No Homestead Qualifying on ESPN!

[dironstarr]

I am PO'ed! I just checked the listings for ESPN & ESPN2 and there is no IRL Qualifying listed for either March 1st or 2nd! Not even a 1 AM tape delay. IRL2Day is listed for 12:30 PM on the 2nd though. I figured that with the IRL being the only series on ABC/ESPN we would at a minumum get the tape delay of qualifying.
This is not a way to increase expsoure, no matter how important you feel oval qualifying is. Is does make the teams, especially drivers, more known to the fans. Almost every driver gets a 15-30 seconds interview during qualifying, much more than a typical broadcast, this was a big factor in getting NASCAR drivers so popular with the casual fan, seeing and hearing the drivers. The qualifying show also serves as a way to build anticiaption to the race. Plus it keeps us more up to date on the weekend happenings. Another opportunity missed I am afraid.

[slinger]

ESPN is going to be saturated with college basketball at that time and that's a big hitter with them.March madness,remember?

[dironstarr]

Here is what is listed during prime tape delay spots, ther is NO WAY I can be conviced that Qualifying could not be fit in there:

ESPN2:
NBA 2NIGHT 12:00 am to 12:30 am
NHL 2NIGHT 12:30 am to 1:00 am
PARDON THE INTERRUPTION 1:00 am to 1:30 am
NBA 2NIGHT 1:30 am to 2:00 am
NHL COOL SHOTS 2:00 am to 2:30 am
UNSCRIPTED 2:30 am to 3:00 am
COLLEGE HOOPS TONIGHT 3:00 am to 4:00 am
NHL 2NIGHT 4:00 am to 4:30 am
KICK BOXING 4:30 am to 5:30 am
NHL 2NIGHT 5:30 am to 6:00 am
NBA 2NIGHT 6:00 am to 6:30 am
RPM 2NIGHT 6:30 am to 7:00 am

ESPN:
COLLEGE HOOPS TONIGHT 12:00 am to 1:00 am
SPORTSCENTER 1:00 am to 2:00 am
SPORTSCENTER 2:00 am to 3:00 am
WINTER X GAMES 3:00 am to 4:00 am
WINTER X GAMES 4:00 am to 5:00 am
FINAL 4 HIGHLIGHTS - 1981 5:00 am to 5:30 am
RACEHORSE DIGEST 5:30 am to 6:00 am

[slinger]

I gotta admit that's not exactly a compelling lineup.I don't know what I'd do if I had to miss kickboxing or the Winter X Games.

[racermike]

Again though, qualifying on ovals for both IRL and CART are the single most boring things you could ever watch.

People have a hard enough time tuning in now to see 20+ cars racing TOGETHER on an oval, much less having to deal with the agony of only one car at a time for 2 hours, where you really dont have any perspective on how fast the car really is (since there is nothing to compare it to). You can try to make up drama as you go, to make it look better, but oval qualifying is worse than golf on TV.

The one area where road racing has a definite edge, because you have everyone qualifying together, which CAN be very dramatic at times.

[cps]

Originally posted by racermike:
<STRONG>Again though, qualifying on ovals for both IRL and CART are the single most boring things you could ever watch.
....</STRONG>

Uhhhhhh?????? (or how ever Tim Allen would spell it)....

Speak for yourself! I'll watch the Quals over any other item in that lineup, and love every minute of it!!!

[ovals rule]

I typically watch the quals for the non qualifing segments.

I wonder if the new show "pit stop" might have put a cramp on the qualifing shows?

[JoeBob]

Suddenly, CART's deal to have practice and live qualifying on Speedvision isn't such a bad TV deal afterall, is it?

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by JoeBob:
<STRONG>Suddenly, CART's deal to have practice and live qualifying on Speedvision isn't such a bad TV deal afterall, is it?</STRONG>

Sure, for practice & quals it's great. It's having 2/3 of the races on SV that's murdering them and having them buy time on Fox and CBS so the sponsors don't leave.

As far as IRL qualifying, they should do it in reverse order of speeds - so that the fastest car goes last.

[dironstarr]

As I stated, it does not matter if you think Oval Qualifying is important or not. That is not the point.
The point is driver exposure. Every driver gets a 30 sec interview after they qualify. This exposes the drivers to fans, puts a face to the name. It is important to make the drivers seems more real to the fans. If all you see is a name and a helmet then it is hard to get a chance to relate to a driver. It is valuable exposure time wasted.

[Defender]

The REAL point is that ESPN is being a contrary child. Howard needs to go over to Bristol and roll some heads.

There is at least one person there with an ego that is more sizeable than the collective group along Big Beaver Road, off Exit 69, in Troy, Michigan.

Not only do they have ethics issues, they're now being stupid.

[buzzfan]

Why don't we start emailing ESPN about how we feel about this problem? I know I'm going to. They start getting a flood of emails and we may just get a response.

[mesquite-crk]

And this surprises anybody ??

When was the last time ESPN did anything for OW racing, outside of the race broadcast ??? And quals at 1:00 AM in the morning is not what I'm looking for, because only insomniacs and internet geeks would channel surf that late at night.

Seriously, I thought when both CART and the IRL were on ESPN, the reason they didn't heavily promote either was because of the impending loss of one of the series. But now that ESPN is all IRL, what's the hold-up ?? Don't they want to show off their horse to everybody ??

[rahalnut]

ABC/ESPN is the lesser of two evils.

[mnkywrch]

ABC/ESPN would promote open wheel racing if it:

a) got better ratings
b) made them more money
c) all of the above

As far as getting 10 out of 15 races on broadcast TV, it's great. But the IRL needs to promote the series, a heck of a lot more than they have, because ABC doesn't do it enough, and the IRL doesn't have enough corporate sponsors to do it for them, like NASCAR has.