Brienne Pedigo MUST GO!

[BradCA1]

My two cents...

ABC/ESPN has taken alot of heat over the years for their coverage of the Indy Cars. I've always felt the heat was unwarranted. Until now.

Brienne Pedigo has absolutely no business being in front of a camera at the local go-kart track, let alone a major auto race. Her interview of Graham Rahal in victory lane was atrocious, painful to watch. If TG or ESPN, or whoever signs her checks insists that she gets airtime, make sure it isn't during one of the biggest moments in OW racing in the last 10 years. Graham's win is monumental for US Indycar racing and she completely botched the interview.

Who in this forum doesn't want to see her replaced by Jon Beekhuis?

The Reid/Goodyear combo in the booth is awful as well...the only problem is I don't know who could replace them? Bob Jenkins would be ok as play-by-play again. I think Townsend Bell or Scott Sharp, once they retire would be a big improvement over Goodyear.

Come on ABC/ESPN...with the unified series ready to move forward and win back the fans it lost, you must vastly improve on the poor TV product you've showcased the last 2 weeks.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Bring back Jamie Little. Also Jerry Punch is awesome as a pit reporter. Heck even Gary Gerrould is great. Anyone is better than the nepotism child Brienne Pedigo (her dad owns part of Panther racing).

I think Vince Welch is great also.

[cartpix]

The Reid/Goodyear combo in the booth is awful as well...

By the 10th lap, I think they told us Graham was 19 about 12 times. And the part about no traction control meant the drivers right foot was a computer. It was unbelievably bad.

Jeff

[Scheckterfan54]

First of all...I agree 100% with all of this! But...any ICS fan will remember the Todd Harris experiment. Aslong as they do not have a catch phrase for each race IE..."You want march madness, Ive got your march madness, 300 miles at Miami Homestead Speedway" they are already better than the previous lap by lap reporter...But Jon Beekhus must return, he is a great explainer to the middle of the road fans and we need someone in victory lane that the driver recognizes and would care to talk to, it looked like Rahal didnt ever know who pedigo was, let alone want to talk to her! she would be great reporting the nascar busch(oops!) nationwide series!

[NickFalzone]

I do not agree that Brianne is a step down from Jamie Little. That said, there are better female racing reporters like Wendy Venturini. The problem with Brianne, and to some extent Jack Arute, is that they both try for the "human" side of the sport, and it ends up coming off as schmaltzy and weak. Look at the NASCAR guys like Matt Yocum and Steve Byrnes. They get good answers out of the drivers, and treat it seriously. Old and new open-wheel fans tend to be serious about the racing. Does ABC really think that they will get more fans by treating the races as human interest stories? They need to focus on the racing, first and foremost, and the personalities will come through regardless. Give Helio a mic for 3 minutes and you've got entertainment. ABC tries to force everything with their stupid questions and lame segments (wtf was the yacht video doing in the middle of exciting green-flag racing?!). This was the same problem last season, instead of following the racing they try to make it into an entertainment program with all sorts of pre-produced video segments. I like the side-by-side, but in many ways the ABC IRL broadcast is even more condescending than NASCAR. At least if you take out the commercial breaks, NASCAR is mostly just the racing.

[NickFalzone]

As far as Goodyear and Reid, they're ok but not great. For whatever reason almost every race they tend to get distracted and miss great moments. Reid gets on these tangents and misses major passes and track excitement. Goodyear is better but seems half-asleep sometimes especially on-camera.

An alternate broadcast on yesterday's race (what is premiere live?) and note they even comment on RHR running out of fuel meanwhile me watching ESPN has no idea why RHR dropped from 3rd to 13th:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXGEoDJKdk

And did you know Graham did a burnout seconds after his win? Some guy with a cellphone got it, but apparently that was too complicated a shot for ESPN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLBMJ7PK9Pk

And here's cuts from another broadcast with voice-over done by the IMS radio guys who are usually spot-on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM67UcjuGmM

[SpeedyRB]

I think that Jan Beekhuis would be great as a color-commentator in the booth. (He's a good pit reporter but his talents are wasted there.)

One thing that impressed me about him last year when he called the CCWS races was his ability to explain different pit strategies as they occurred. When a yellow would come out he'd say "this is good for these cars, but exactly what these cars did not want to see." The ICS guys never said anything halfway as smart as this - watching the St Pete race was sometimes painful, whereas I always enjoyed the CCWS races (even if there wasn't much passing) because I had a much better idea of what was going on, thanks to Jan Beekhuis.

Having him call the ICS races would also please many CCWS fans and be another good sign of unification because he is associated with that series.

If you want to see Jan Beekhuis join the ICS broadcast team, say so in this thread:

http://www.indycar.com/news/talkback/topic.php?t=10469

[electron]

man, you guys do not know how lucky you are to have comentators like this!
I happend to watch ESPN over here in Germany since the alterantive is pay TV...
I sufferd with the German eurosport duo over the last couple of years in Champcar. Those guys (actually they called themselves "we are the guys team" every 5 minutes) are too hard to believe. They had their heydays like 10 years ago and for me they where the outspoken voices of Champcars decline with their babbling. So for me the ESPN commentary was a step up - LOL

which does not mean that there is no room for improvement

[beachbum]

Bring back Jamie Little. Also Jerry Punch is awesome as a pit reporter. Heck even Gary Gerrould is great. Anyone is better than the nepotism child Brienne Pedigo (her dad owns part of Panther racing).

I think Vince Welch is great also.

I second that. Brienne isn't the worst, and is getting better, but if they need a female reporter, there are many who can do a better job. Her 'insider' status doesn't seem to be that valuable. Sadly, in todays TV world, there is this notion that the announcers have to be "personalities", instead of focusing on the sport they report.

Gary Gerrould is a great guy and a real racing fan. I first saw him at the Daytona 200 motorcycle race almost 20 years ago. Instead of showing up the day of the race and getting a script from some producer, he was there all week before the race, sitting on the pit wall by himself watching every practice, talking to teams and riders, even fans, making his own notes. A real pleasant person to talk to and surprisingly knowledgeable. During the race, his reports were accurate and informative, unlike the much better known "color commentator". The lead announcer was regularly fed incorrect, even outlandish info from the teams just to see if he was gullable enough to put it on the air. He was.

At least that Rusty guy is gone and open wheel isn't stuck with a clown like DW.

[nanders]

Wally Dallenbach and Bill Weber did the best job I have seen in Open Wheel last year on the 2 races NBC did for the CCWS. Those two did a super professional job. Then get Jan Beekhuis to do pit lane and special commentary.

And bring in the "Nopi Chicks"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Guh3wC-c7EE