#)%#)(%$ SPEEDTV

[Steviebee]

WTF   play the AMA  SS race at 1am ...

AARRRRRRGGGGGG


AMA  Get ANOTHER NETWORK  Like ESPN 2  .  Fox( who now owns SpeedTV, that why it changed from speedvision) Justs want to play car racing !!

Just venting,  now i get to go watch the Superbike race, and see how many mistakes i can catch the anouncers make !!

[StumpysWife]

Nope, you'll be lucky if you watch the Supersport in the Superbike slot.  Gotta go program the VCR again I guess.  

Heather

[EDDIE98]

I doubt they'll run the Supersport either.

[StumpysWife]

So who's gonna be up at 3am on Labor Day watchin' Superbikes!!!  Whooo hooo!

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Well most likely in 04 or 05 there will be no more motorcycle racing on SpeedTV. It will be a 34hr napcar channel.

[MELK-MAN]

they did show the full but shortend 12 lap supersport race late this afternoon.. man, what a finish. Reair at 1am, then the superbike race and zzzzzzz 2 am.. :-/

[Steviebee]

yea atleast i got to watch the SS race.

Remember when they showed the FX races too.

[clutch]

They SUCK absolute dog ass now..I hate it man..with my work schedule I am either asleep during the live race or working on the re-air at 1am..why cant they just LEAVE it like it was.  2 Wheel Tuesday is crap and aint worth watching anymore.

[ecumike]

Hey fellas.. here's what happened...
Practice laps for the 600 race.. Chris Perris spills oil coming into T4, and then onto his rear tire, fishtailing, and wrecking, going into T5.

That was at 12:45

So they get out the oil dry.. and take FOREVER to put it all down.

So then they go out for the warm-up lap, and I guess it wasn't good enough for them, so they get back out there.. wet down the oil spill, then clean and BLOWDRY it, until it was completely dry... It was ridiculous!

Then after the race it starts to rain and we're on a delay.. then (~5:10p) they decide to call the racing for the day and are gonna continue it tomorrow.. 250, FX, SBK.

[Dawn]

Superbike will not be run today, but it will run at 9:20 a.m. tomorrow (Monday).  However, Speed may not be there to record the race.   ::)

http://www.amasuperbike.com/2003-Aug/030931a.htm

Dawn   :)

[castle228]

For those of you who want another twist to what happened, I was there, front row seats. I was the Captain in T4 when Chris went down.....

Coming off lunch break, the rain started. They delayed the start by 30 mins and declared it a wet event. SS comes out for a 2 lap practice run. By this point, it had stopped raining. 2nd lap around, I notice Chris smoking in my turn, not 1 second later, he oil's his own tire and goes down...on track in the apex of 5 :o :o. Upon inspection of the track, I notice a line of oil from as far as I could see down into 3 and all thru the apex of 4 into the apex of 5. Some of the sections of oil were over 12" wide. I called for a cleanup.

After probably 2 dozen bags of oil dry, the power broom, blower and a dozen-or-so hard working corner marshall's, the track was in ripe condition to be run on, decision by AMA officials. Parade lap comes around......next thing I know, control is calling for a water truck. Seems as though some of the racers had a problem with the track being discolored and dusty from the oil dry.

SO, the water truck comes out and washes down the track from T3 up to the apex of 5. Now, the track is part mud, part oiled track....all over again. So 3 blowers are brought to the scene to dry the track. Yes, it was a long tedious process and everyone's patience was tested, but the race went on. Yeah, it messed up the schedule too, but hey, it's mother nature and.....mechanical situations....

After the track had been dried, a few racers visted the scene personally along with AMA officials and I guess decided it was good to go.

After that, the rest is history.....and it was a GREAT race...Tommy and Damon battling during the last few laps.

And, one more major factor....Chris was using synthetic oil.  :o ??? :-/

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Man, I've just got to laugh.  This reminds me of AMA at Road America a few years back.  I was Assistant Flag Chief for that race, so when the Superbikes got ready to run I picked corner twelve as the place where I would watch the race.
It had rained, and the track was patchy.  On lap one, Matt Waite crashed in eleven, stopping the race.  The cleanup took at least 40 minutes, with live TV rolling.  Needless to say, AMA was very anxious to get the show going again.
When the cleanup was over and all the crash trucks had cleared my corner, I took a final walk to check my track surface.  Somehow I had developed a completely invisible, 6-foot wide line of slippery from the apex all the way up the hill to the bridge at thirteen.  I called in and told them that we couldn't start the race.  
Needless to say, the AMA people went ballistic and started screaming at me over the radio.  They said that I'd better get my @$$ off the track because they were releasing the bikes right now!.  I knew they were in the tower and could see the TV monitors.  "Watch this!" I said.  I took a running start, jumped into the slippery spot, and slid 30 feet like a kid would on an icy day.  "Send 'em," I said.  "This'll make the sports highlites for sure!"  That got their attention!  Their next question/accusation was why we didn't catch the problem during the first cleanup.  I responded that it hadn't been there then, but it was sure there now.
It turned out that one of the crash trucks had been using a leaf blower to clear the track in eleven.  The blower had run out of gas so they refilled it, neglecting to close the gas can.  The can fell over in the pickup bed, leaving a swath of two-stroke mix as wide as the tailgate of the truck all the way up the hill.  Not pretty.  That race was also shown tape-delay.  I never did get an apology for the public ass-chewing that AMA guy gave me on the radio...

