Rick Benjamin

[oddlycalm]

Man, what a relief. The thought of an entire season of BJ was about as appealing as a case of terminal crotch rot. From what I am hearing, RB will be a great fit and Dr. Kendalschlong will once again be conducting open brain surgery on himself during each race.... :D :thumbup:

oc

[Steve99]

Two thumbs up. :thumbup: :thumbup:

[RaceGrrl]

I was skeptical, but he won me over with his enthusiasm and knowledge of the series and drivers. Good job, RB. :thumbup:

[fourrunner]

He's a Keeper!! :thumbup:

[RaceCat]

That was a much better broadcast! I'm so glad they made the change!

RaceCat

[Kiwifan]

Although I still prefer Jeremy calling the shots the guys did a great job today. It was nice to hear some enthusiasm in the booth. ;)

The odd thing for me was I didn't mind Bob when he was doing NASCAR but he made me sick when he was doing the IRL. His inability to say the "C" word really grated with me.

Rusty.

[nrc]

I agree. I was skeptical because he sounded a bit too NASCAR-ish in Monterrey, but I thought he did a good job tonight.

[Railbird]

"Brooke" Tagliani?

did anone else hear that?

mighta just been me scannin the off air stuff.

Benjamin sounded good tonight overall

[audi quattro]

"Brooke" Tagliani?

did anone else hear that?

mighta just been me scannin the off air stuff.

Benjamin sounded good tonight overall

Yah, but he corrected himself.

[Clown]

A sound first effort :thumbup:

[devilmaster]

I know what JT265 is thinkin over this:


He's no Vic Rauter....

;) :D

Steve

[JT265]

I know what JT265 is thinkin over this:



;) :D

Steve


OHHH MMMYY!!! Vic's been shunted to the side, in fact, he had an off!

Thank you, oh powers that be! :thumbup: :D

[Lizzerd]

Geez... even in the first five minutes of the Spike broadcast, I can tell that Rick will be a winner. Enthusiam and he knew that Wilson was driving the Mi-Jack car immediately! What a relief.

[oddlycalm]

Geez... even in the first five minutes of the Spike broadcast, I can tell that Rick will be a winner. Enthusiam and he knew that Wilson was driving the Mi-Jack car immediately! What a relief.

Exactly, it's almost like he's, um.... oh I don't know, actually paying attention to the race. :D :thumbup:

oc

[Lizzerd]

Exactly, it's almost like he's, um.... oh I don't know, actually paying attention to the race. :D :thumbup:

oc

Paying attention, and he did his homework! Like, he tried to learn who was who. and some info about the guys.

[JoeBob]

I had said to give Jenkins a chance. I'll take all of that back, I was wrong. Benjamin wasn't perfect, but he was a million times better than Jenkins. Rick called the race, whereas Jenkins spent his time reciting minutae from his notes.

Absolutely a keeper. I have a feeling that after RB gets few races under his belt, I won't miss Varsha at all.

[rabbit]

^^^what JoeBob said.

[sundaydriver2]

RB was head and shoulders above Stinky Jenks.

Nice job Rick, I can now look forward to the rest of the broadcasts.

:thumbup:

[Insomniac]

Thank you for the change. The race was much more pleasant. A question for guys who watched on HDNet, were you able to hear TK and RB well. Watching on SpikeTV, it seemed like the cars were much louder. I thought it may be a result of 5.1 sound.

[GOFAST1]

Superb :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

[Rogue Leader]

This was an awesome presentation. Exciting race, great camera useage, RB and TK compliment eachother perfectly, if the rest of the season is like this Champ Car is on its way back to the top!

(BUT the fact the races will always be at 4 pm sucks because you cant watch on both race director and TV at the same time for many events! :( )

[Anteater]

Wow--unfeigned enthusiasm, and he knew what was happening! I say we keep him! :thumbup:

[Chaos]

:thumbup:

[FRANKY]

:thumbup: Definately. His style raises the level of the broadcast.

