If you will foot the bill to launch and maintain an all-live drag racing, all the time TV network, I'll promise to watch.

It must be the name thing but you're 100% right Wayne!!!

ESPN2 DID IT RIGHT TODAY!!!

We need a dedicated racing channel!!!!

That's pretty damn amazing, especially on 97%. What was Mitch Meyers record? It was a 5.10 also, right?

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"I got a fever, and the only prescription... is more cowbell!"

Buell's and Hardley's suck!

Well, Dave Despain told me who won so I guess I 'll not bother taping.
I guess if you're on the west coast, the timing won't be bad. What can they do?
Espn did a good job today.

I agree with one thing though, that I think is being said: in the era of hundreds of cable channels, certainly we can find one that actually wants to show our favorite sport

I couldn't care less about watching a show live if it means that I won't get to see the entire thing. And then have to come back 6 hrs later! They should have just started the program later on tonight and presented the entire show. This is one sport where oil downs are going to happen, and, therefore, delays. I think the NHRA is doing too much to cater to this TV thing and it is at the expense of the racers (75 min rule?). They put undue pressure on the teams to "hurry up cuz we're on live TV!". Sooner or later this will lead to an accident.

Eh. Blame the rain, not ESPN. You sure you wanted to sit and listen to Paul Page, Mike Dunn, Dave Rieff and Gary Gerould try and fill air during the turnaround?

I know some of you actually go to races sometimes. Last race I went to I spent so much time at the track (and don't get me wrong I loved it) but after my Vegas trip in October I realized the benefits of taped racing.

At first, I was like, naaaaw, just cut five minutes into 'Baseball Tonight' but, yeah, I'm on the West Coast, so I just hung out til the coverage came back at 10 p.m. PST and watched the last half hour. I guess maybe it's still the newb level of addiction I have, but, I want to watch drag racing coverage and will take it when I can get it and how I can get it.

I missed the Gatornationals eliminations entirely, DVRd it, watched a few days later, zipped through the commercials and loved it even though I knew the results.

Before I went to Vegas in the fall I was all up in ESPN2's grill about delays and stuff. But after sitting at the track three hours after the qualifying rounds were supposed to end due to circumstances beyond the NHRA's control, I was all for TV coverage how we get it. 99 percent of the time at least.

I, too, am impressed with the job that Versus has done with the NHL. Also, while I am not one who particularly likes bicycle racing, those who do have told me the network does an excellent job with that sport as well. The only problem I see with Versus is that the network isn't as widely available as ESPN 2.

However, if the NHRA were to move to a network that would give it a regular timeslot then I think it would also behoove the powers that be in Glendora to rethink ways to showcase the sport on television. For instance, it would be smart to add a race or two to the schedule in order to eliminate the three week gap that now exists so that there would be no more than two weeks between races. Second, just as NASCAR has the Busch and Craftsman truck series to supplement the Nextel Cup series, the NHRA also needs a series to fill the television gap on those weekends when there are no Powerade series races scheduled. An example of this might be a hypothetical Full Throttle Series that showcased Top Alcohol dragsters, Top Alcohol funny cars and pro mods. Like NASCAR, we would then have drag racing every weekend from February to November.

Finally, since every major sport has an all-star event (including NASCAR) it would probably not be a bad idea to move the Top Fuel Shootout, Skoal Showdown, King Demon Crown, and Ringers Glove Pro Bike Battle to a single weekend - perhaps held with a similar event for the hypothetical "Full Throttle Series" event I mentioned above - and hold it at a different track each year.

That's my two cents. Of course in the end that two cents won't buy too much since the current contract with ESPN still has several years to go.

Again, I find myself defending ESPN.
They were running the semi-final rounds live (even ran over a bit, I think). How would you expect them to hold the audience for another 2 hours (minimum). We got our finals at a reasonable hour (at least if you adjusted your TIVO)

Would you have stayed all day at Houston on the CHANCE they might have a round of Saturday qualifying? ESPN did. I was surprised they even DID a show Saturday.

ESPN recognized the potential weather problems before Friday's sessions ran and did full video coverage of Fridays qualifying so they were assured of having video for the qualifying show Saturday, even if it rained all day Saturday, which it did. The guy who told me all that was Paul Page, who was watching Friday's action very intently.

Give 'em a break - they have more money invested in and derive more revenue from their baseball coverage than they do from drag racing and yesterday was the opening day of the baseball season.

ESPN website reporter Terry Blount was at the event all weekend. Between Terry and Bill Stevens, you can expect to find a lot of good drag racing-oriented articles in the "Other Racing" category on ESPN.com. Yes, NASCAR will still dominate their motorsports coverage and the major stick-and-ball sports will continue to dominate the weekly on-air coverage, but drag racing is not being thrown under the bus and the people doing drag racing coverage are doing a pretty good job of it.

Just my opinion, of course.

Speed just needs to add Speed2 and give live events priority over anything else on schedule. Still do time delay tapings so that they can edit (especially in the case of drag racing, because nobody really wants to watch the safety safari for 2/3 of the event on TV).

Surely between 2 dedicated motorsports channels, you could get all your Nascar, Cart, IRL, NHRA, WoO, and highspeed walking championship coverage in without cutting someone short. You'd also have slots for the regular shows. Sure, I'd have to bump up on the next tier of Dish to have coverage, but get it all of ESPN's less than perfect for everyone coverage and give it a shot.

Hey, who cares if we have HD, and good camera images - as long as we get to see it, right?

DLB

I'm with the ESPN2 supporters on this one. Face it, it was the opening game of the baseball season. Like it or not, there's a hell of a lot more people that were going to tune in for that, then to sit and watch a live NHRA event (that immediately had an oil down), which can be horribly unpredictable as to how long it will run. There's no way in hell we were going to win this battle, but ESPN2 pre-empted the poker after the ballgame, to finish the broadcast. Somewhere on this very internet, there's a poker message board (PokerMater.com maybe? ) that has a group of disgruntled poker fans complaining about how they got screwed by a bunch of cars that "just go straight", and that ESPN2 is the worst network ever even though they actually step up to show the sport(?) they love so much. In my perfect world, they would've stayed live with it, and shown the sportsman runs too, but I'll watch those in tape delay in the next week or so, and love it - 'cause I could've not seen it at all.

Now, let's all go have some ice cream.

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StockersRock

You can still have 1/4 mile racing if you don't go get a hot dog after the fuel classes.

Post of the millenium!

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NAPA Nitro Fan!

If you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!

Seconded, Kelly, seconded.

And regarding this thread.....

I'm glad it was on that late. It allowed me time to get home and set up the dvr to record it.

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If you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!