ESPN’s “Ghosts” of Races Past

31st July 2007

ESPN’s “Ghosts” of Races Past

posted in NASCAR |

ESPN Draft Track Kudos to ESPN for trying something new during the Indy NASCAR broadcast. The network has always been one of the leading innovators in sports broadcasting.

Having said that, can they stop their “Draft Track” experiment now? There’s a lot to be said for the old adage, “sometimes… less is more.”

I want to see a race. A race unencumbered by graphics that appear to be some apparition of races or drivers gone past. “Ghostly” images not needed, please. (if you missed the broadcast or desire to see a video head over to Jalopnik for a slice of what it looked like. - ed)

IN OTHER NEWS: Smoke gets fined 25 points and $25,000 for Bullshit, I mean saying bullshit during his victory lane interview. Ho-hum, move along nothing to see here except to mimic Tony: “Heaven forbid you actually have fun in life.”

Al Tays, who blogs for the Palm Beach Post, has coined a new name for the Chase, Great Debris Caution.

The new name stems from the example of a race’s debris caution bunching up the field during a race much the same as the Chase does. Once the Chase starts the 12 car field is bunched with the only point difference being that earned via seasonal wins.

His point is well taken, but I don’t totally agree with this statement:

NASCAR wanted the Chase to echo the excitement of the race for playoff spots in the NFL, but there

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 7:15 pm and is filed under NASCAR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On August 1st, 2007, peterg said:#

that’s bullshit….there I said it.

posted on August 1st, 2007 at 10:22 am

2 On August 1st, 2007, Marc said:#

Send your check in the amount of $25,000 dollars (U.S. not that funny colored and devalued stuff) to the First Bank of Nigeria.

I’ll have my “associate” pick it up later.

posted on August 1st, 2007 at 1:46 pm

3 On August 1st, 2007, phastphil said:#

You would think nobody ever drove down the freeway behind a big truck.
I wouldn’t mind seeing an in depth tech report on aerodynamics prior to the race, but I agree with you the in race stuff tends to get a little silly.

posted on August 1st, 2007 at 10:44 pm

4 On August 2nd, 2007, Charlie Turner said:#

Yeah Marc, NASCAR made a pretty shrewd move with the ten bonus points per win deal. May have been unintentional, but it pretty well took away the “coast into the playoffs” option for the contenders.

I didn’t mind the graphic ghosts for this race. Now they can put it away.

posted on August 2nd, 2007 at 4:00 am

5 On August 2nd, 2007, Marc said:#

That’s my thinking on the subject guys. I understand why they did it but it was a distraction.

If they want to educate the “newbes” to the sport they can easily set up shop in someone wind tunnel, film the resulting “smoke trails” around the car then show it on a pre-race show or other venue.

posted on August 2nd, 2007 at 7:30 am

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