How about that coverage!

[Chris]

Yeah,.. I'm one of the ones that realize cooperate America carrys come of the clout.
Think I suggested somewhere else that if you write one of the Netwroks,.. also CC their sponsors....
Maybe you should just write the sponsors instead??  Let them know you will BOYCOTT their products... (whether you do or not) 
But it would be GOOD to for a while just to get the point across

[WV-Kahne Fan]

Hey wasn't that great!
They cam back from commercial to show us a REPLAY of Johnson taking the lead, and then promptly went back to commercials after not even showing 1 (thats ONE) full lap of green.

Yeah, thats what we fans want!

The really sad thing is we could have better coverage, but Brian Frances(i know wrong spelling) Thinks we don't need split screen, it would take away the value of the commerical.  I wish someone could get through to these people that most of us tune out the commerical or leave the room to do someting else 

[LeeAnne331]

like use the bathroom, get another beer or go smoke a cigarette??  I know i do!!

[FS JessNicholas]

Yeah,.. I'm one of the ones that realize cooperate America carrys come of the clout.
Think I suggested somewhere else that if you write one of the Netwroks,.. also CC their sponsors....
Maybe you should just write the sponsors instead??  Let them know you will BOYCOTT their products... (whether you do or not) 
But it would be GOOD to for a while just to get the point across

There's a guy in Alabama who does a sports talk radio show...I'm going to cut to the chase, he's basically a little b. About five years back, some of the people he'd angered through his show began keeping a very public list of the sponsors of his show on an internet site, with the implication being to call the sponsors and harrass them. The show's lawyers got involved and threatened to sue and the list-keeper backed down and pulled the site.

I'd have to get an opinion from a lawyer but I fail to see how it's illegal to keep a list of sponsors in a public place so long as you're not advocating violence or other illegal activity against them. But what I'm trying to get at here is that people have complained about this radio host for years to his bosses and it gets them nowhere, but let someone endanger their sponsorship money for even five minutes and you'll have people running.

Jess

[Checkeredflag]

I try and not complain about the coverage, because I do understand the need to pay the rights fees, and that the networks have to pay for production costs, and basically I'm watching for free, and I know I get what I pay for, but...

The one thing that ticked me off about this past week is that it's really annoying to come back from commercial, and then to be told that they're going to commercial again.  C'mon now - 1 uninterrupted green flag lap really isn't too much to ask for, is it? 

[WV-Kahne Fan]

I try and not complain about the coverage, because I do understand the need to pay the rights fees, and that the networks have to pay for production costs, and basically I'm watching for free, and I know I get what I pay for, but...

The one thing that ticked me off about this past week is that it's really annoying to come back from commercial, and then to be told that they're going to commercial again.  C'mon now - 1 uninterrupted green flag lap really isn't too much to ask for, is it? 

I don't think you are watching for free.  You don't pay cable or dish?  You are amoung the few if you are getting your stations out of the air.  We are limited to NBC & CBS here.  Not much on I want to watch anyway, but sure would be less without the dish.  I don't mind a few commercials but I'm at the point why bother, I can find out later and I see little racing anyway.  Someone said something about pay-for-view LOL I paid $15 a couple years ago to see a football game and a whole bunch of commericals.

[AfterShock]

Yeah,.. I'm one of the ones that realize cooperate America carrys come of the clout.
Think I suggested somewhere else that if you write one of the Netwroks,.. also CC their sponsors....
Maybe you should just write the sponsors instead??  Let them know you will BOYCOTT their products... (whether you do or not) 
But it would be GOOD to for a while just to get the point across

....................................... ....................................... ....................................... ...

W O L F !!!

I dunno Chris, I'm thinking the sponsors are used to bluffs. That's why they don't pay much attention to threats.
When they receive those threats, all they have to do is crunch the numbers to learn if any "profits" were down. IF all looked to be normal, profit wise, they just chuckle. Believe me, if they somehow saw a big dip in profits and connected the drop to a group who advised the sponsor they would boycott beginning on a certain date -- and the dip in profits occurred during that time frame -- they'd notice. And might take action.

