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What a Difference Twenty Years has Made
2/18/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Dennis Michelsen "DMIC" (RaceTalkRadio.com)
Twenty years ago Bobby and Davey Allison finished one-two in one of the most emotional finishes in Daytona 500 history. We didn't get 100 hours of Speedweeks coverage just the race. Some of us here in the Midwest didn't even get the Busch Grand National race live on Saturday either. Now we get so much coverage it is unbelievable! But it wasn't just about the quantity of coverage it was also outstanding quality also. What a difference twenty years has made.
Speed TV Coverage
The folks at SPEED TV deserve awards for the work they did during Speedweeks. Bringing so many of the great voices of racing together is one thing, but blending them all into a wonderful presentation is pure genius! The Director and Producers involved in this programming deserve extra credit. Dave Despain looked back at how the whole thing came about. Seeing so many former Daytona 500 winners was great too! NASCAR Raceday's opening on Sunday including so many great from our sport was very moving! Too often those that built a sport are forgotten. SPEED TV did a great job of teaching these names and stories to the new fans while also treating us older fans to these stories once again. Their coverage did a great job of building the anticipation to the ultimate day of racing…the Great American Race called the Daytona 500!
Ten Years Ago
Another of the emotional wins in the Great American Race occurred ten years ago and the tributes have been fantastic. Too often we have been made to relive that fateful day seven years ago when we lost Dale Earnhardt. But this year we got to concentrate on the positive with that long awaited win by the Intimidator. Whether you loved or hated Dale everyone was united in delight to see him finally win the race that eluded him for so long. That image of Earnhardt being greeted by crewmembers from every team on his way to Victory Lane still gives me goose bumps! While it is natural in our media to recall the tragedies more than the triumphs, this year we get to all think back to ten years ago and how special that win was to the history of this sport.
Controversy and Breaking News
In this day and age of instant news it has become rare for the television broadcasts to feature breaking news stories. But SPEED TV got off to a great start during coverage of the Budweiser Shootout practice the day before the event. Bob Dillner broke the news that Tony Stewart took a swing at Kurt Busch in the NASCAR trailer after their confrontation heading to the pits. On NASCAR Raceday they broke the news that Jacques Villeneuve's NASCAR experiment would end this week. Johnny Benson and Mike Skinner will split duties in that car for the indefinite future until a full time sponsor is found. SPEED TV deserves extra credit for keeping us up to date with all of the news during a very busy Speedweeks.
Gatorade Duels at Daytona
Back before the days of the Top 35 being locked in for the event these qualifying races had more emotional impact but we never got to see them! The gang from Fox Sports did a great job of balancing the race up front with the race for the all important transfer spots. If you weren't at the edge of your seat watching the Duels you aren't a real race fan! Was there anyone that wasn't rooting for Dale Jarrett to make the show? Watching that last lap dash by underdog team Front Row Motorsports and driver John Andretti was thrilling! Seeing another underdog team Furniture Row place not one but both of their drivers in the field was inspiring! They might have been the appetizers but they sure tasted great.
Craftsman Truck Race
Usually this is the most exciting race of Speedweeks. Whether it was the wrecks or the rules package this year the race was not as thrilling as in the past. Don't get me wrong it was still an interesting race; it just has a high hurdle to leap to live up to the past excitement of this race. SPEED TV did its usual great coverage. Rick Allen is one of the best play-by-play guys from any sport! He lets the pictures tell the story but gives us that extra information that we need. The entire announcing team meshes well from the booth to pit road. Perhaps the race this year was not an instant classic but it was entertaining thanks to an outstanding job by SPEED TV.
Nationwide Series Race
The changes made at ESPN2 for their Nationwide Series coverage were positive. Dale Jarrett did a much better job than Rusty Wallace did in his first event of the season. But why oh why do ESPN announcers feel obligated to force feed us information on the Rusty Wallace Incorporated drivers? It took all of six laps to mention that RWI's drivers were moving forward. Since David Stremme started shotgun on the field it wasn't that big of a shock. It took only twenty-six laps until they featured "Draft Tracker," the most insane gizmo used in motorsports! Forty-one laps into the event Doctor Jerry Punch made his first big mistake of the season when he said Kirk Shelmerdine runs in the "NASCAR ARCA" series. First, despite having forty-nine starts in the series Shelmerdine did not race in ARCA all last year. Second, ARCA is not a NASCAR related series! Come on ESPN you have an excellent announcer in Allen Bestwick under contract it is time to make one more change in your lineup and swap Bestwick and Punch's duties. The race itself gave us a great show with Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch holding off Junior!
Great American Race
Twenty-five green flag passes for the lead and another classic finish…this was a great way to bring Speedweeks to an end! Fox Sports did an excellent job as usual and the new gopher cam was wild to see. There will be some complaining about the rapid-fire assault of commercials late in the race but Fox had to catch up due to a lack of cautions until late in the race. While everyone was figuring it would be Junior and his Hendrick teammates versus Tony and his Gibbs teammates up stepped Dodge to steal the show at the end! Who was predicting six Dodges to finish in the top ten at Daytona? Not even Carnac the Magnificent saw this one coming! The emotional Victory Lane celebration with Ryan Newman and Crew Chief Roy McCauley was enjoyable too. NASCAR should start out the season with the biggest race of the year but this is going to be a tough act to follow. Get ready to strap in tight race fans…this is going to be a wild ride through the 2008 season! Now if we can just get NASCAR to ditch that silly song and dance show they have felt obligated to bring us before the Daytona 500. Give us more talk with the racers old and new and less glitz and glitter. Now it is on to California Speedway and time to build more outstanding memories for the 2008 season!
Conclusion
Everyone loves to complain about television coverage and how many commercials we have to put up with during a race. Rewind twenty-years to one of the most emotional finishes in Daytona 500 history and look at how little coverage we got of the big event. NASCAR is mainstream now versus being an oddity twenty years ago. Thanks to SPEED TV, Fox Sports, and ESPN we have just witnessed the most amazing coverage ever of Speedweeks from Daytona. Maybe to some fans this was over kill but to a racing junky like myself this was a treat! Maybe the emotions of twenty or ten years ago can't be matched by this year's race. Then again seeing a 30-1 long shot break a win drought of over eighty races broken in the sport's most important race comes close. Thanks to our television partners we didn't miss a minute of the action from Daytona! What a difference twenty years has made for race fans!
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