TV coverage for Crandon was horrible

[GEARDOC]

I watched the Crandon race yesterday and I have to say it sucked. First of all, the commentators are idiots( at least they didn't have Ivan in the booth or trailer or whatever). Where did they get these guys? Do they know anything about racing? If they're watching a taped race, how can they miss so many points. It took them almost 2 laps to figure out Ricky had a flat, which to me is amazing since the cameras never left Johnson and Taylor. In the Pro 4 race, they never even mentioned how Barlow went from 1st to 3rd in 1 lap.
Second, and I think this has already been mentioned, If you're not in the top 3 or 4 you will never see any TV time. It costs alot of money to get to and compete in these races. Sponsors putting up money get nothing in return if you have their decals on your truck and you're midpack. There is alot of great racing going on everywhere on the track. Not just up front. In the Pro2 race, after the first 2 or 3 trucks crossed the finishline, that was it for the TV coverage.

In our first season running in the Pro2 class we were stoked with the 6th place finish. We beat some of the so called big boys(Adler, Oberg etc.) and didn't get a mention. Maybe a little sour grapes on my part, but how can we get a sponsor if they don't see you on the track.

Crandon was great. The Fans were great. The track is awsome, but the tv production needs serious work. It's not even close to the quality that NBC and CORR delivered.

Rant over

 

[ragracin]

I would like to know what people think of the idea of Torc not having the pro lite races on tv and focusing on the pro 2 and pro 4. That way their is more time and give everyone some coverage so that if you finish 6th or 7th they have enough tv time to cover everyone. Just show one less class on tv which would be the pro lite. Drivers in the pro lite would be mad but this may be best for the sport. This is really work talking about.

 

[pdailey]

I would like to know what people think of the idea of Torc not having the pro lite races on tv and focusing on the pro 2 and pro 4. That way their is more time and give everyone some coverage so that if you finish 6th or 7th they have enough tv time to cover everyone. Just show one less class on tv which would be the pro lite. Drivers in the pro lite would be mad but this may be best for the sport. This is really work talking about.

The pro Lite guys would freak. They are trying to get sponsor dollars too. Trust me.....

 

[Pro4Tundra]

they dont even show the saturday race either, just a 30 second highlight clip.

 

[pdailey]

Kind of hard to cram a whole weekend of racing into a 1 hour show. Could be worse, there could be no TV..............

 

[ragracin]

Is it the tv crews job to cover all the racers or is it the racers job to put the truck up into a position that shows off the truck and its sponsors? two ways to look at it.

 

[Kartman]

they dont even show the saturday race either, just a 30 second highlight clip.

GP2 has its own TV broadcast and is 100x as popular worldwide and they only show one race with highlights of the other.

 

[SEANY]

Kind of hard to cram a whole weekend of racing into a 1 hour show. Could be worse, there could be no TV..............

Thats why Lucas has two back to back one hour shows.

 

[Steve_Naughton]

I would like to know what people think of the idea of Torc not having the pro lite races on tv and focusing on the pro 2 and pro 4. That way their is more time and give everyone some coverage so that if you finish 6th or 7th they have enough tv time to cover everyone. Just show one less class on tv which would be the pro lite. Drivers in the pro lite would be mad but this may be best for the sport. This is really work talking about.

For TORC (because they have very limited TV time) it would definitely make more sense to focus on just their top class. Plus this would then create incentive for top drivers in the lower classes to want to move up. And even if they did have more TV time to show all the classes properly, it would still make more sense to put 70 to 80% of the national TV emphasis on the top elite class.

My point is... As long PL, P2 and P4 all get equal amount of TV time, there really is no incentive for the top drivers (and their sponsors) in each of those classes to move up. This is why Scotty Taylor never moved up from P2 to P4, or why Jeff Kincaid never moved up from PL to P2.

This, I think, is THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM in short course off road racing and why I think it has failed to really take off in 40 years.

But if the system was organized in a way that encouraged people to rise to the top of the sport, then I think everything would start to make sense and short course off road would really start to take off. Plus having good management, solid venues and everything else will help too.

 

[gmmvp42]

For TV, and I am sure this will never happen (especially at Perris or any small track), but, maybe they could run the classes together like an SCCA race, then they could show every lap of the 2 races. If they can cover 90% of 3 races and 3 30sec. reviews in an hour, they should be able to cover 100% of 2 races (40min.) and have plenty(20min.) of time left over to get in depth video/info throughout the field. Maybe, with all the passing between different classes ,this would get the midpack racers more attention?
Or, like when NASCAR "goes thru the field" checking in with positions 1-15 at some point in the race, at least once a race TORQ/LOORS should take a lap (comp. yellow?!?) and do something similar. And if time is limited, bail the CRIBS/SHOPS segments. I like race team shops, but not if it sacrifices race time.

 

[racefan2041]

This is why Scotty Taylor never moved up from P2 to P4, or why Jeff Kincaid never moved up from PL to P2.

Jeff Kincaid has a pro 2. He will be racing it in Crandon Labor Day weekend. He must have gotten more money from Traxxas.

 

[Nash!]

I just watched it on DVR and I must say it always seems to be the case of trying to fit quite a bit of content into a 1 hour package. This being said, I think there were many good things in the most recent Crandon airing. The piece on Kincaid's shop was cool. Short, quick and to the point. How cool was that camera in the ground on the front stretch? I also enjoyed the McGrath interview talking about finishing second.