What that "action" would be remains the question. They could "listen" to the complaints and agree to correct the situation or, as mentioned above, send their attornies a-knockin'. They may not prevail in a court of law, but the hassle and potential expense one could incur dealing with a team of attornies could be overwhelming.
In the end,.........Who wins? Define "win".

I'm afraid, at this point, the only recourse that doesn't offer any potential repercussions for the dissatisfied fans is, just walk away. Pull the plug on NA$CAR all together. No viewing, no collectables, no magazines, no "Official" NA$CAR clothing, nothing NA$CAR related. Don't pay to see Talladega Nights and Ricky Bobby. A box office flop would send one heck of a message. Empty seats screeming from the stands. Contests and Sweepstakes un-entered as predicted.

When sponsors get the message that they aren't getting much bang for their bucks THEY will wake SOMEone up. Or, do what the dissatisfied fans did -- just walk away. Faced with the threat of a lack of sponsor money, those time slots for advertising will decrease in cost. Which equates to less profit.

A NA$CAR fan, as defined by the Powers that be NA$CAR, is --
A transportation device for a full wallet.

Once that wallet is empty, the fan is expected to remove him/her self and do what's necessary to re-fill said wallet -- and return the contents to the next NA$CAR event, where the process will be repeated over and over.
Baaaaaaa, Baaaaaa or, Mooooo?
Herd 'em in --Herd 'em out. Don't worry. They'll be back.
Brian counts on that.
Ten million, twenty million, thirty million................................ ..

They don't hear talk, but they sure feel profit.
Kick 'em in the wallet.

Threaten a boycott?
They're used to that. What they need is an action with clout.
What used to be a sport is now big business -- "entertainment". But even deeper down, it has become sponsor driven. For what? Love of the "entertainment"? Not hardly. Try profit $$. As such, when the sponsor feels pain, so will Brian and anything else that is the cause. THAT'S when corrections can be expected.

One letter IS considered to be the thoughts of a certain percentage of fans, that's true. But, one letter that represents many fans is also an indication folks ARE watching. Just like they figure.
Go figure.

Face it folks, we're hooked and addicted and the Powers that be NA$CAR know it and they've told the sponsors. Actually, WE  have the power -- if we unite. But we won't.
And things won't change for the better.

Except for Brian -- until NA$CAR crashes down upon itself.

What's the big deal about having more viewers than NFL anyway?
Who really cares?
Do you care?
Really care?
I sure don't care.

It's all about grabbing more fans for NA$CAR. They gotta come from SOMEwhere.

[Chris]

Found this article... it's a little long,.. but well written

NBC Treats Race Fans Like MushroomsI bid you welcome gentle readers. Did everyone enjoy the much over hyped race at the Brickyard? What’s that you say? Yes, there really was a race at the Brickyard; we just didn’t get to see much of it, especially when it neared the end.

In a sport where safety matters so much, it’s beyond disheartening to hear long before the day of the race that there is a serious problem with tire wear, with some teams able to go only about five laps before showing major deterioration, especially to the left front tire. Yes, even this old lady knows about the “aggressive” set-ups on today’s race cars, but memories of poor tire wear during the various “tire wars” in NASCAR makes me shiver at the mere thought of taking such tires onto a two and a half mile flat track with speeds circa 200 miles per hour. That, my darlings, is insanity. You can learn a bit more about the tires wars by visiting Winston Cup Tire Wars ~ Never Again!

After several flat left front tires and a couple of major crashes in practice, a lot of credit has to go to the sanctioning body for instituting a mandatory inflation rate for left front tires and calling not one but two mandatory cautions in the first forty laps to check tire wear. Fortunately, as rubber built up on the track, the problems decreased significantly, but one is left to wonder…what if it had rained Saturday night.