[the_weggie_man]

An apology from AMA? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha you are so funny!

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

That was irony, Gordie.  Irony is my one true talent...

[Photo_Chick]

Speed sucks

[sniper]

I think Greg White got an ear full when he was there. I saw him cruisin' around the pits with Nicky Hayden, Jake Zemke and another guy and I was only one of many who shouted, "I WANT MY TWO WHEEL TUESDAY!!!!"

I think SPEED TV is in big stinkin' dog doo with VIR for pulling out on Sunday and not telecasting or even recording Monday's (shortened by 8 lap) race.

[THE_D.O.C.]

you guys are stupid.

speed sucks? why? because they don't cater to 200,00 bike race fans? do you know that winston cup has over 11 milion viewers a week? sorry to burst your bubble, but bike racing ain't s h i t . they are being gracious enough to offer you live same day coverage, yet you guys always piss and moan when they gotta go to other scheduled coverage. hell, they showed the 600 race live, and no apologies can be found around here.

as for the crew leaving, i can tell you first hand that the TV truck, AND crew were obligated to another event. i know because my father is the producer.

money talks people.

maybe you should petition to have it back to highlight reels on motoworld at 3:00 am with dave despain again.

clowns.

[Dawn]

Sorry Brad....

We want more race coverage.  I can understand other commitments, however it doesn't mean that we have to be happy with it.

Dawn   ;)

P.S.  I like being a clown, they are usually sooooo happy!!!!    ;D

[THE_D.O.C.]

you don't get it. every time speed has to fart in the direction of bike racing. there's nine thousand threads instantly started crying and whining about it. who doesn;t want more bike racing? the fact is........ bike racing economically is a waste of time. want to fix it? get the AMA, CCS, WERA, and such to promote it. hell, CCS is a daytona twice a year with half a million bike owners in town, (all dying for some entertainment) and clear channel can't get two percent of them to come through the gate.


none of this is speeds fault, and you guys are going to pissy e-mail the coverage off the air.

[Dawn]

Take a deep breath Brad.  I know you are getting blasted on the WERA board.  We are not blasting your dad personally....  We are not happy with the direction Speed Channel is going.

If you have some inside information on how to encourage Speed for more road racing coverage.  I would be willing to listen.

Dawn   :)

[THE_D.O.C.]

my dad could care less.  he usually does football. but i DO know about the television market. shame to say, but belt sander racing would get the same ratings as bike racin'.  ;D

[the_weggie_man]

No, speed is a good thing.  SPEEDTV SUCKS! ;D ;D

[Burt Munro]

With the belt sanders do they run DOT's or slicks?

[Bernie]

belt sander racing

Hey when's that on?  I wanna set my Tivo for that! ;D

[tigerblade]

Some pretty good letters...

http://venus.13x.com/roadracingworld/scripts/NewsInsert.asp?insert=7194

[motomadness]

Where are they getting the motorcycle rating from?  Auto enthusiast homes, or motorcycle enthusiasts homes.  If the predominate mix auto based, of course the rating will suck.  My best friend, who often attends my races when  I am in town, rarely watches the stuff on TV.  He is a diehard auto enthusiast, who doesn't care much for any kind of racing, but he will watch the magazine and tuning shows.  I don't know much about the NASCAR fans, but I can guess that they support the sport because of a lot of marketing appeal.  It's like watching the Olympics, we Americans typically root for American atheletes.  We may not even watch all of the games, but the ones the media hypes up the most, gets the most coverage and typically is the most appealing.  With the right marketing/promotion, the sport of motorcycle road racing can take off.  Movies about the street scene aren't going to do it.  I also think there's a problem rating all things on the same scale.  If the Tides, Cheers, Viagra and the like were to sponsor more teams, and demand more TV coverage - live racing and post-racing discussions/programming, we would see more things turn around.  I believe in most non-enthusiasts' minds they view motorcycles and motorcyclists as bad people, outside of the mainstream.

[EmerWil]

SpeedTV? Never heard of it....

Just look at MTV.  It's nothing compared to what it was 20 years ago.  Yeah Brad, money talks.  But why would Clear Channel buy it if all they were going to do was run it into the ground?  Is CCS just a tax write-off for CCE?  CCE has such a HUGE untapped market if they would do a little advertising on their DOZEN or so radio stations in the DC/Baltimore region.  Hell I still TO THIS DAY talk to people that don't/didn't know that there was motorcycle racing in Summit Point (granted they didn't know where Summit Point was either).

