THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
April 17th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition LI
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Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
April 17th, 2014
Volume VIII, Edition LI
----------------
Today's TV Schedule
Time Telecast Network
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM motoGp Grand Prix of the Americas FOX Sports 1*# (from April 13)
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM NASCAR RaceHub FOX Sports 1
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM NASCAR America NBC Sports Network
7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Moto2: Austin FOX Sports 2*# (from April 13)
DVR Theater (Late Thursday Night / Early Friday Morning)
2:00 AM - 2:30 AM NASCAR Now ESPN2
2:00 AM - 3:30 AM Formula One Grand Prix of China Free Practice No. 2 NBC Sports Network
*- Tape-Delayed
#- Repeat Telecast
Top News
by Phil Allaway
by Phil Allaway
IndyCar Holds Open Test at Texas Motor Speedway
On Wednesday, Texas Motor Speedway hosted an open test for Verizon IndyCar Series teams on the 1.5 mile quad-oval. 18 teams showed up to test their cars ahead of June 7th's Firestone 600k. In additoin, the series itself was testing new components to create a new aero package for Texas. Four specific packages were evaluated. However, the weather, which featured high temperatures in the mid 60's with windy conditions, likely will not be representative of the conditions teams will encounter for the race.
On Wednesday, Texas Motor Speedway hosted an open test for Verizon IndyCar Series teams on the 1.5 mile quad-oval. 18 teams showed up to test their cars ahead of June 7th's Firestone 600k. In additoin, the series itself was testing new components to create a new aero package for Texas. Four specific packages were evaluated. However, the weather, which featured high temperatures in the mid 60's with windy conditions, likely will not be representative of the conditions teams will encounter for the race.
"It's probably the windiest I've ever tested here," Scott Dixon said during a press conference. "I think that the cool conditions is what really changes [the track]. When we come back and its 90 degrees, the car gets pretty bad. I think the other additional [thing we were trying to do] was some aero testing for the race to try to get the aero package a bit more like 2012, when we had a pretty good race. Last year's was a bit spread out."
Graham Rahal described how difficult the Firestone 600k is likely to be this year.
"It's going to be a tricky race," Rahal said. "This one is going to be difficult. And it's cold today, which gives the cars more grip. To come back here on race weekend, when it's hot and hopefully not windy like this, it's a difficult place. One of the trickiest for sure."
"It's going to be a tricky race," Rahal said. "This one is going to be difficult. And it's cold today, which gives the cars more grip. To come back here on race weekend, when it's hot and hopefully not windy like this, it's a difficult place. One of the trickiest for sure."
Marco Andretti described the potential changes that IndyCar is testing as generally minor in nature. They are not huge changes.
"We are driving these cars on the ragged edge," Andretti said. ""The rate of [tire] falloff is pretty great here. I was watching my onboard (telemetry) from last year to get ready for this week and we earned our money here last year. I had a race-winning car and it looked terrible. I think we need to balance it where it isn't pack racing, but where we aren't doing 190s at the end of a stint. We need somewhere in between. That's where we're going. It's not a drastic change. It's a little change."
FOX Announces Talladega Qualifying Move
On Wednesday, FOX Sports announced a schedule change for the Sprint Cup Series Qualifying session for the upcoming Aaron's 499, set to be held on May 3. The session was originally going to be aired live on FOX Sports 2 at 12:00 PM CDT (1:00 PM EDT). Instead, the session will air on network television. FOX will air it starting at 1:00 PM EDT on the FOX Broadcast Network, marking the first time that FOX has aired a Sprint Cup Series Qualifying session outside of Daytona 500 Qualifying during Speedweeks.
Why Talladega? Because the qualifying session is likely going to be completely unpredictable.
"This move is a direct result of the double-digit ratings gains NASCAR's new knockout qualifying format is delivering every weekend," said Bill Wanger, FOX's Executive Vice President of Programming, Research & Content Strategy. "We are thrilled to be able to highlight this new format on FOX, and what more exciting place to do that than Talladega Superspeedway."
"This move is a direct result of the double-digit ratings gains NASCAR's new knockout qualifying format is delivering every weekend," said Bill Wanger, FOX's Executive Vice President of Programming, Research & Content Strategy. "We are thrilled to be able to highlight this new format on FOX, and what more exciting place to do that than Talladega Superspeedway."
Talladega Superspeedway will mark the Sprint Cup Series' debut for the new knockout qualifying format at Daytona. While Daytona saw Sprint Cup teams qualify with the traditional two lap, single-car qualifying format in order to determine the starting grids for the Budweiser Duels, both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series teams were supposed to attempt this new format, but neither got through it. The Camping World Truck Series sessions were washed out in entirety, while the Nationwide Series struggled to get through just the first round. After a long rain delay, the first round was completed, which fully set the field. More rain wiped out Rounds two and three. Expect chaos.
