Well....If it is LeMans, I did the full 24 hours by radio. Some things are just worth the effort! DP isn't one of them.
Ha! Touche! I can't even do the full Le Mans for 24 Hours, although I do know people who stay with it and Daytona throughout the entire race. As with anything, moderation is always recommended. With live TV though, if anything is missed live, they'll always replay it and it only takes a few minutes to get back up to speed with the action on the track. Even at the height of my involvements photographing at Daytonner, we'd leave at night and get back at sunrise as sometimes you just need a break. Different from NASCAR though as those 22 hours are nothing buy hype-hype-hype. The old marketing adage, "When the product is weak, over promote" and "Overexposure cheapens the product" should always be remembered but in the deep, dark, fake wood paneled walled offices in Daytonner, that notion was scrapped years ago. It's not just NASCAR either, the networks that cover the NFL are so over-the-top now with pre-game hype that it's ridiculous. ESPN is on the air Sunday mornings with pre-game hype starting at 9:00AM. That's four hours of pre-game with a dozen jackasses behind the desk and reporters at the stadium sites reporting with tens of thousands of empty seats serving as the background. That the NFL granted contracted broadcast networks an extra 500 hours annually of broadcast time in their last go-round of contract negotiations indicates that there just isn't enough pre-game hype for viewers to choose from. What happened to the days when CBS had their "NFL Today" on Sundays starting at 12:30, half an hour of pre-game, Jimmy "The Greek" predictions and bang, start of the game? That seemed perfectly fine and would be so today if the networks let them. BHW
Which is exactly why espn is going broke. I hate all the hype that you have listed. It brings the actual sport down. Be fearful that the same will happen to F1 now that there is a new broadcasting contract in place.
Lets hope not. F-1 is a dull fest as it is. Hamilton is about as exciting as dry toast. Alonso....toast with jelly. No real characters are in F1 or crapwagon. With out them...it is simply mindless entertainment. Same for the loss of technology. Now with the shark fins gone, what else will they do to make things "exciting" ? NASCAR is simply flat boring. With "junnnnior" and Princess Sparkle Pony going away, what else can make the fans all happy? (the dwindling few who are left)
Okay...then who were the winning F1 and Champcar characters in what I consider the golden era ('60s and '70s)? F1 - Clark? Brabaham? Hulme? Rindt? Lauda? REAL personalities, Eh? USAC - Ward? Mario? Any of the Unsers? Leonard? Sneva? McCluskey? Johncock? More entertainers for sure. Maybe real race fans didn't need the bs nonsense and celebrite that sems to be the "fans" favourite of today. Perhaps they actually liked racing as opposed to soap operas.
Hey now, Danica broke down the barriers to women in NASCAR... and to the infield... and that one on the pit lane... and that wall in turn three... and...
Yeah, whole lotta paint came down too. If Glidden and Glasurit were her sponsors, she'd still be racing....
James Hunt, Nikki Lauda, Nigell Mansell, Danny Sullivan, AJ Foyt, Bobby Unser ....shall I go on? The list of characters is long and full of fun loving individuals. Care to race a Porsche thru the streets of Miami? Racing was fun during that time, until the stuffed shirts showed up!
And that was the beginning of the end...I'll take the serious racers any day of the week. (Bobby Unser, a character...?)
I would say so. A lot more fun than the current crop of racers. Those that I spoke of were just as serious as any racer today. They simply left the seriousness at the track. Political correctness has a way of dampening one's spirit. Especially when it reflects a sponsor. I myself do not work and play well with others. It is why I will have the eggs,bacon, sausage and spam because it doesn't have as much spam in it!!
No award at least from Nascar. Didn't watch the show either but caught a quick glimpse when he happened to be on in the pre-show. Light talked about before, the pre-show hype was over the top useless and from what I can tell out did the actual ceremony. It has not been the same since Dale Sr who had the balls to toast Jeff Gordon's first championship with a glass of milk.
Oh maaaannn....C'mon...... All right, all right....I'll be quiet. You just go ahead and be that way....
"Turbo P! Turbo P!!! She's a spinner! She's a spinner!!!" ....errr...I mean "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!!! It's a twister! It's a twister!!!"....a slip of the keyboard. (Wrong thread too I guess. )
Ganassi balking at the suggestion Danica will be driving one of his cars at Indy... http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/146154-ganassi-taken-aback-by-patrick-indy-reaction BHW