Then it was Sunday and time to go racing. Well no, actually, after an hour and a half of “NASCAR RaceDay” on SPEED, it was time for the seemingly endless “pre-race” show on NBC, which now translates to the hour before what used to be the pre-race show, the portion that contains trivial stuff like the starting line-up, invocation and National Anthem. All the really important stuff is in that initial hour…interviews with family members of drivers, Wally’s World…you know, the stuff we all tuned in to see…NOT! Folks, if we sit still for that, is it any wonder that we’re served up the likes of “Talladega Nights; the Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and expected to enjoy it? (For the curious, the Lady in Black would have referred to him as “Ricky-Bobbity-Boo)

When the race finally (mercifully) started, we were treated to the two competition cautions and one caution each for meetings with the wall by Elliott Sadler, Boris Said and Jeremy Mayfield. Toss in the fact that race favorite, Jeff Gordon broke a front sway bar around eight laps into the race and went three laps down (which would later be made up thanks entirely to that ridiculous “Lucky Dog” rule) while Jeff Burton led the lion’s share of the laps and you have the entire first half of the race. After that, there were green flag pit stops followed by two cautions for debris, the last of which remains not only dubious but highly suspicious.

At the final restart, there were only about twelve laps remaining on the afternoon; most had decided to pit, but four enterprising lads, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Joe Nemechek did not. Two more, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin took only two tires, leaving the best cars near the end of the top ten. There were some exchanges of the lead following the restart, but eventually Jimmie Johnson emerged as the clear leader, followed by Matt Kenseth, the two point leaders. (Funny how that works out) Somewhere on that restart, we lost J.J. Yeley, who evidently had some contact with Kasey Kahne, but you couldn’t prove it if you were watching NBC. It was never even mentioned.

Ah yes, NBC, the network I looked forward to all the while we watched and listened to FOX drivel during the first half of the season. Bill Weber promised us more racing this year and less of the personalities in the booth and happily, that’s been the case. No, I don’t count talking with Benny Parsons about his health problem as wasted time. Benny is beloved by most of the fans and we care about how he’s doing. On that score, I’d give NBC an “A.” We’ve yet to hear either Benny or Wally opine about how they would have handled a particular situation on the track or hear the phrase, “Well, the way I would have done it…”

Yet, my fellow race fans, there was something decidedly wrong with last Sunday’s coverage of what was billed as either the first or second biggest race of the year and I’m not sure the problem came from the broadcast booth. During one round of pit stops, we watched Jimmie Johnson pit and as he left the box, we clearly heard Wally say something like, “Now, that’s a burnout.” As the cars began exiting the pits, we could clearly see a huge billow of white smoke near the end of pit road but those cameras stayed on either slower pitters or replays of pit stops already accomplished. Only after the fact, was the viewing audience shown a rerun of a huge fuel fire in Johnson’s pit as he exited. The cause was a fuel spill that ignited as the car left the pit and the flames were quickly extinguished with no injury to anyone in the pit box, but when the flames erupted, that was not something that could be foreseen or guaranteed by the man (men?) behind the camera.

Over the years, people have been seriously injured, burned or even killed by fires on pit road. Fire, in any proximity to gasoline, is an extremely serious threat to life and limb and as such should receive the highest priority from all concerned, cameramen included. Yet we, the race fans were left to wonder for several minutes as the cameras rolled steadily on pit stop coverage. That my friends, in unacceptable. Fire always gets first coverage. We can see the pit stops in reruns between the commercials.

Early in May, I wrote a column comparing the TV coverage between two races, the 1997 Bristol race and the 2006 Richmond race, both of which I’d watched within a twenty-four hour period.      (A Tale of Two Races ~ One Taped, One Live)      In that column, I pointed out that it was delightful to see the old ESPN coverage being controlled by the camera, with the commentators discussing what we were seeing on the screen instead of something happening on another part of the track. Apparently, that concept doesn’t work with NBC, though it should. Experts behind the cameras improve the coverage immeasurably. Perhaps it’s time for NBC to hire some.

