by Phil Allaway Hello, race fans. Welcome back to another edition of the Critic's Annex, where I talk about motorsports programming. I hope you're enjoying the holiday season thus far. I'm sitting here watching Dave Rieff mistake Tim Currier for Billy VanInwegen on the World Finals broadcast on CBS Sports Network. Rieff's pretty good with the NHRA on ESPN, but he's not the most knowledgeable with the Super DirtCar Series.
Normally, I'd be relaxing, playing the daily challenges in Rayman Legends or binge watching Night Court or Gilmore Girls on DVD. However, while I was on work on Friday, I noticed something while at work. Jim Noble, Host of Tradin' Paint (with Buddy Baker, subbing for Chocolate Myers) on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and one of the few pit reporters I've had the pleasure of meeting in the past, asked a question to his listeners. That question was simple. Who is your dream NASCAR broadcast booth, past, present or future?
For the record, Noble chose Ken Squier, Benny Parsons and Ray Evernham. An interesting trio, to be sure. Squier and Parsons actually did work together briefly with CBS back in 1984. Parsons also worked with Evernham on ABC in 2000.
Naturally, Noble broaching the issue and all the various suggestions that were tweeted to Noble triggered my thoughts as well. You know what that means by now. I'm doing it too, and going the extra mile by adding in pit reporters as well. We're not going to talk about infield pit studios because they bog down broadcasts.
Also of note, I have Noble's blessing to do this. In fact, he tweeted to me that he's looking forward to what I come up with.
My mentality with race broadcasts is that they're mostly all business. However, they must have a fun time giving us the business. We'll start with the all-important broadcast booth and go from there.
Play-by-Play: 1992 Mike Joy. Yes, I'm using years for my picks, just like Bill Simmons did with his all-time All-Star teams in "The Book of Basketball". Why? Because commentators do change over the years as they age. In the case of Mike Joy, it's a little less noticeable than with others. This is why Ken Squier doesn't get the slot here with me.
In 1992, Joy was the play-by-play man for TNN's Winston Cup and Busch Grand National broadcasts. In addition, he also did pit reporting work on CBS' three Cup telecasts. At the time, he was more or less on the top of his game. Very crisp in the booth and easy to listen to, along with being just as knowledgeable as he is now. Also, he didn't have to wrestle with his colleagues in order to do his job, which I feel he has to do way too often on FOX.
Play-by-Play Omissions:
1. Allen Bestwick- Likely one of the toughest cuts. Bestwick is a consummate professional in the broadcast booth with the benefit of seniority. Many fans are angry that he is likely out of the broadcast booth in the Cup Series after next season.
2. Bob Jenkins- Beginning in 1989, when he was permanently paired with Parsons and Ned Jarrett for Cup races, Jenkins more or less relinquished more and more control over the years to his analysts. This could have been somewhat dangerous. However, in Jarrett and Parsons, Jenkins had two of the most dependable guys in sports broadcasting at the time. They knew their spots and were not the kind of people who would take over a broadcast. Prior to 1988, Jenkins didn't really a driving expert in the booth with him all that often (there are exceptions to that rule, though). In those circumstances, he would carry broadcasts a lot more.
3. Ken Squier (prior to about 1994)- When he was on top of his game, Squier was very good. However, he hung on way too long (through 1997 before CBS made him a host). By the end of his career, Squier was clearly starting to slip, and it only got worse over time. It's sad to see. I once compared him to a professor I had at Seton Hall, Dr. Daniel J. Leab. He had a class on U.S. Diplomatic History that I took back in 2005. My takeaway: The dude's brilliant (also, I didn't realize that he was pushing 70 at the time), but he had some strange quirks, including the tendency to lose focus while lecturing. I feel like Squier was similar at times. I'd love to sit down and just listen to the guy talk (I'm sure he's got stories for days), but there are better choices for the booth.
