IS THIS HOMETOWN FOR REAL?
Jeff, I agree with your comments about the fight and how it was handled. I in fact have changed my opinion...I had voted that the fine was OK but you are right...it was a racing deal and to be handled by the team. But we all know about Bazemore -- he could piss off the Pope. And Capps is getting more air time than MJ it would seem.
You are also right on about the TV coverage...it is awful and it was awful BEFORE ESPN brought on Paul Page (there's a reason the IRL got rid of him). #1 Qualifier is now 1st Quick. Moving on to the next round is now moving forward (isn't that a Toyota thing?) THIS GUY IS JUST AWFUL AND NEEDS TO BE SENT PACKING. The TV packge is a challenge and I agree that 1 hour might be the way to go instead of continually replaying sessions and rounds. Thank God for TiVo.
Love the e-zine. The only true voice about the sport.
Rick Readinger
Battle Ground, WA
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CAPPS V BAZEMORE, ROUND 2
For the first time I agree with everything you had to say in your editorial. This flap between these two drivers was nothing more than two guys having one of those days. And quite frankly if the people at ESPN hadn`t made such a huge issue out of it, the whole thing wouldn`t have even been noticed.
The television coverage that ESPN puts out for the sport of drag racing is poor at best. This is the fastest form of motorsports in the world and they treat it as if it was a little league game being filmed.
Scelzi Says is ridiculous and a waste of time. After I watched the coverage from Columbus, I swore I was done watching drag racing on tv. The screen was covered in about 12 freakin' graphics and had the crawl at the bottom while the burnouts went on, and during the backup they had to show highlights from last week. The cars staged and the screen was still covered in graphics.
I don't think the producers get it; drag racing fans want to see racing … period. They want to see the cars fired, see them do the burnout, watch the backup and staging process, and I really don't need to see the graphic showing me who stages first. I can see that on tv if you would only let me. The graphic just makes it harder for me to watch.
One of the things that sets this sport apart from NASCAR is the sound. In NASCAR racing the sound is overwhelming for a few seconds, then gone. In the sport of drag racing, when you have two 8,000 horsepower engines even idling, it's like a horse is kicking you in the chest, and when they leave the line it's as if the force of the engines sets you back in your seat in the grandstands. With today's technology, you could at least try and bring that to the audience, for those of us with home theaters it would be mind boggling.
Then they run one pair and its off to 2 hours of commercials. Just run Top Fuel, do your commercials, come back, run Funny Car with no interruptions and do your commercials. It's like I am paying for commercials and interviews and graphics with a bit of racing thrown in.
If you want to do interviews, do them after the cars have run, not during the race. Take out that goofy Scelzi Says and spend the time interviewing between rounds.
I think this is what happens when you put people in charge of a production who basically know nothing about the sport. And if you are going to interview people, maybe at least interview some of the underfunded teams. Let them have a little air-time. What would it hurt?
I remember when Diamond P did the coverage, it was ten times better than the largest sports network on tv has provided so far. I won't even go into the start times, which are ludicrous to say the least.
I think the problem is, the sport has gone from being the gamblers and the outlaws and the innovators, to being about owners and drivers whose main goal is money, and lots of it. That kind of takes away from the sport as a whole I think.
And a John Force reality show? Get real. Who cares what some millionaire and his family do? You have to give Force credit for what he has accomplished, but in my opinion another waste of air time. Just my take on the subject.
Joel Bramblett
Michigan