Suggestion For Fox Sports (3 Viewers)

[twostep]

When it comes to audio at NHRA national events, find out what this guy is using and put it to work. Give your viewers a chance to experience what a 340mph, nitro fueled race engine really sounds like, not that muffled crap that makes your average riding lawn mower sound badass. There isn't a reason why you can't in my opinion.

Another margarita mixer, Prock tuned, putting on a show with some seriously good cacklin'; gets intense at 2:15. 10.000hp engine driving the mixing unit through a 5/8" fan belt. LOL

 

[aakar]

The flag, the fire in the pipes, the Nitro, the menu....
Does NFL or MLB have this?

 

[ch streetcars]

This is what we use to see in the pits at night at a National event years ago, regularly. Throttle wacks, Cars firing up all night, it almost surpassed the days racing. Crews relaxed and great interaction between fans and teams. Some people with the means became involved in sponsorship of a car by this interaction. Could this excitement ever come back?

 

[mick]

i love this thread

 

[mick]

when megarita is running in the zoo, i find myself thinking, 'i live 364 days, 23 hours, and 55 minutes a year just for this'

 

[TSK]

The advantage in the video is that the mic on the camera is close to the engine. There isn’t much other ambient noise.
But that engine is merely idling and doesn’t overpower the mic like two blown fuel cars going WOT simultaneously, which probably leads into serious distortion.
If you want better volume than the TV speakers, get a good sound bar and crank it up. Just make sure it’s got a mute button for when the talking heads are flapping their gums.

 

[Billy]

I'm alwasy trying to position myself at the dragstrip where I CAN hear the announcers because I always feel like I could learn something new, despite having attended national events for the past 42 years. These days, I need help identifying whose Super Comp dragster is whose because all these weird graphics on the dragsters aren't distinctive enough for me to memorize whose car is which!

 

[aakar]

The advantage in the video is that the mic on the camera is close to the engine. There isn’t much other ambient noise.
But that engine is merely idling and doesn’t overpower the mic like two blown fuel cars going WOT simultaneously, which probably leads into serious distortion.
If you want better volume than the TV speakers, get a good sound bar and crank it up. Just make sure it’s got a mute button for when the talking heads are flapping their gums.

And yet everybody now gets awesome sound ( Clay, Rob, Monday Morning Racer etc etc), everybody but NHRA who in 2026 are still stuck in the blab zone.
Use of a sound bar or high end audio system is prohibitive, as the blab is @ max volume and car audio is in the background

 

[GumbyWVU]

Here's my suggestion/request for Fox Sports, as it pertains to our sport -

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't ruin it like ESPN has ruined Div 1A (FBS) football.

 

[65 Goatboy]

And yet everybody now gets awesome sound ( Clay, Rob, Monday Morning Racer etc etc), everybody but NHRA who in 2026 are still stuck in the blab zone.
Use of a sound bar or high end audio system is prohibitive, as the blab is @ max volume and car audio is in the background

On my soapbox one more time in 2026. I watch and listen to every race on .TV. As the nitro cars are started and then coming through the water box their is music or talking. You MIGHT hear the burnout, you might not. Again as they are staging their is often talking, if they have nothing to say their is music. It usually always stops as the tree is activated. So.... you are getting 3.7 to 4 point something seconds of sounds if you are lucky and everything goes right. You HAVE to be on .TV to understand why we are constantly complaining. I was lucky enough to be at the fence opposite the tree once and that's all we are asking, to hear and see the whole race. Not talking for 4 seconds can't be that hard but Lohnes, Galvin, Castello and Enders want to be TV stars and maybe further their careers. Nothing wrong with that BUT Alan Reinhardt knew how to do it. Alan understood that when nitro was coming out of the pipes that should be the only sound coming out of the speakers either at the track or at home. As far sound quality they need microphones inside the cars, not expensive or too technical, Clay can do it with a Go Pro! I think Fox and .TV are probably using the same infrastruture. They are trying to grow the sport and attract new fans that might be just watching on TV. I first saw the Nhra on TNN with my Primestar satellite dish, then I drove down to Memphis and got blown out of my shoes! It's not rocket science.

 

[Billy]

On my soapbox one more time in 2026. I watch and listen to every race on .TV. As the nitro cars are started and then coming through the water box their is music or talking. You MIGHT hear the burnout, you might not. Again as they are staging their is often talking, if they have nothing to say their is music. It usually always stops as the tree is activated. So.... you are getting 3.7 to 4 point something seconds of sounds if you are lucky and everything goes right. You HAVE to be on .TV to understand why we are constantly complaining. I was lucky enough to be at the fence opposite the tree once and that's all we are asking, to hear and see the whole race. Not talking for 4 seconds can't be that hard but Lohnes, Galvin, Castello and Enders want to be TV stars and maybe further their careers. Nothing wrong with that BUT Alan Reinhardt knew how to do it. Alan understood that when nitro was coming out of the pipes that should be the only sound coming out of the speakers either at the track or at home. As far sound quality they need microphones inside the cars, not expensive or too technical, Clay can do it with a Go Pro! I think Fox and .TV are probably using the same infrastruture. They are trying to grow the sport and attract new fans that might be just watching on TV. I first saw the Nhra on TNN with my Primestar satellite dish, then I drove down to Memphis and got blown out of my shoes! It's not rocket science.

