ESPN WINTERNATIONALS COVERAGE A MODEST IMPROVEMENT

DRO ADMISSION: If NHRA telecasts didn't exist, the amount of my editorial space in Dragracingonline.com would shrink by 25-percent. As Bernie Partridge would say, "I feel like I'm beating my head on a dead horse." I've written so much on the subject of NHRA and television coverage that I find myself in mild shock again. However, the success of the Speed World show the first weekend of February was of paramount importance to drag racing as a whole and, in particular, NHRA. So skipping down the primrose path we go, once again.

The 41st annual AutoZone Winternationals was the first race hosted on ESPN's Speed World on a new TV contract and package. This is one of 24 to be seen this year, and race one of a five-year contract. The exposure time for NHRA, if nothing else, is a huge plus for Glendora because ESPN is "King Sport" on television. The ambiance was unmistakable even before the first Pomona installment was broadcast.

The race was billboarded on the ribbon below the screen throughout the day, and the Georgetown/Xavier basketball game was in the middle of a five-minute overtime, when ESPN cut it loose and went to the drag race coverage. Hey, drag race fans get ringside seats, I thought.

As some recall from last issue, I used up my Chronicles with a wish list of sorts, detailing why I really hoped they'd jump all over qualifying. I said it gave the viewer a chance to see every pro nitro car that showed up at Pomona Raceway.

Didn't happen, but maybe for a decent enough reason.

A good deal of the opening time was used to bring the world up to speed on all aspects of NHRA drag racing. After all, this was an inaugural show, and likely they felt that an intro for newcomers and memory-less fans was in order. NHRA's 50th Anniversary, the points champs' hopes and aspirations, Darrell Russell's driving for Joe Amato, a recap of the Bud Top Fuel Shootout from the Winston Finals, a brief bio on color commentator Cruz Pedregon (who did an okay job for a first timer), and an interview with a seated Cory McClenathan. The team of booth announcer Marty Reid, Bill Stephens, Dave Reiff, and Shelly Anderson did a serviceable job putting words to the pictures here.

Saturday's first session was just briefly touched on with the final one understandably getting the biggest hit. The majority of the nitro cars got airtime in that session and Pro Stock was highlighted. Yeah, I was disappointed, but then I thought, 'Hey, maybe I'm the only one who wants to see all of the nitro cars. Do I constitute the feelings of the majority of the fans out there? Dunno. Still, they used a good bit of time on the 50th anniversary… it was a new venture, aw to hell with it. Maybe we'll see adjustments at the Arizona show.

After one day? The good points:
A.) The announcing staff did their homework. As best I could tell, all historical references were factually on the money and relevant to what was going on.
B.) KEEP the Sanyo Lightship. I enjoyed the overhead shots best of all and I think that angles best captures what happened on track.
C.) Overall, the show has a very ESPN-ish feel, somewhat cookie-cutter, but counting the qualifying charts and a decent journalistic job of keeping the viewer abreast of things ... okay.
D.) BEST OF ALL - The Pontiac commercials with Warren Johnson as the professor at the blackboard. Creative and funny. Warren did a terrific job as a straight man working off some tip-dyed freak named "Sullivan." In fact, short of a couple of John Force's efforts, this was the best racer personality commercial I've seen.

And, the bad points:
A.) Of course, the coverage, any coverage has to revolve around the players, the racers who really have a chance at winning. However, I'd like to have seen something on Howard Haight, Robert Passey, and Bob Reehl. Who is Robert Passey? Whose car was Haight driving, and for that matter, Reehl, too? Believe me guys, by the Springnationals, we're going to look awfully predictable and maybe boring, if we don't look every now and then at the supporting casts in the pro classes.
B.) I don't think we need three and four different looks at all the runs, just some of them.

Eliminations on Sunday? Let me say this. I deliberately shut myself off from all sports communication so as not to spoil any excitement over the outcome of the race and I can say this. You couldn't ask for more comprehensive coverage than what the two nitro classes got at Pomona. Every single race was shown. The Pro Stocks got complete coverage from the semifinals on, and highlights (and relevant ones at that) from the earlier rounds. To keep it short, if you can't make, say a race like the Seattle event, what ESPN did with Pomona is a worthy substitute, save for a couple things ...

As decent an improvement as the Winternationals/Speed World show was, I am slowly being won over to two facts:

I don't know what can be done because I'm ignorant of the economics of the situation. But I will say, that no matter what the sport is, mentally I start veering to a "minor league" judgment when I hear it's taped and not live. And given that you can find out what's happening at an NHRA race up to the minute on the 'net, the ESPN coverage suffers somewhat under that onus.

   3.  Finally, the last half hour of the Sunday show dragged. From the
        standpoint of money, it appeared that the sponsors kept everyone
        fat, but in between each of the four Pro finals, there were about
        four or five commercials. It really became irritating and undercut
        the show's momentum, but I guess that's a common occurrence in
        an economy where making a buck justifies all.

Still, overall, I was okay with ESPN's first venture with the new package. I also saw an improvement that may indicate that ESPN calls the majority of the shots, and it was something that I know that any experienced NHRA race watcher would agree with and heartily approve, and that was how Gary Scelzi's Bud Shootout situation was handled.

The situation was this. According to Scelzi, he was under the impression that if he won the Bud Shootout at the Winston Finals and the Finals event, NHRA would pay him a $50,000 bonus. Scelzi did win the Winston Finals Top Fuel title, but the Shootout was rained out and re-scheduled for the Winternationals.

When he got to Pomona for the Winters, he found out basically that he had to win that race, give 'em two for the price of one, to get the extra 50K. He was shellshocked ... wait a minute he thought, all I had to do was win the Shootout at the Winters to get the 50…which he did. A bit of a sticky wicket there, friends.

ESPN mikesters got Scelzi's feelings and then got ahold of NHRA Vice-President of multi-event super bonus competition, Graham Light, and asked for his reading on the matter. If I understood it right, Light said in effect that to retain fan interest, Scelzi had to win the Shootout and the event (I'm assuming the Winternationals) to qualify for the bonus. I know Graham on a good basis and that was, let's face it, an answer that did little to put NHRA in a good light. I was told later by some insiders that Scelzi had been told during the Tucson tests that the game would have different rules at Pomona. Either way, it still sounded, to put it in street terms, that Scelzi was given the ole okey-doke.

However this is resolved, a little controversy, especially one where the host's ass is on the pan, is good for the sport's credibility and fan interest. The constant unending kudos and self-congratulation has hurt the association, and I'd like to think that we can expect more of this scratching-below-the-surface in future telecasts.

I'd say overall, the ESPN Speed World coverage of the NHRA Winternationals was an improvement over past efforts. Not that big an improvement, but a gain nonetheless.