ESPN Will Not Fix NASCAR Telecasts

On NASCAR message boards all over the Internet, it seems as if the number one complaint has been the TV coverage, or lack thereof, especially with NBC. 'There are too many commercials, we miss too many restarts, the broadcasters are corny, all they talk about is Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon, blah blah blah!'. There are many other grievances out there but I only have so much disk space on my computer.

While it seems that everyone has been tetchy regarding the TV coverage, most of the complainers muse over the good ole days when ESPN covered NASCAR.

So when it was pronounced that ESPN/ABC would return to NASCAR in 2007, a lot of fans were elated with the idea. But many presume that ESPN/ABC will be a dramatic improvement over FOX and NBC, therefore, they are under a common misconception.

It is true; ESPN will be a breath of fresh air, and a nice break from Darrell Waltrip's 'boogity boogity boogity' weekly ritual, and Benny Parsons' exhausting quote 'It's time to cue the duck'! But how long will the ESPN telecasts remain pristine? How long before the personality discrepancies of Rusty Wallace or Dr. Jerry Punch begin to grate on the nerves of the massive TV audience?

It's been six years since ESPN last broadcasted a NASCAR event, and TV technology is far advanced, as FOX and NBC have shown. It's inevitable that ESPN will be slightly influenced by FOX and NBC. It will not be the same ESPN it was when Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons, and Dr. Jerry Punch covered the races.

I do not believe that the coverage will be dreadful, however, I do feel that most fans will be disappointed with ESPN's coverage because the network has been placed on such a towering pedestal. The great expectations will be near impossible to live up to.

Fans desire, and deserve quality race coverage. They spend hours a week watching NASCAR sanctioned events. But modern NASCAR fans are spoiled in a sense. Nowadays, practically everything that goes on during race weekend, from first session practice, to qualifying, to happy hour, is televised. The SPEED Channel's NASCAR Live actually televises live coverage of things going on in the garage area that fans would never have seen ten years ago.

Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio has a NASCAR channel, all NASCAR all of the time. Internet surfers have multiple web sites that provide fans with news, rumors, and commentary. If you think about it, you could get your NASCAR fix at any time throughout the day or night.

Fans must come to except the flaws. Maybe lower their expectations. By doing so, they will enjoy the races more so than they do griping about missing the first 100 yards of a restart.

My grandfather, who was a loyal David Pearson fan back in the 1960's, could only listen to stock car races on AM radio, and probably spent half of the race adjusting the radio antennae so he could get a clear signal. The only time he was able to see what the cars looked like was when he made his occasional trips to Darlington Raceway. Now fans back in those days had valid reason to gripe and complain.