Pretend you're a producer
When Fox turned over coverage duties to NBC at the Daytona race, a lot of folks seemed pleased because, well, they were burned out on DW and Larry Mac and Mike Joy and were looking forward to a change.
Over in this old thread, some late commenters sound off on NBC's coverage: the prerace show stinks, and Bill Weber is a poor substitute for Allen Bestwick as the lead announcer. (Speaking of Bestwick, who did he tick off? According to this report yesterday, he's losing his "Inside Nextel Cup" gig on Speed to ultra-opinionated Dave Despain. That's a shame.)
So here's a homework assignment. Let's say you're the head person on ... let's call it the NASCAR Network. You've got to put together a booth team (a play-by-play person, a color announcer and an old (or soon-to-be-retired) driver to be the third wheel.
You also need a prerace show host and maybe an analyst as well. And don't forget the pit reporters and someone to host a mid-week "Inside Nextel Cup" type panel with three current drivers.
So who would you pick? Bonus points for anyone who can figure out where Jackie Stewart should go.
Comments (5)
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I'll stick by my original post back in April, with a few tweaks from the old TNN.
Play by Play: Bob Jenkins
Color: Jerry Punch
Driver: Benny Parsons
Host: Eli Gold
Analyst: Buddy Baker
Pits: Glen Jarrett, John Kernan, Mark Garrow, Marty Smith.
Honorable Mention, work in via Busch races:
Phil Parsons, Wendy Venturini, Amy East (used to do Truck races) and Marlo Klane (I only ever see her report from city of Indianapolis anymore).
Posted on July 13, 2005 10:01 PM
Fox has a great team but Larry still needs to work on the grammer a bit.
I predict Michael Waltrip in about 5 years and Kenny Wallace in about 10 years in a booth somewhere.
Alan Bestwick is great but I think Weber is a better fit in the booth. But I am partial to Mike Joy.
Even though Benny is the established NASCAR veteran champion, I don't care for him all that much. A younger driver would better match the demographics of a growing fan base while the long time fans are hooked and will never turn away.
I don't like them hiring racing guys to be on TV JUST BECAUSE they have racing roots. Jeff Hammond is terrible at speaking and looks very uncomfortable on TV.
Mark Garrow from, PRN would be great on Pit Road, but even though Dale Jarrett is my pick every Sunday, I don't like watching his brother stumble through those ARCA and standalone Busch Series shows.
Bob Jenkins is a very polished fit on any level of the broadcast team.
Jerry Punch would be fantastic on pit road.
With his background his explanations were always wonderful when it came to injuries and saftey.
Eli Gold is great and can really carry a show.
I never have really cared too much for Buddy Baker and his less than perfect TV presense.
John Kernan is fine with me on pit road and Marty Smith is just fun to watch.
Bob Dilner does a great job on Speed and would fit in great anywhere on pit road.
And I hated to see Krista Voda leave the NASCAR Nation Show. Some of this new talent are just pretty faces with very little knowledge of the sport!
My final team...
Play by Play: Mike Joy
Color: Bob Jenkins
Driver: Michael Waltrip(Rusty Wallace in the interim)
Host: Eli Gold
Analyst: Wally Dallenbach
Pits: Bob Dilner, Mark Garrow, Marty Smith, Jerry Punch, Krista Voda.
Posted on July 14, 2005 1:23 AM
John, this is an awesome idea. Thanks for thinking of it.
I like Bill Weber, and I'm sure that puts me in the minority. But he is very professional, very concise, and does a great job no matter what. He is my play-by-play guy. My two commentators are Wally and Rusty. I'd like to see how they interact. For my pre-race show, I'm gonna go all out. Steve Byrnes is the host, with Larry Mac and Hammond flanking him. Trackside is the best show on SPEED so I would want to put that on the air as much as possible. My pit reporters are Bestwick, Matt Yocum, Dr. Dick Berggren, and Dr. Jerry Punch. I like the concept of Fox's Race Break, it just has poor execution. I'd also like to find a way to show LeeAnn Tweeden on TV as much as possible ;)
Posted on July 14, 2005 12:17 PM
As much as I hate to admit it, I don't think Eli Gold gets back into the week to week grind of the full schedule. If I am not mistaken he has found it to be more lucrative as the voice of the "Crimson Tide."
The last race I heard him call was turn 4 at the '01 Daytona 500. My seat for the race was in front of the pit entrance so I was relatively close to the Earnhardt crash.
What I always remember about that day was two things, first listening to Childress on my headset trying to talk to Earnhardt and second listening to the MRN broadcast during breaks. The producer goes to each reporter during the break and they discuss what they will talk about next. Eli simply said off the air that he was done for the day. Later I realized that he was watching everyone tend to Earnhardt's car including Schaeder who went to the car and turned away.
Posted on July 14, 2005 4:28 PM
Shame on NBC for replacing Allen Bestwick with that know-nothing Weber. As for Inside Nextel Cup, I hope Mikey, Johnny and Kenny forget to show up if DeSpain, the egotistical blowhard, is to be the host. A long time fan of cup racing and INC.......A fan no more, till Fox comes bac on the scene
Posted on August 12, 2005 4:53 PM