 - This is why it takes 5 hours to run a Sunday elimination event...

Now, you have first and second round done and "in the can" before you hit the air live...You show them in their entirety..It is now 4:00 and you are now two hours into your broadcast...By the time you get through this, and add in some news stories, etc...you are actually halfway through running the semis, but they are just starting on TV...So, for all pro classes, including the bikes, you have an hour to introduce and complete 8 runs for the semis, and 4 for the finals. Even with (2) 20 minute oil downs in there, you are ok...If you do NOT have the 2 oil downs in the last hour, then you have time to really dig into stories, matchup drama, etc...The show would be 100 times better...

Here is what else it does...Because the look is so much more "live" because it is at the end, you will get better ratings...

Here is another problem, the casual fan can log on to NHRA.com, or any other sports site, and get the results in real time, thus never HAVING to watch the show...This is an absolute ratings killer...They would be MUCH higher in this format...Some of the people that check the web, listen to the audio cast and such would certainly be willing to wait 20-30 minutes to be able to watch it live...

The point is, ratings are dollars, sponsors, and all of the things that build a foundation to start growing this sport...This CAN work...

 

[Jim]

I don't get why so many people push for live tv coverage. I don't believe we fit well with live tv.

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I like the current same day tape delayed format. I think it works well for us

and Randy Goodwin>>>
The signed contract with the "Partners" includes a 10 year clause for TAD and TA/FC. Meaning, they are guarenteed for at least 10 more years. This is per Mr. Compton<<<<<

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I agree with Paul, I think the TV package will improve and won't be reliant on LIVE TV to do it.
For that matter, with the continuation of Alcohol classes assured (Randy states it the way I remembered), what's to prevent HD from melding Alky into the PRO Show?

The downside could be, too much racing not enough "human interest" in a 3 hour Sunday show.

Just thinking out loud - I don't know anything.

 

[PJ]

PJ...you bring up some good points here...BUt let me give you a few thoughts from the perspective of someone who has produced more than a handful of sports TV broadcasts....

First, lets say you run eliminations from 11 am-4 pm, in a perfect world...

Your 3 hour TV broadcast starts at 2:00...what you do is "live look" the first round, second round, and by the time you get through that, you should actually be just finishing racing the semis...This assumes that you have 2-3 oil downs at 20 minutes each...done right, your finals should be live...in fact, you should pick up the last part of the semis live, too...Here would be the breakdown...

TV TIME BREAKDOWN
1st Round-1:15 min./2nd Round-:45 min/Semis-:30 min/Finals - :15 min/Add 15 minutes of filler, extra stories, etc..

ACTUAL RACE BREAKDOWN (this is in a typical scenario, allowing for oil downs, delays, etc...) 1st Round-2:00 hours/2nd Round-1:30/Semis-1:00/Finals-:30 - This is why it takes 5 hours to run a Sunday elimination event...

Now, you have first and second round done and "in the can" before you hit the air live...You show them in their entirety..It is now 4:00 and you are now two hours into your broadcast...By the time you get through this, and add in some news stories, etc...you are actually halfway through running the semis, but they are just starting on TV...So, for all pro classes, including the bikes, you have an hour to introduce and complete 8 runs for the semis, and 4 for the finals. Even with (2) 20 minute oil downs in there, you are ok...If you do NOT have the 2 oil downs in the last hour, then you have time to really dig into stories, matchup drama, etc...The show would be 100 times better...

Here is what else it does...Because the look is so much more "live" because it is at the end, you will get better ratings...

Here is another problem, the casual fan can log on to NHRA.com, or any other sports site, and get the results in real time, thus never HAVING to watch the show...This is an absolute ratings killer...They would be MUCH higher in this format...Some of the people that check the web, listen to the audio cast and such would certainly be willing to wait 20-30 minutes to be able to watch it live...

The point is, ratings are dollars, sponsors, and all of the things that build a foundation to start growing this sport...This CAN work...

So basically we're mainly looking for a live finals coverage and maybe some of the semi's. That is much more doable, just as you said above. When people talk of live coverage I've always assumed they meant the entire 4 rounds of action.

 

[Nunz]

Jay, you bring up some great points. I've always felt that having a tape delay show is a sure-fire way to stifle ratings, because so many people can't wait and get the results off the internet. I'm as hard-core as they come, but I know that if I "weaken" and check online for the results, I'm not as motivated to watch the show by the time it comes on, even if I intended to. I think if we could get to live coverage, the ratings would ramp up significantly.

 

[DrRocket]

..........I think if we could get to live coverage, the ratings would ramp up significantly.

I still wouldn't watch it "live." I simply refuse to spend a nice Sunday inside watching TV. I would do what I'm doing now, avoid the internet, record it, and watch it later that evening after the day done and nothing is competing for my attention.

 

[Toejam]

It's amazing how futile a Taped delay show is these days. Remember when we didn't see a race for 3-4 weeks after the fact? How spoiled we have become...

 

[mick]

this has also been discussed on previous threads......
eliminations for a handfull of nat. events on saturday night?
i would think 3-4 hours live on espn2 would be easily attainable on sat. nights?

 

[d'kid]

Gee
I listen to all three days of the Audiocast and watch the TV for both qualifying and The Sunday Show...I'd prefer it they did all the "Human Interest" stuff in a pre and post race show... show the runs in their entirety, including burnouts, and quick pit reports...

but that's coming from someone that listened to the radio broadcast of Angel game even when they were on TV... with the sound off on the TV...

 

[Jim]

I still wouldn't watch it "live." I simply refuse to spend a nice Sunday inside watching TV. I would do what I'm doing now, avoid the internet, record it, and watch it later that evening after the day done and nothing is competing for my attention.

I'm sure you're not unique.

Funny, I watch and get excited even when I know who won. Maybe I actually enjoy the story line of the day.

 

[d'kid]

this has also been discussed on previous threads......
eliminations for a handfull of nat. events on saturday night?
i would think 3-4 hours live on espn2 would be easily attainable on sat. nights?

During the Heat of Summer, That would be Great... and leave us Sunday as a rain date...

 

[mike]

but that's coming from someone that listened to the radio broadcast of Angel game even when they were on TV... with the sound off on the TV...

Well least I'm not the only one now

 

[r2]

I got a phone call concerning this issue about the alcohol classes being dumped from national events, so I made a few calls of my own, and I was told the same thing that Len Imbrogno (director of NHRA sportsman racing) reported on ITA- So I'll just link you to his own words and leave it at that-

www.insidetopalcohol.com - View Single Post - Found this rumor

As some of you know, I'M BUSY!!
See you next year- crazy kids!!