That brings us to the confusing and convoluted end of the race, coverage of which was blown entirely. First, there is a last lap wreck involving Robby Gordon and Greg Biffle. Someone either in the booth or in the pits calls, “Caution is out,” NBC’s yellow lights come on and then go out again when someone says, “No, it’s not out.” The camera shows the two cars at a standstill, there is no caution and we at home are clueless. Then, at the other end of the track (that’s a long distance at Indy), Kasey Kahne tests the SAFER barrier with one of the hardest hits we’ve ever seen, catching Denny Hamlin and Tony Raines up in the mess, and belatedly, the yellow does fly…but not until Jimmie Johnson crosses the start/finish line to win the race.

Why NASCAR didn’t throw a caution for the first wreck, we’ll never know. They say now that it was because both cars kept moving. Those would be the two cars we clearly saw NOT moving, one of which (Gordon) did not finish on the lead lap. Why they waited to display a caution for the second wreck until Johnson crossed the line is also a mystery. There was little doubt that he was going to win the race and would have done so even if the caution for EITHER wreck had waved in a timely manner. Of course, if the caution had waved for the first wreck, the second would not have happened; Kasey Kahne would still have a car, a top-ten finish and a place in the Chase line-up.

A last-lap caution always results in reverting to the “scoring loops,” those unseen mythical lines that we’re told exist but are not privy to their location. It’s no wonder NASCAR is loathe to throw the yellow on the last lap; it makes scoring appear as though it’s being handled by the Keystone Cops. It took over 48 hours before the finishing order was declared “official” and within that time, we saw some weird placements and changes occur throughout the line-up.

But again, we at home were clueless. There was much discussion early in the week about which of the wrecked cars did or didn’t cross the finish line and when did he cross it, all of which is taken into consideration in getting the finishing order correct. Of course, perhaps the easiest way to ascertain who crossed the line, and when, is to actually SEE IT. Uh-uh guys and gals, we saw Johnson cross the line and perhaps Kenseth. That would be “end of report” because it was time for commercials. Therefore, not only could we not see it, but NASCAR could not see it either. The coverage just didn’t exist.

Back in the Stone Age, it was common practice at the end of the race to hold a camera on the start/finish line until all of the cars running had crossed it. (When’s the last time you watched a horse race that only showed one or two horses finishing the race?) How long could it possibly take to do that…one minute? Surely, a network that gives us so much unwanted pomp and circumstance up front, could afford one short minute of commercial-free airtime just to show the finish of the race. It really is the most important part, you know.

The proper way to raise mushrooms is to keep them in the dark and feed them BS. The same does not hold true for race fans.

NBC ~ Here’s your sign!

[AfterShock]

You're correct Chris. That is an interesting article. Who wrote it? I'd like to read more of her articles.

Thanx for posting that. I couldn't have said it better.

[LeeAnne331]

Very good article.  Thanks for posting it   

[Chris]

Lady by the name of Patty Kay.... She's a staff writer over at
http://insiderracingnews.com/

some interesting stuff over there...  I found some stuff for our "History" thread to post over here... (Thread is called "Nascar down Memory Lane;... I belive it's in the "Infield" section)
I love to read about old drivers (before my time) like I never knew Bud Norre was a multi decorated WW II war veteran and landed at Normandy on D Day...

SO I'm gonna copy some stuff from over there to educate some of the new race fans,.. and maybe pick up some ifo for some trivia stuff.  I STILL got all those questions I started for the TRIVIA a year or so ago..??
Wonder if anyone would be interested??

[ROOKER]

Hey wasn't that great!
They cam back from commercial to show us a REPLAY of Johnson taking the lead, and then promptly went back to commercials after not even showing 1 (thats ONE) full lap of green.

Yeah, thats what we fans want!

I couldn't see the race due to Boris Said's big Fro in the way!!!