Champ Car TeeVee

[nrc]

The long off season is almost over. Champ car will be on TeeVee soon. Coming up next weekend there's a Champ car preview Saturday at 3:30PM on Speed. Then, according to Despain, Christiano DaMatta will be a guest on Windbag on Sunday. They follow that up with Mario Andretti as co-host the following Sunday along with an interview with the Long Beach winner.

For those who missed it, Robin Miller was Windbag co-host on Sunday. In spite of his face for radio he was entertaining as usual. He was harsh but fair on the subject of Champ car's late forming field but complementary of the depth of talent that's coming together for this season.

[racer2c]

The long off season is almost over. Champ car will be on TeeVee soon. Coming up next weekend there's a Champ car preview Saturday at 3:30PM on Speed. Then, according to Despain, Christiano DaMatta will be a guest on Windbag on Sunday. They follow that up with Mario Andretti as co-host the following Sunday along with an interview with the Long Beach winner.

For those who missed it, Robin Miller was Windbag co-host on Sunday. In spite of his face for radio he was entertaining as usual. He was harsh but fair on the subject of Champ car's late forming field but complementary of the depth of talent that's coming together for this season.

Saw the replay this AM. It was a decent show. The Long Beach WindBad will be a must.

[indyfan31]

Speaking of TV, please tell me Rick Benjamin didn't call it "Speedway Channel". :shakehead

Link (http://sports.yahoo.com/cart/news?slug=ap-champcarlineup033105&prov=ap&type=lgns)

[dreamracer]

That HAS to be a misquote. Rick has worked for SPEED channel before, doing ARCA races and other stuff.

He knows where his check comes from.

[TKGAngel]

I hate my NBC affiliate right now. They're pre-empting the race for their annual Kids Escaping Drugs telethon, and they are not planning a rebroadcast. I sent an email to the station, politely pointing out that if this was a NASCAR race, they sure as all giddeyup would be planning a rebroadcast or something. The station basically told me to go pound rock salt, as the telethon is a 15 year tradition that "helps the kids," and programming considerations would not allow an airing of the race at a later time. :cry:

I know this is Buffalo and we have a telethon to raise money for the next telethon, but darn it all, I want my race. :flame:

[oddlycalm]

I hate my NBC affiliate right now. They're pre-empting the race for their annual Kids Escaping Drugs telethon This is exactly why I always say that network sucks for Champcar racing. No way to predict what the affiliates will do outside of knowing for certain they will screw it up.

During CART's heyday when they were on ABC I got so discouraged that I pretty much stopped watching races due to unannounced schedule changes and repeated pre-emptions. They screwed it up virtually every weekend, and the choice was between hanging around all day just to catch the race when they eventually aired it, or to simply blow it off and do something else. This also makes tape/PVR recording impossible. The network broadcast fans always shout this arguement down and hold out network broadcasts as the only way for Champ Car to regain a mainstream audience. The part that doesn't hold water is that if a hardcore fan finds it impossible to follow the broadcasts, what casual fan would even bother to try...?

The broadcast network/affiliate business model is dying a well deserved death in the US market, and the sooner people wake up to the fact that cable works better for niche sports the faster we will have a reliable broadcast schedule again.

oc

[nrc]

Cable was always best for the diehards like us, but network exposure is still a must for sponsors since somewhere between half and a million viewers go missing when the races are on cable.

The good news is that if you have broadband, Race Director isn't too bad an alternative. The video stream seems pretty solid and while the quality is well short of broadcast, it sure beats audio-only or waiting for someone to send you a tape.

Champ Cars on Speed in 45 minutes folks! Hopefully they'll have some test footage to help blow the winter cobwebs out. :D

[dando]

Does anyone know if this thing will be repeated? I couldn't find a listing on the Speed site. The wife flipped on the Pope watch when he passed. :(

-Kevin

[racer2c]

Robin saved it from being too much a fluff piece. The blond was cute, but couldn't speak. Last name Gordon. :gomer:
Diffinitly the deepest field we've had in a long time. Damn, why can't tomorrow be the 10th!

[Sean O'Gorman]

Cable was always best for the diehards like us, but network exposure is still a must for sponsors since somewhere between half and a million viewers go missing when the races are on cable.

Keep in mind that they don't broadcast too many races live at 2 AM on network TV, and if they did, no one would watch.

[TKGAngel]

Keep in mind that they don't broadcast too many races live at 2 AM on network TV, and if they did, no one would watch.

True, but there are some of us (probably most of the people on this board, or a few insomniacs), that would watch it or at least set the VCR to tape it.

During the Speed TV special, I was impressed that they kept pimping the race on NBC. Can I ask what was up with the PT commercial?

[NismoZ]

Relax2c...don't you know... it's the ANTICIPATION? :) How come nobody has started a "podium" topic?