Will there ever be an alternative to speed channel?

[NJSPEEDER]

I am watching the F1 replay and they are running ads that they will have live flag to flag coverage of the Bathurst 1000. I am all excited until they say who the announcers are, Mike Joy and Darryl Waltrip.

Seriously? All of the great former drivers, crew, and experienced announcers for sports car and touring car racing that are available or even work for Speed channel already and you wanna send those two nit wits?

Anyone wanna pool money and put together a racing network that isn't based on NASCRAP?

/rant

-Tim

[DartorDemon]

There probably wont be an alternative. Sadly Nascrap has a huge following of nitwits who like to watch cars drive in circles for hours. So networks pander to them to make money.

We can only dream of a channel where the covered racing is diverse and interesting.

[NJSPEEDER]

The only glimmer of hope I see on the horizon is that Discovery bought HD Theater and they are converting it to a channel called Velocity. Looks to be much more along the lines of the original Speedvision where there are a variety of shows all about motorcycles and cars. Haven't seen any mention of racing yet but we can hope that is something they grow into.

Vs Network does a pretty good job with the Indy races too, maybe they can expand their programing to include a wider variety or at least more events from the Indy weekends.

-Tim

[Van B]

Yeah, and the SCCA Runoffs are only broadcast online these days, so we can see more Pinks reruns and crap.

[novaderrik]

Speed actually shows a lot of non NASCAR racing.. it's just that they spend so much more time on it than anything else.
but you really can't blame the execs at Newscorp for deciding to have that channel cover NASCAR 100X more than anything else, since NASCAR is 100X more popular than any other racing that's out there and they are a business that exists to make money.

[NJSPEEDER]

Drag racing is the #1 participation and spectator attendance form of motorsports in the US. NASCAR isn't 100x more popular than anything. It also fights logic that circle track is that much more popular since there is only 1 series that gets followed by the media when there are many out there.

What it boils down to is that ownership is so tied to NASCAR that they are refusing to show anything else. Speed has exclusive US rights to DTM, SCCA June Sprints and Runoffs, BTCC, Aussie Touring and V8 Super Touring cars, the 24 hour races at Daytona and LeMans, and yet they would rather show 1 car at a time go around the track in qualifying than actually door to door racing happening someplace else in the world.

With coverage like that it's no wonder the US isn't inspiring a generation of international drivers.

[andrewb70]

Drag racing is the #1 participation and spectator attendance form of motorsports in the US. ......

I need a source for this because I don't believe that is true. In fact, even NASCAR is not the #1 participant or spectator sport in the USA.

I believe that distinction goes to dirt oval track racing with sanctioning bodies like the IMCA and others.

Andrew

[Derek69SS]

I know a LOT of NASCAR fans who do not race, and have not ever been on a race track in their life.

We are the minority.

[JEFFTATE]

I would like to see more roadracing coverage on SPEED .

[shortrack]

At least the Nascar coverage is current....there is LOTS of opportunity to show non Nascar coverage but they insist on showing nauseating re run after re run after re run of Pinks, Pass Time and Monster Jam every night in prime time then do it again after 11 pm, how many times do we need to see the same episodes!!!!.....they used to do the same thing with that Long Island car customizer show with the Cuban guy, cant remember the name.

[NJSPEEDER]

I need a source for this because I don't believe that is true. In fact, even NASCAR is not the #1 participant or spectator sport in the USA.

I believe that distinction goes to dirt oval track racing with sanctioning bodies like the IMCA and others.

Andrew

There was a survey done several years ago that polled tracks for weekly participation and spectator attendance that put drag racing out front by a wide margin.

Think of it this way, a NASCAR weekend they wil pack in 100-125k(I think a few places hold more) on sunday for the big race, attendance for the other races is well under half of that. The NHRA over the course of the same weekend will post a similar 50-60k attendance on Friday night for qualifying and then well over 100k each for Saturday and Sunday. There are also over 1000 competitors at some of the bigger tour stops compared to the about 200 cars that come out for a NASCAR weekend even if Nation Wide and the truck series are in town too. Add to that all of the street nights, points racers, special events, show 'n' go's...............the numbers stack up really fast.