Kentucky Speedway Announces New June Nationwide Race Sponsor
On Wednesday afternoon, Kentucky Speedway announced that they have reached a deal with the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety to sponsor the 300-mile June Nationwide race at the 1.5 mile tri-oval. The race will be known as the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 presented by Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kentucky Speedway announced that they have reached a deal with the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety to sponsor the 300-mile June Nationwide race at the 1.5 mile tri-oval. The race will be known as the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 presented by Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.
According to the press release, the HERO Campaign is a national campaign dedicated to the memory of Elliott, a Navy ensign who was killed by a drunk driver in 2000 in a head-on crash in Annapolis, Maryland. The organization raises awareness of the need for sober designated drivers in order to keep drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel. The Kentucky branch of the HERO Campaign will be the one that sponsors the race, not the national organization.
Kentucky Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock is happy that Kentucky Speedway is willing to help out with the cause.
"We appreciate the Kentucky Speedway's continued assistance in promoting our highway safety messages," Hancock said. "As we gear up for racing season, we're proud to bring attention to this critical highway safety issue and encourage NASCAR fans to use designated drivers."
"We appreciate the Kentucky Speedway's continued assistance in promoting our highway safety messages," Hancock said. "As we gear up for racing season, we're proud to bring attention to this critical highway safety issue and encourage NASCAR fans to use designated drivers."
In Kentucky, the issue of designated drivers is perhaps a little more important than in most other states due to the state's alcohol laws. They can be best described as confusing, and can differ from county to county, town to town, and even neighborhood to neighborhood (Ex: Louisville, KY is officially wet, but a couple of neighborhoods have voted to go dry to cut down on crime). Over one-quarter of the state's 120 counties (38 in all) are completely dry, while 50 more are "Moist" (includes wet cities inside of otherwise dry countries, on-premises alcohol by the drink only, alcohol at golf courses, wineries or at an approved historic site). In some areas of the state, a person may have to drive 40 miles from their home on country roads to legally drink because of the proliferation of dry counties. Kentucky Speedway is located in Gallatin County, which is a wet county (allows for bars, package sales, etc.). However, neighboring Grant and Owen counties are mostly dry. Grant County allows alcohol only by the drink in restaurants that seat at least 100 people and derive at least 70 percent of revenue from food in three cities (Corinth, Dry Ridge and Williamstown), while Owen County only allows alcohol to be purchased at one winery within the county.
Have news for Phil and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip. Comments can also be sent to frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com.
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Got NASCAR-related questions or comments?
Send them Summer Bedgood's way at summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com; and, if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print when she does her weekly column answering back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat. Frontstretch Fan Q & A will run on Thursdays with a whole new set of Fan Questions and Answers!
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The Critic's Annex: Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase at Long Beach
by Phil Allaway
Hello, race fans. Welcome back to the Critic's Annex, where we take an additional look at motorsports programming. This past weekend, the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship's Prototype and GT-Le Mans classes were the primary support series to the Verizon IndyCar Series on the street course in Long Beach, California. Unlike the two endurance races to start the season, there was a minimum of wrecking and no full-course cautions. How well did FOX Sports 1 cover the race? Let's take a look.
Starting in Sebring, IMSA.com started showing an internet-exclusive pre-pre-race show hosted by Justin Bell. At least in Sebring, Bell was actually at the race. For Long Beach, Bell was actually at the Barrett-Jackson Automobile Auction in Palm Beach, Florida. As a result, it gave the pre-race show a bit of an American Sports Cavalcade feel. Bell would be playing the Ed Bruce role.
The internet-exclusive programming featured five pre-race interviews and a piece where four drivers (Bill Auberlen, Jõao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Memo Rojas) talk about what it means to race and win at Long Beach. Not half bad.
Post-race coverage as part of the main telecast was shrimpy. All you got were interviews with the winning drivers in both classes (Scott Pruett for the Prototypes, Jan Magnussen for GT-Le Mans), and a check of the top-10 finishers overall. Then, the post-race show started. On your TV guide and on FOX Sports' TV listings on their own site, the post-race coverage was considered to be a separate show. Why they did that, I have no clue.
With only 21 cars starting the race instead of the 60+ of Daytona and Sebring (and basically no gentlemen drivers in the bunch), it was more than likely that we'd get a fairly clean race. That's what we got. Granted, there were two incidents, but neither of those drew full course yellows.
The full course yellows really break up the action and allow FOX Sports 1 to get more green flag racing. Unfortunately, without those yellows, the telecast turns into a start and stop affair with breaks every couple of minutes. It bites at times.
In addition, FOX Sports made a couple of unsatisfactory choices to place special pieces in the middle of the race right after commercials. For example, after the first green flag commercial break of the race, they aired a track tour piece that was narrated by Scott Sharp with live racing going on at the time. That should have aired during the pre-race show. Yes, it's good to have a track tour, but we had a track description during the pace laps. Viewers shouldn't have to miss live racing to see that.