4. Eli Gold- Replaced Joy as TNN's play-by-play man in 1996. At the time, I thought that Gold's voice grated on me. I suppose that's because he's mainly a radio guy (today, Gold hosts multiple radio shows and is the voice of Alabama football and the Rolex Series). He brought that mentality to television. It definitely took some getting used to. I suppose it's not as bad as what happens when Bob Costas calls a basketball game like it's on radio.
5. Rick Allen- Since Allen's never called a Cup race before, I have no idea what he'd be like there (although we'll find out in July 2015). However, based on his performance with the trucks over the past 11 years, I think this would probably be where he would rank.
6. Ralph Sheheen- Most of Sheheen's play-by-play experience is in lower series (ASA AC-Delco Challenge Series, Hooters Cup, etc.). However, Sheheen took over in a pinch back in 2009 after Bill Weber was suspended and later fired for some kind of altercation at a hotel in Manchester, NH (the details of which were never made public). Sheheen did very well working with Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. in a pinch.
7. Bill Weber- Unfortunately, Weber had the tendency to irritate people during his time in the booth (and probably before that). While he was always well-prepared, it appears that he carried himself in such a fashion that people didn't like him, and it came out at times during telecasts, much to NBC/TNT's detriment.
8. Marty Reid- Reid had 30+ years of booth experience and was seemingly at the top of the profession in 2010. However, he imploded his way out of a job. Reid was never really at his best in NASCAR. I thought he was best in sports cars, a place he hasn't been since the 1990's.
9. Adam Alexander- We've had a couple of years with Alexander in the booth, and I'm just not feeling him. He's ok, but nothing special. I feel like TNT should have kept Sheheen in the booth instead. However, he is getting a little more booth work outside of NASCAR these days (college football with FOX Sports 1).
Off the Board: Barney Hall- Yes, The Joker's Wild gets a reference here. I noticed that some fans picked Barney Hall as their play-by-play pick. However, Hall has next to no play-by-play experience on television. He was supposed to be alongside of Jenkins for ESPN's first-ever Winston Cup telecast from Rockingham in 1981 (tape-delayed). However, according to his replacement (Gold) during a 2011 interview on NASCAR Now, he soured on the gig last minute. He's another guy that I don't have much of a frame of reference for what he was like in his prime. Remember, calling a race on radio is quite a bit different than on television.
First Color Analyst: 1993 Benny Parsons. Any time between 1990-2000 would have been fine here. I agree with Noble's choice of Parsons here. At the time, he was a recent retiree from driving and knew quite a bit about the current machinery. Much like Andy Petree today, Parsons would spend a great amount of time in the garage, learning as much as he possibly could about the new innovations and various issues of the time.
In addition, Parsons was clearly a fun-loving kind of guy, but knew when he had to be serious. I feel that a couple of today's analysts don't really get that.
Second Color Analyst: 2013 Ricky Craven. This is actually a very tough choice since there are a number of people that can actually fit this role nicely. I chose Craven despite a general lack of experience in the booth just because he essentially carried Marty Reid in the booth for much of this season. He's very knowledgeable about the sport and can explain things very easily in a way that is not condescending.
Analyst Omissions:
1. Andy Petree- Seriously, this was basically a coin toss. Petree has a lot of the same qualities that Craven exhibits, plus additional booth experience.
2. Ned Jarrett- My main issue with Jarrett is the threat of favoritism that came from his son Dale's participation in most of the races he called on television. It just shows that you can't please everyone. He can't openly root for Dale because it's unprofessional, and he can't treat Dale like everyone else because it's his son and doing that would anger people close to him. Having said all that, Jarrett is a very gracious person and well-respected. Probably very easy to work with and fairly knowledgeable, despite having been out of the seat for 22 years by the time he got to ESPN.
3. Buddy Baker/Neil Bonnett (tie)- When I was younger, I actually did prefer TNN telecasts to ESPN for a time. In addition to Joy, these two men were the reason why. Both are easy talking men who were very knowledgeable about the sport. I wish Bonnett were still around. He'd be 67 now. I don't know what he'd be doing, but I'm sure that he would still be involved in NASCAR in some capacity.