I guess what I am getting at is when I stop seeing improvements from race to race, then I will begin to think the TV package is in trouble. (TORC or LOORRS) Right now, I just don't think that is the case. They both seem to be improving every time they air. These are just my opinions but I am usually a glass is half-full kind-of guy. I don’t think I would say the coverage was “horrible” although I was not a big fan of the most recent commentators.

 

[hoeker]

For TV....they should be able to cover 100% of 2 races (40min.) and have plenty(20min.) of time left over to get in depth video/info throughout the field. .

don't forget about commercials. they have a maximum of 40 minutes to work with in a 1 hour show. i like the idea of showing the entire filed a couple times each race but all in all i think TORC did a great job with the last show.

 

[Pro2-54]

I watched it last night and thought it was pretty good as far as covering a race and the leaders. (I understand what geardoc is saying though). But why on earth would they waste a single second on Step Up Moto when that valuable time could have been used to gain a little exposure for those drivers just outside the cameras, or do a couple driver profiles. Something that would benefit (SHORT COURSE RACING), the drivers and their sponsors. That time is way to valuable to be wasted on what Steve would call "GIMMICKS" (and I agree).
Rob

 

[GEARDOC]

I watched it last night and thought it was pretty good as far as covering a race and the leaders. (I understand what geardoc is saying though). But why on earth would they waste a single second on Step Up Moto when that valuable time could have been used to gain a little exposure for those drivers just outside the cameras, or do a couple driver profiles. Something that would benefit (SHORT COURSE RACING), the drivers and their sponsors. That time is way to valuable to be wasted on what Steve would call "GIMMICKS" (and I agree).
Rob

Great idea! The step up thing is more for fans in attendance to be entertained between races. It's a good thing for the crowd but maybe not for the TV audience.

BTW I do think the Crandon TV was better than Perris. Hopefully they can continue to improve throughout the season. Maybe put a racer in the broadcast booth. That way the commentators wouldn't miss so many things.

Looking forward to Bark River. See you there!

 

[speedfun]

It looks like something needs to be done? It’s Pro-2 that will be the premier class we can all agree or not? The cameras do need to show more trucks too. And torc and loorrs needs to combine next year too!
And what happened to Marty Reed doing the calls for torc? On the last race? $$$?

 

[Slash01z]

I agree about the the step up thing just waisted 2 minutes of possible racing footage. I will say that They really focused on the racing. There wasnt even an intro it just whent to the start of pro 4 which i didnt mind. I will say that Todd haris was one of the most enthusiastic short course announcers yet. About the long period of time to mention some things was because I belive that all the commentary was live.
Overall its just very hard to pack 3 classes of racing into a good 1 hour show. They did have some pretty good camera angles compared to past years.

 

[ProLite13]

I watched the Crandon race yesterday and I have to say it sucked. First of all, the commentators are idiots( at least they didn't have Ivan in the booth or trailer or whatever). Where did they get these guys? Do they know anything about racing? If they're watching a taped race, how can they miss so many points. It took them almost 2 laps to figure out Ricky had a flat, which to me is amazing since the cameras never left Johnson and Taylor. In the Pro 4 race, they never even mentioned how Barlow went from 1st to 3rd in 1 lap.
Second, and I think this has already been mentioned, If you're not in the top 3 or 4 you will never see any TV time. It costs alot of money to get to and compete in these races. Sponsors putting up money get nothing in return if you have their decals on your truck and you're midpack. There is alot of great racing going on everywhere on the track. Not just up front. In the Pro2 race, after the first 2 or 3 trucks crossed the finishline, that was it for the TV coverage.

In our first season running in the Pro2 class we were stoked with the 6th place finish. We beat some of the so called big boys(Adler, Oberg etc.) and didn't get a mention. Maybe a little sour grapes on my part, but how can we get a sponsor if they don't see you on the track.

Crandon was great. The Fans were great. The track is awsome, but the tv production needs serious work. It's not even close to the quality that NBC and CORR delivered.

Rant over

Thanks for the rant this is what it is going to take to get these guys to change it up a little bit. We are not asking for a complete overhaul just a slight tweak to whats
happening out there now. The funny thing or not about all this is that they tell you the costs are directly related to the TV package. What a joke that is.

Im still stoked on a 6th place finish they are hard to come by with the competition level thats out there now day's.


I would like to know what people think of the idea of Torc not having the pro lite races on tv and focusing on the pro 2 and pro 4. That way their is more time and give everyone some coverage so that if you finish 6th or 7th they have enough tv time to cover everyone. Just show one less class on tv which would be the pro lite. Drivers in the pro lite would be mad but this may be best for the sport. This is really work talking about.

This is a LAME idea right here, the ProLite class is sick and action packed man wheres your head at? Shoved so far up your $$ you can't see straight

If there was a considerable cut to the costs associated with the Prolite class it may be a different story, but when it costs close to the same and the hype is there as well sponsorship dollars are a necessity to align a quality competitive program.

DP

 

[ProLite13]

I watched it last night and thought it was pretty good as far as covering a race and the leaders. (I understand what geardoc is saying though). But why on earth would they waste a single second on Step Up Moto when that valuable time could have been used to gain a little exposure for those drivers just outside the cameras, or do a couple driver profiles. Something that would benefit (SHORT COURSE RACING), the drivers and their sponsors. That time is way to valuable to be wasted on what Steve would call "GIMMICKS" (and I agree).
Rob

Thank you Mr. Naughton for the support on this one its needed and coming from you it speaks in volumes.

DP

 

[philsmike]

Get Steve Federico for Color Commentary!