Do I just block it out? I don't recall hearing music before or during burnouts. If there is, it's at the start of the category waiting to start the round, but fades and I never hear it again until the Pro round is over. Even when they show the pictures from the fans, I don't think there's music, if there's a delay. But I often fast forward it because I've been behind lately catching up watching.

 

[65 Goatboy]

Do I just block it out? I don't recall hearing music before or during burnouts. If there is, it's at the start of the category waiting to start the round, but fades and I never hear it again until the Pro round is over. Even when they show the pictures from the fans, I don't think there's music, if there's a delay. But I often fast forward it because I've been behind lately catching up watching.

ALWAYS music during the Peak picture show, I mute it usually not my kind of music. To be fair if their's a story about a car or driver occasionally it bleeds into the burnout. Their is always talking or music after the burnout while final adjustments are made. Why not listen to the sound of the cars instead just like you were at the track. Same talkers are drowned out!

 

[ZWeinstein]

Best scenario to please everyone would be, and Ive said this about stick and ball sports as well, have two feeds. One with commentary from the announcers and one feed with just ambient noise. I personally prefer listening to the announcer in the tower because you can pick up and learn a lot of information. I know what a fuel car sounds like, I know what a big block Chevy sounds like and no sound coming through my speakers will replicate that. I would like to learn that Joe Racer in division 2 drives a '86 Oldsmobile and won with that car at Indy in 2011 or Tommy Dragster is making his Top Fuel debut and his back story on how he made his way into Top Fuel.

 

[aakar]

Best scenario to please everyone would be, and Ive said this about stick and ball sports as well, have two feeds. One with commentary from the announcers and one feed with just ambient noise. I personally prefer listening to the announcer in the tower because you can pick up and learn a lot of information. I know what a fuel car sounds like, I know what a big block Chevy sounds like and no sound coming through my speakers will replicate that. I would like to learn that Joe Racer in division 2 drives a '86 Oldsmobile and won with that car at Indy in 2011 or Tommy Dragster is making his Top Fuel debut and his back story on how he made his way into Top Fuel.

Why not have announcer AND car audio, a story could be told and you would be able to feel the insane power that the cars make?
Simply turn down the announcer blab and turn up the car audio so it superceds announcer audio, just like you would experience @ the track?

 

[Vdubman]

Best scenario to please everyone would be, and Ive said this about stick and ball sports as well, have two feeds. One with commentary from the announcers and one feed with just ambient noise. I personally prefer listening to the announcer in the tower because you can pick up and learn a lot of information. I know what a fuel car sounds like, I know what a big block Chevy sounds like and no sound coming through my speakers will replicate that. I would like to learn that Joe Racer in division 2 drives a '86 Oldsmobile and won with that car at Indy in 2011 or Tommy Dragster is making his Top Fuel debut and his back story on how he made his way into Top Fuel.

I am going to agree, I have to work when racing is on and I like listening to the announcers so I can know what is happening. Like listening to the races on the radio. I go to the races in person to hear the sound of the cars.

 

[MM]

Why not have announcer AND car audio, a story could be told and you would be able to feel the insane power that the cars make?
Simply turn down the announcer blab and turn up the car audio so it superceds announcer audio, just like you would experience @ the track?

The problem with that is you are assuming that everyone feels the same way about the audio that you do, when that has been contradicted in this very thread. Zed's suggestion allows people to make their own choice rather than having one or the other forced on them.

 

[twostep]

The advantage in the video is that the mic on the camera is close to the engine. There isn’t much other ambient noise.
But that engine is merely idling and doesn’t overpower the mic like two blown fuel cars going WOT simultaneously, which probably leads into serious distortion.
If you want better volume than the TV speakers, get a good sound bar and crank it up. Just make sure it’s got a mute button for when the talking heads are flapping their gums.

Here's an example of a mic that starts out close to the engine and then records it as the dragster heads down the track. It's plenty loud, sounds great and no audio clipping even after the hit. If Fox Sports could (or would) duplicate the sound in this video (no idea who filmed it) there'd be no complaints.

 

[Rasn1320]

How dare you want better sound of the cars and less talking or sound down on announcers. Ive only been sayn it for years,some are startimg to get it lol. Yea lohnes,and rest of the crew arent the stars of the show and never will be,we watch bc the cars

 

[mick]

jeremy, i gotta' tell ya', your post made me smile. love your enthusiasm for this subject.
personally i like the engine noise and the commentary equally. plenty of examples of 'better' engine sound. i tend to agree with them.