4. Kyle Petty- A refreshing force in the broadcast booth. Someone who can take what he hears and translates them into reality without a filter. It's an interesting way to commentate on a race. Petty has no peers here, so he and he alone will determine how it ultimately pans out. So far, so good.
5. David Hobbs- Back in the late 1970's and 1980's, Hobbs served as Squier's driver analyst on off-weekends (and sometimes, simply off-days) from his sports car racing career on CBS. Hobbs only has a little experience in NASCAR, but he was relatively similar (albeit less ridiculous) to how he is today with Formula One on the NBC Sports Network. Generally enjoyable to listen to. He's considered to be so entwined with Formula One coverage that people forget that he used to do NASCAR telecasts (and sports cars, for that matter).
6. Phil Parsons- Works decently as a straight man to Rick Allen on Camping World Truck, K&N Pro and Whelen Modified telecasts, not to mention the ARCA Racing Series. However, he is substandard at best as a pit reporter and should not be working the pits with a car in the field under any circumstances.
7. Dale Jarrett- Seems to take a lot of vacations. ESPN heavily promoted Jarrett's move to the broadcast booth after he retired, but I don't think he's been anything special. He gets the job done, but doesn't really rock the boat.
8. Larry McReynolds- To say nothing else about McReynolds, he is prepared. He probably goes through a five-subject notebook every couple of weeks just to be able to do his job. On that note, I hope FOX buys him his notebooks. However, the way he goes about explaining things is polarizing at times. Not because he's telling viewers incorrect information (it's correct), but it makes him look stupid. McReynolds (and our next entry) makes unusual use of the English language and it turns a number of people off. I feel like having him in the broadcast booth does not necessarily help grow the sport.
9. Wally Dallenbach, Jr. - These days, I see Dallenbach more as an IndyCar analyst than a Sprint Cup analyst, despite much more experience in NASCAR. He's not bad, but he doesn't seem to have much fun covering Cup. It seems to only be a job to him.
10. Darrell Waltrip- Good lord, this guy irritates me at times, and my readers as well. Very knowledgeable, but makes people think that he's biased (and at times, he is, especially if it involves his brother Michael). May be a little too close to Kyle Busch. The Boogittys have to go. Admittedly had trouble explaining why things happened when he first got in the broadcast booth, but slowly figured things out.
11. Larry Nuber- Nuber did have his moments in the booth, but the general opinion of this dude (and it showed at times) was that he didn't really give his all into the broadcasts. He would babble at times. Lots of nonsense. However, "the Nube" did have a sense for talent. Regardless, getting demoted to a Pit Center setup in 1988 and eventually dumped must have hurt. Yeah, he eventually landed at TNN as the play-by-play man for the ASA AC-Delco Challenge Series, but that was multiple steps below working Cup telecasts for both ESPN and CBS.
12. Ray Evernham- I'll admit that I found Noble's choice of Evernham to be interesting (of note, Evernham graciously thanked Noble for the nod). I remember Evernham being a bit of a wreck on ABC in 2000. Today, he's a much better analyst on ESPN. He will likely move up with his continued form.
13. Justin Allgaier- I hate to rank him here since he's such a young 'un, but Allgaier has the tendency to dominate proceedings in the booth. That's not a good quality. If he plans to have a future on float screens or whatever we have by the time he retires in 2034, he would need to learn to temper himself. Believe it or not, this is a good problem to have. Better than the opposite.
14. Rusty Wallace- ESPN's big get for 2007 had absolutely bupkis for experience. So, ESPN sent Wallace to IndyCar for 2006 to get experience. He learned some bad habits there that he brought to then-NEXTEL Cup races. Wallace only lasted a little over a year in the booth before ESPN demoted him in favor of Dale Jarrett. Wallace is more or less the opposite of Dale Jarrett in the booth, but also hogs arguments.