The Barrett-Jackson Auction in Florida also necessitated a switch in the broadcast booth. With Bob Varsha on auction duty, Brian Till filled in for the day. Till has done a number of races on play-by-play for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in the past and did a decent job working with Dorsey Schroeder and Calvin Fish.
The actual race action was not the most compelling up front (especially in the GT-Le Mans class), but we still got a good amount of battling for position. Some good action was to be found and we got that action.
Also, for a race with only 21 cars starting, there were a lot of in-car cameras. FOX Sports 1 only showed seven of them before the race started, but three more teams had them as well. Outside of Formula One (where everyone has in-car cameras), it's rare to get anywhere near 50 percent of the field equipped with cameras.
My best guess is that IMSA wants as many in-car cameras as possible in order to help with officiating. To that end, a recent rule change after Sebring requires teams to put their numbers inside their cars as well as outside within sight of in-car cameras. That was done since Race Control screwed up royally in regards to a penalty given to Alex Job Racing's No. 22 GT-Daytona class Porsche 911 GT America for avoidable contact, costing them a potential class victory. The replays clearly showed that it was the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR that eventually won the GT-Le Mans class that spun out the No. 49 Ferrari. The sad part of this change is that even without the number on the No. 912's roof cam, it still should have been enough for them to tell the difference between the two cars since there was a Michelin sticker there. GT-Daytona class cars are mandated to run Continental Tires. Brain fade is all that was. At least the teams didn't have to spend much at all to satisfy that new rule.
The post-race show brought viewers seven more driver interviews, plus an interview with Beth Paretta, SRT's Director of Motorsports and the Brand. Why was Paretta interviewed? Probably because SRT sponsored the post-race show and they likely mandated that interview in order for FOX Sports and IMSA to get the money. In addition, there was a recap of the first two races of the year (Daytona and Sebring), which I don't think that it was necessary). There were also checks of the Prototype and GT-Le Mans points before they left the air.
Overall, the race was fairly enjoyable to watch on FOX Sports 1. Some fans might have found the action a little stale and/or predictable, but it was enjoyable. Till, Schroeder and Fish seemed to work well together and were quite enthusiastic towards the action on track. The pictures were generally pretty good and we didn't really miss much. Misplaced features notwithstanding, I was pleased.
That's all for this week. Next week, we'll be back with a look at the Pirelli World Challenge telecast from Long Beach, which premieres Sunday afternoon on NBC Sports Network. Until then, have an excellent Easter weekend.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84. Comments can also be sent to frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com.
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Beyond the Cockpit: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. on Growing Up Racing and Owner Loyalties
"It was a lot of fun. He'd call when we won and didn't say much when we crashed. He was a fun owner. He'd call to make sure we were ok after a hard crash but he never said 'stop crashing'. He just threw our cars away at the bottom of his pond and says a lot of fish hang out around them now. He was a very supportive owner." - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., on racing for Tony Stewart
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Vito Pugliese
Going By the Numbers: A Week Without Racing Can Bring Relief But Kill Momentum
by Kevin Rutherford
Five Points To Ponder: NASCAR's Take-A-Breath Moment
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the 2000 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Max Papis was having a decent run, keeping himself up in the top-10. However, it quickly came to an end just past halfway. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: Alex Zanardi picked up his second consecutive win at Long Beach in 1998, but in order to do it, he had to once again overcome Team Rahal's Bryan Herta. How did he get past Shell-sponsored racer to take the victory?
A: With two laps to go, Zanardi was right on Herta's tail through the first chicane. He saw just a sliver of a gap open up on the inside leading up to what was then Turn 3 and took it. The gap was just enough to force Herta to yield. Dario Franchitti followed Zanardi past into second. The finish can be seen here. Notice how loud the crowd is.Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Justin Tucker
-- In Case You Missed It by TBA
-- Keepin' It Short by Mike Neff
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, trivia, and more!
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Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Mirror Driving by the Frontstretch Staff
A collection of your favorite writers are back to discuss a number of pertinent issues in NASCAR.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Amy returns this week with another intriguing Friday commentary.
Frontstretch Foto Funnies by the Frontstretch Staff
Pictures can lead to a thousand laughs; join us in our weekly dose of humor that comes from those candid moments at the track.
Pictures can lead to a thousand laughs; join us in our weekly dose of humor that comes from those candid moments at the track.
Nuts For Nationwide by Kelly Crandall
Kelly returns to bring us up-to-date on NASCAR's second-tier series as they enjoy their off-week
Happiness Is... by P. Huston Ladner
Don't let your life sink into the pits. Huston takes a look at the racing stories from the last seven days that should leave you smiling.
Don't let your life sink into the pits. Huston takes a look at the racing stories from the last seven days that should leave you smiling.
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©2014 Frontstretch.com
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2014 Frontstretch.com
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