The sprint car set owns both attendance and participation on dirt. Any track that can put up a $10k+ purse will easily draw 100 cars and sell as many tickets as they can print. The bigger the purse the bigger the field, I think Eldora had 300 cars fighting through the alphabet soup to try to make the feature. Even the lower levels of sprint cars like DIRT's SS Sprint program will pack the track and those are only powered by limited small blocks on gas.

IMCA is a great sanction. Been to a few of their races over the years. Out here in the northeast we are still running our own style of modifieds so they haven't caught on yet. I hope IMCA gets some steam out here some day, cars are a lot less expensive to build, work on, and fix and they are still pretty fast.

-Tim

[hifi875]

i was at the us nationals this year, the biggest race of year no way 100k poeple were there not even 50-60k on friday. here is a quote from a pro-stock driver seeking sponsorship.



Over 2 million customers who will attend NHRA events this year and the 60 million NHRA fans who will watch on TV.

Sponsor Loyalty: 70 percent of NHRA fans are more likely to support NHRA sponsors



Gender: 72 percent males

Annual Household Income: $30-$49k: 31%; $50-$74k: 21%; $75-99k: 9%

Marital Status: 52 percent married

Age: 18-24: 14%; 25-34: 20%; 35-44: 24%; 45-54: 19%

Education: High school grad: 34%; Some college: 24%; College plus: 16%

Geographic Spread South: 37%; West: 25%; North Central: 23%; Northeast: 15%.



The NHRA competes in 23 events in 18 states from February-November, including the urban markets of New York City, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, St. Louis, Seattle, Indianapolis, Memphis, Dallas and Charlotte.

Marketing Implementation. Each Marketing program should be carefully crafted to meet the goals of your company and those of
Greg Thomas and the Greg Thomas Racing Team. Please use the list of potential promotions, events, and marketing particulars listed below as a guide in planning how you would like to proceed with a racing sponsorship program. We can discuss these items and costs following your review.

[JEFFTATE]

I don't care what's popular . I want some coverage of roadracing practice , qualifying , and racing .
No dumb talk shows , game shows, or "fake" reality shows .

[rfalker1]

Don't know about this but maybe you can make an internet channel!!! and then go from there. Don't know if its possible but it would be interesting!!! Nothing but racing. ALl sorts from the Baja 1000 to superbikes to f1.
It would be coool

[Kybosh]

I miss seeing the WRC on speed. They use to cover that very well.

I'm just curious what does everyone watch on speed on a weekly basis as it stands?

I'll tune in for pass time, aside from that there isn't to many other shows that get me to change the channel over.

[cheapta]

I agree about there not being 100K+ at an NHRA event-there aren't that many grandstands at most of the tracks. Also,I like Mike Joy. Darrell's a bit of a putz but Mike knows his racing-all kinds.He may get paid to host NASCAR races but he's road raced himself and knows a lot about all kinds of racing.

Peter

[shortrack]

Don't know about this but maybe you can make an internet channel!!! and then go from there. Don't know if its possible but it would be interesting!!! Nothing but racing. ALl sorts from the Baja 1000 to superbikes to f1.
It would be coool


http://www.speed2.com/

[79-TA]

It's not a TV channel, but you might want to check these guys out.

http://www.goracingtv.com/

[Ron@JJCustomInterior]

velocity seems to be ok but its more general car fluff then any actual racing. It would be nice to get some decent wrc coverage and other stuff like speed had 10+ years ago.

[zzfranczz]

I mainly watch F1 and the Australian V8 Super Cars. It seems this year they have only had two races of the Aussie V8 Super Cars. They used to have other races that I used to watch but they seem to not be showing them. I am not a fan of Nascar since it has been humbled with all the drafting. If it were not for F1 I would pull Speed out of my lineup.