When's the last time you saw speed boat racing on speed? Or a motocross event? or mud bog racing?

NASCAR is a cancer....

[Super Dave]

I'll agree that motorcycle racing sucks...

Why should there be fan appeal?

The AMA has created a set of rules that changes year to year that only a few can actually flex to attempt to comply with.  

Support from the motorcycle industry is an absolute joke.  (Here's you free exhaust for the AMA Pro season...)

NASCAR understands that racing needs to have some amount of equality.  I'm sure that in belt sander racing, there is a set of reasonable and attainable rules that allow riders and builders to feel that there is some amount of fair play.  Can you afford the Ohlin's internals for your AMA Supersport bike?  Did you production bike come with them?  How about a $65,000 set of forks?  If you had the money, would anyone even sell them to you?  NASCAR wouldn't allow stuff like that.

Next, personalities...  NASCAR sure has a lot of them.  AMA Superbike?  I don't know Jordan Szoke from Sean Wyatt in the paddock, and I'm a motorcycle racer (ok, I know Sean at least...).

I think that TV came to NASCAR when they realized that all the things were in place.  It's entertainment.  

As for CCS and CCE....CCS racing is club level sportsman racing.  It's an event for the racer.  Why should CCE spend money on that?  If you want that to grow advertise for yourself.  

I'm not sure who was the first outside the industry sponsor was, but I'm sure that they were drawn to sponsoring the rider/driver because of something that they did that was different from everyone else...either a real winner, or an entertainer.  That's what creates growth.

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

NASCAR understands that racing needs to have some amount of equality.  I'm sure that in belt sander racing, there is a set of reasonable and attainable rules that allow riders and builders to feel that there is some amount of fair play.  Can you afford the Ohlin's internals for your AMA Supersport bike?  Did you production bike come with them?  How about a $65,000 set of forks?  If you had the money, would anyone even sell them to you?  NASCAR wouldn't allow stuff like that.

Yeah Napcar rules stay the same only if you run a Chevy. ::) Look at all the new "rules" put on the Intrepid because its faster than the MOnte Carlo because the Chevy camp cries like a school girl who had her lunch money stolen. Same thing happens to Ford but not as much as to Dodge. After Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison died in 93 I pretty much gave up on Napcar. kinda got interested again when Dodge returned but after they had to raise the spoiler, increase this, decrease that nearly EVERY WEEK, f-em. I've heard rumours Dodge might pull out of the Craftsman Truck Series because of this type of BS.

[Super Dave]

Look at all the new "rules" put on the Intrepid because its faster than the MOnte Carlo because the Chevy camp cries like a school girl who had her lunch money stolen....

It happens to everyone.  And there seldom are complete run aways.  Still comes down to strategy, working with team mates or others.  The teams are SUPPORTED by manufacturers, they are not manufacturer teams like in motorcycling.  Drivers are a commodoty for their driving as well as their image to the people.  Each team has a huge crew of people that are actually employed in the sport rather than borrowed family members or friends.  How about a purse?  What did Mladin win for a Superbike race recently?  Less than Larry Denning usually wins at a club race.

When the AMA takes motorcycle racing seriously, maybe someone else could too.

At least Ford makes a car that they "race" that actually can be bought with a V-8.

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

At least Ford makes a car that they "race" that actually can be bought with a V-8.

Well new from Dodge is the 2005 Dodge Intrepid Charger (new name for the INtrepid) is that it will be a V8 (5.7Hemi? ;D) and something the Taurus and Monte Carlo doesnt have, REAR WHEEL DRIVE!!!! ;D Now if its availible with a manual tranny it will be PERFECT. ;D

[Steviebee]

When's the last time you saw speed boat racing on speed? Or a motocross event? or mud bog racing?

NASCAR is a cancer....

saw the speed boat races sunday morning waiting for the 250GP  :)

[Super Dave]

NASCAR is not cancer...

NASCAR is MARKETABLE!  They worked very hard to get to where they are, and that's good for racing in general.  It at least makes "racing" a legitimate career rather than a daredevil thing.

Additionally, it has local events almost everywhere.  It's a nationwide industry.  I sell a whole lot more Power Mist Racing Fuel to oval track guys than I do motorcycle racers.  They stay in the sport longer, have better sponsorship because of the exposure and the marketing work that they do.  They are also pretty knowledgeable about set up and tuning.  

The motorcycle racing industry is often made up of teams that don't pay bills that are gone in a matter of a couple years and some of the supporters of the sport are only financial backers (Jardeen Exhausts on HRC bikes?) rather than actual product backers.  Some supporters only sell hyped up things to unsuspecting new racers.  Take their money, the rider goes away, and then you have a new crop to cultivate.  That kind of treatment and disrespect would not be tolerated in other racing worlds.

I am a motorcycle road racer, have been for a long time, and I know that it sucks.  I am lucky enough to have found the right people along the way that helped me know what I needed to know.  And that's not to say that along the way that I didn't waste a lot of money...I got that too.