15. Michael Waltrip- Essentially has all of the same issues as his brother. Doesn't really speak all that clearly at times. Probably suited for not much more than what he does now with the Camping World Truck Series on FOX Sports 1.
I cannot rank people with either no analysis track record, or a very limited one. As a result, there will be no rankings for Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Chuck Bown, Kenny Wallace, Mike Wallace, Joe Gibbs, Richard Petty or Dave Marcis.
Pit Reporters:
1. 1981 Chris Economaki- I know, you're probably thinking something along the lines of "Phil, this dude's the enlightened monarch of motorsports journalism. How could you put him in the pits?" The answer is that the vast majority of the work I've seen from Economaki has been from pit road, either with actual pit reporting, or doing interviews from a raised stage like in the 1993 Daytona 500 telecast. He even did pit reports at the Bathurst 1000 for years. CBS only aired that race once from what I can remember (1981), and that appeared to be some kind of agreement with the Seven Network that allowed CBS a crack at RaceCam. Economaki still covered a number of 1000 kilometer classics at Bathurst for the Australian audience, even without the American network backing. Let's face facts. The dude knew more about racing than I will ever know.
2. 1995 Dr. Jerry Punch- Maybe he's not the best play-by-play man (Something that Punch actually told me in 2009 at Watkins Glen), but he's very, very good in the pits. Having Buford T. Justice's seniority doesn't hurt as well. Also, has a great impression of Economaki. Seriously.
3. 2002 Dick Berggren- It says a lot that FOX willingly crippled their own pit coverage this past season just so they didn't have to replace Berggren after he retired.
4. 1992 Glenn Jarrett – Possibly the toughest spot of all. This could have gone to a number of different people, and I doubt anyone would have complained. In 1992, Glenn was more or less the primary pit reporter for TNN. He was very good in covering the happenings on pit road, especially with the Busch Grand National races being on a much smaller scale as compared to what we see now. Also, there's something about a reporter saying "The track's tearing up something awful" that I like (although I don't like stupid moves by track management leading to stupidity).
Pit Reporter Omissions:
1. Krista Voda
2. Steve Byrnes
3. Matt Yocum
4. John Kernan
5. Dave Burns
6. John Kernan
7. Jamie Little/Shannon Spake (tie)
9. Wendy Venturini
10. Vince Welch
11. Mike Hogewood
12. Jeanne Zelasko
I'd argue that any of the top 7-9 in the omission list could have taken Jarrett's spot. That's why it is so tough to pick. I think it's easier to explain why those at the bottom couldn't make the elite list. Zelasko didn't seem to be well respected during her time on pit road for FOX (not by FOX, but by the teams). I guess they thought she didn't know anything. She would often leave to focus on baseball, leaving the NASCAR coverage high and dry. I don't have much of a body of work for Hogewood. I thought he was ok on TBS, but nothing special. Welch has always struck me as an IndyCar guy. I feel he's the frontrunner to replace Reid in the booth for ESPN starting in March in St. Petersburg.
Venturini would be the Wild Card here. She has no experience as a pit reporter on regular Sprint Cup TV race telecasts. However, she has worked extensively as a pit reporter for Cup races on radio, ARCA telecasts, Truck telecasts, and with DirecTV NASCAR HotPass (which I did not have access to because of a lack of DirecTV). I have no reason to believe that she wouldn't excel if FOX gave her the chance.
Also, for the sake of reference, the inspiration for this article (Jim Noble) has less pit reporting experience on television than Venturini (I think I've seen him pit reporting for maybe 15-20 Nationwide races on ESPN 2 during split weekends). Everyone else has at least 50 and most have hundreds. Therefore, it's a little tough to rate him.
Obviously, this list can be debated as much as your heart desires. The group that I came up with would be a trio for the booth that all knows each other and will probably get along well. They are knowledgeable and great to listen to. Is it the best possible trio? Maybe. But, that's the beauty of the whole exercise.
I hope you enjoyed this conjecture piece. I'll be back in 2014 with a sixth year of critiquing. Until then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
