mexico city Qualifying

[jv#12]

is qualifying not going to be televised? great now i have to spend saturday afternoon with my family.

[macdaddy]

From a link sqw2 posted recently...

The Speed Channel telecasts of CART qualifying from Mexico City and Australia have been canceled, as has the pre-race show from Australia. On October 11, CART qualifying will be replaced by an encore of Formula 1 qualifying from Japan. The Friday, October 24 schedule has been reworked to include a late night replay of that afternoon's Busch qualifying. (9/23)

[MLM]

Busch qualifying!?
I suppose it could have been worse....it could have been a boradcast of the 1977 Talledega 500 or the 1985 Coca-Cola 600!

[Muzza]

Originally posted by macdaddy
From a link sqw2 posted recently...

The Speed Channel telecasts of CART qualifying from Mexico City and Australia have been canceled, as has the pre-race show from Australia. On October 11, CART qualifying will be replaced by an encore of Formula 1 qualifying from Japan. The Friday, October 24 schedule has been reworked to include a late night replay of that afternoon's Busch qualifying. (9/23)

Great. What next now? Swamp dragsters? Demolition derby? Figure-of-eight racing? Stunts jumping over school buses?

Thanks, Speed Channel, for reminding me that you are owned by Fox.

[jv#12]

no the next thing will probably be the world series of sand castle building

[x_dt]

Qualifying not televised??

It could be worse like it is in Britain/Europe with Eurosport where many of the RACES aren't shown live or (at least) soon after they took place.

[corkholio]

I don't know if you can blame SPEED if CART doesn't want to pay for the airtime.

[Brian W Keske]

Exactly, CART pulled the plug on this, not SPEED.

[Muzza]

Hello Corkholio and Brain W Keske,

Fair enough, agreed.

But cannot Speed Channel replace CART by something better than the usual "and now, straight from Shabougaw County Speedway, the fifth-fourth round of the MARAA Series, Fourth Midwestern Division, sponsored by Dairy Queen, Farm Fleet and O'Reilly Fireworks"?

[Jay]

meh...I wouldn't have watched it, and I doubt the 3 people that would have would make it worthwhile for Cart to broadcast it.

[TedN]

Originally posted by macdaddy
From a link sqw2 posted recently...

The Speed Channel telecasts of CART qualifying from Mexico City and Australia have been canceled, as has the pre-race show from Australia. On October 11, CART qualifying will be replaced by an encore of Formula 1 qualifying from Japan. The Friday, October 24 schedule has been reworked to include a late night replay of that afternoon's Busch qualifying. (9/23)

I also understand that these races will be called from a studio in the U.S., much like SPEED F1 race coverage. No on-site SPEED staff. Cost cutting measure I believe.

Ted

[corkholio]

Originally posted by Muzza
Hello Corkholio and Brain W Keske,

Fair enough, agreed.

But cannot Speed Channel replace CART by something better than the usual "and now, straight from Shabougaw County Speedway, the fifth-fourth round of the MARAA Series, Fourth Midwestern Division, sponsored by Dairy Queen, Farm Fleet and O'Reilly Fireworks"?

I get what you are saying, but I think because it was a paid for time slot, SPEED had to find something that it could sell to advertisers so that could replace the money CART would have paid. The problem is that most of those programs happen to be of the NASCAR variety.

[Muzza]

Agreed again, Cork.

There are so many great motorsport series that could be shown, specials/documentaries, historic footage, categories that nobody knows... Speed would provide an enormous service to American drivers (and racing in the United States as a whole) if they broadcasted (live or delayed) karting or some of the SCCA-run series.

When someone asks me why Brazilian drivers are so sucessful, the first answer I give is four-letter word: k-a-r-t.

It is of public knowledge that I am not fond of oval racing, but I don't mind watching it from time to time. My problem with Speed is that it is always on the edge of becoming NASCAR TV. This seems to be the inevitable fate of this channel...

Hey, American press, give a hand to your karters. Speed Channel this is your duty. There is an amazing generation of karters in the US that is on the verge of moving up the ladder - but, as so many times seen in the past, they have little support (the press, when shows up, is only to put an unbelievable, unnecessary amount of pressure on these young drivers. American sports media seems to be in a perennial search for the "next big hope"... - just to "spit the kid out if he/she does not deliver)

Speed Channel, being the "American motorsports broadcaster" ought to pay attention to that.

[Brian W Keske]

Well Muzza, look for the taped SCCA Run-Off races to start being shown this month, along with some taped FIAGT series races, etc.

I agree, it would be great to have the races live verses taped, but I'll simply be happy they are going to be on at all vs. the venues you mention.

Untill road racing becomes more popular in order to compete with the NASCAR type races, we will have to either settle for what we can get, or hope a new channel brings it to us instead, just like when SPEED started. But I doubt this is going to happen anytime soon.

But hey, I can remember a time when I could not even watch any of these races, and simply waited for my On-Track magazine to come in the mail in order to simply read about it.....delayed of course

[Muzza]

Originally posted by Brian W Keske
Well Muzza, look for the taped SCCA Run-Off races (...)

Great to know that! In general lines I align with your comments.

Another suggestion to Speed Channel: make Wind Tunnel longer - one hour is too short, the format is too rushed. Also, this seems to be a program with rather affordable production costs.

Another one: off-road motorcycle racing (huge in the United States and with a very solid and numerous fan base) deserves more space.

Cheers,

Muzza