[DaveL]

:thumbup: Good to hear someone who actually sounded like he wanted to be there. Good job Rick.

[Hot Rod Otis]

Rick did a great job. I didn't miss Jenkins for 1 second. :thumbup:

[stroker]

At a minimum, Rick was great. He's our guy for the long term, and I can't imagine anyone being good enough to make him look bad.

[Methanolandbrats]

Great broadcast :thumbup: Excellent camera work, editing and commentary. Good buzz in the live crowd too :thumbup: What a great night.

[Turn7]

:thumbup:

[girlsRfast2]

Wow, it was like night and day! Good on ya, Rick Benjamin. :thumbup:

"Can we keep him?" :)

[racer2c]

I liked his energy. :thumbup:

[Classic Apex]

Excellent job.

Two thumbs up for my former neighbor.

:cool:

[Rob]

:thumbup: Good to hear someone who actually sounded like he wanted to be there. Good job Rick.
That's exactly what I was going to say. Having Rick call the race was a quantum leap over boring Bob.

[P1]

A quantum leap forward. Superior to Varsha, DeBruhl, Creamer or just about anyone else I can think of who would have been acceptable. Good hire OWRS/Spike! :thumbup:

[mueber]

I was one of those who said, "Give Bob a chance." But I have to admit: Huge improvement.

Looks like someone is finally paying attention to the fans. That's a first in the last 7 or 8 years and a hopeful sign. :)

[jdcooper]

Betelgeuse Productions' learning curve IS steep. Notice the visor-cams, more in-car cams, and use of pit radio comm in the production ? Now it's state-of-the-art. The "data layover" presenting mph, rpm, and ptp seconds remaining was improved too (SpeedTV's steam-guage rev counter with tell-tale is still better). Still, they replayed a Dangerous Curves bit during the race: I could do without that. They did have a Bronte bit live from the spotters tower; which is a step in the right direction. Overall a vast improvement over the previous events.

I, too, was among those willing to give the Jenkester a chance. The new mic team is MUCH better than with BJ. Notice that there wasn't a word about the change from anyone (on-air I mean) I'd love to hear the story of the entire evolution from Kendall.

Press On !

[Lola_B70]

:thumbup:
Very well done gentlemen. Much better performance from the booth.

[G.]

TK was able to talk racing instead of babysitting the announcer! :thumbup:

[Shamus]

Like night and day - I'm going to fire off an email to Spike and OWRS voicing my appreciation - they should hear from us when they make the right choices too!

[JohnHKart]

Benjamin is as good as he was on Trans Am and everywhere else....did a fantastic job, as someone here said it was like Night and Day. The only continuing problems with the broadcast: Showing too much that is taking away from race coverage, like Bronte up on the spotters perch, repeating all the crashes that have happened, pitlane interviews, please show the ontrack action and if you have to show the other stuff do it in a small window.

JH

[Dr. Corkski]

Then again, anything compared to Bot Jenkins would have been a massive improvement. But RB was very good regardless.

Now if only OWRS would start carrying the same policy with drivers... :gomer:

[oddlycalm]

they replayed a Dangerous Curves bit during the race: I could do without that. They did have a Bronte bit live from the spotters tower; which is a step in the right direction.

Agreed, can the DC replays during a race broadcast. Also agreed that live from the spotters tower was a good call during a FCY. I actually like to see "what's going on at the track" segments like that during a yellow. Bronte is also better when she's just talking to folks and asking questions on her own than when doing that stilted scripted dialogue they give her on Dangerous Curves.

oc

[Fitti Fan]

Finally got to see the race on t.v. You guys are right. He did a great job. Looked like he had done his homework. In addition, he did a good job as a counterpart to Tommy and Jeremy, he didn't have to overpower it all being in charge.

Loved the fact that they brought Jeremy up into the booth too.

Spicoli, I think we've been heard!!!!! I love it!!!

(But if they show the wedding during green flag racing, I had nothing to do with it!)