Back to ABC

[disko]

I commend VS on great timed trials coverage. IndyCar is enjoyable again to watch. Now for the motherload and back to ABC. I am cringing to sit through 4 hours of Goodyear and Reid. I sat through 26 hours of arute and it was palatable.

CHeever will be back in the booth this year. Anybody else feeling queezy going into the Sunday broadcast with Goodyear and Reid?

[SarahFan]

I commend VS on great timed trials coverage. IndyCar is enjoyable again to watch. Now for the motherload and back to ABC. I am cringing to sit through 4 hours of Goodyear and Reid. I sat through 26 hours of arute and it was palatable.

CHeever will be back in the booth this year. Anybody else feeling queezy going into the Sunday broadcast with Goodyear and Reid?


its one of the reasons I decided to attend this year...

[methanolHuffer]

Goodyear has been hard to listen to. In years past it always seemed as though he was always trying to remind the audience that he "was a race car driver too!" as if he was genuinely worried that people have forgotten about him.

I don't know if he has been broken of that little annoyance or if the production staff could possibly stop making him sound so goofy.

Sam Posey was never so weird, but some people were turned off by him, too.

[EagleEye]

I believe the same productions company is producing the Versus and ABC programming.

I will say Versus has been top notch...now if we could do something with Dave Calabro.

Some Dave'isms:

"Hot Wheel cars, love um, I remember the Johnny Lighting car they had........" Johnny Lighting cars competed with Hot Wheel cars...

"We have now have perfect conditions on the track..." as winds gusted up to 30mph......

And too many more to list....

[coogmaster]

Dave Calabro: "...aaaand, hhheeere they come. Wwwatch 'em work, watch 'em work."

[dataman1]

On the first day of Quals good ole Dave announced the wrong driver for 2 laps into the guy's qualification run. Way to go Dave!

[methanolHuffer]

Central Indiana regional media must be the worst I've ever seen.
I truly love living here, but the only thing worse than WTHR is FOX59.

It used to be humorous, now they're unbearable.

Dave 'the king' Wilson still needs a job, though. He'd be a good personality if he wasn't such a prima donna.

[Will Rogers]

I always wonder who these old goats are sleeping with that they get and keep these jobs despite their being so bad.

The only person worse than Scott Goodyear is Robbie Buel. He's racing's version of Dizzy Dean without the personality.

Eddie Cheever is fine, Jon Beekhuis is great.

[SoCalPVguy]

Eddie Cheever is fine,

I think Eddie Under-A. Cheever is really annoying. He wasn't nearly as a good a driver as he'd like you to believe and his phony "Madona-esque" european accent, on a native US American, is grating.

[methanolHuffer]

I think Eddie Under-A. Cheever is really annoying. He wasn't nearly as a good a driver as he'd like you to believe and his phony "Madona-esque" european accent, on a native US American, is grating.

I don't think he had any friends as a child - just lots and lots of money. Definitely didn't get his rides on merit.

[chuck34]

I think Eddie Under-A. Cheever is really annoying. He wasn't nearly as a good a driver as he'd like you to believe and his phony "Madona-esque" european accent, on a native US American, is grating.

I believe he grew up in Rome and lived there most of his life. Give the guy a bit of credit. But not too much, he does seem like a bit of an @ss from time to time.

[disko]

yea, but cheever has his face on the borg warner.

[NickFalzone]

If having Cheever in the booth means Goodyear and Reid talking less, than I'm all for it.

[dataman1]

I think Eddie Under-A. Cheever is really annoying. He wasn't nearly as a good a driver as he'd like you to believe and his phony "Madona-esque" european accent, on a native US American, is grating.

He was raised in Italy as a child through his teens which likely explains the accent.

He also raced in more formula 1 races than any other American.

[Chamoo]

Cheever, whether you like him or hate him, brings some life to the ABC booth. I wish ABC would run him in every ABC race this year so we aren't put to sleep. Also, Cheever won't BS you. He'll call it the way he sees it.

[Wade91]

I believe the same productions company is producing the Versus and ABC programming.

I will say Versus has been top notch...now if we could do something with Dave Calabro.

Some Dave'isms:

"Hot Wheel cars, love um, I remember the Johnny Lighting car they had........" Johnny Lighting cars competed with Hot Wheel cars...

"We have now have perfect conditions on the track..." as winds gusted up to 30mph......

And too many more to list....
yeah, i think versus has great covorage, its been nice to have time trials covored all on one channel instead of three diffront ones

[methanolHuffer]

I'd like to find that brief exchange between Daly and Cheever that was on a morning radio program several years back. Probably Q95.
Daly really is a different beast when confronting someone that nearly killed him on the track.

If there's an audio link to that - let me know.

[PA Rick]

He also raced in more formula 1 races than any other American.

Grands Prix = 143
Championship Points = 70
Podium Finishes = 9
Number of Wins = Priceless, I mean Winless

[garyshell]

Grands Prix = 143
Championship Points = 70
Podium Finishes = 9
Number of Wins = Priceless, I mean Winless


Winless, Clueless and Classless.

Gary

[DBell]

Grands Prix = 143
Championship Points = 70
Podium Finishes = 9
Number of Wins = Priceless, I mean Winless

Although Cheever drove some dreadful F1 cars, he can't say he never had his chance. He partnered Alain Prost at Renault in 1983. Prost had 4 wins and finished second by 2 points to Nelson Piquet for the WDC. Eddie won 0 races and finished a distant seventh.

I was disappointed in him when he first came to CART. I thought given a chance in competitive equipment he would get in CART he'd be better than he turned out to be. An average driver who would show flashes of speed on occasion, imho.

[Gluaistean]

I'd like to find that brief exchange between Daly and Cheever that was on a morning radio program several years back. Probably Q95.
Daly really is a different beast when confronting someone that nearly killed him on the track.

If there's an audio link to that - let me know.


I'd like to hear that too. Daly can be annoying at times but I'd love to hear him have a go at Cheever. Between Daly and Eddie Jordan they established themselves well in the racing world having come from nothing. Daly literally slept in a banged up bus to save a few dollars while he found venues to race. He brought Candy to Williams and was as competitive as Rosberg but you know how the story goes with Frank.

As for the commentary, as long as Arute is off as much as possible I really don't care. His ending of a statement causes me to have to run to the bathroom everytime with that dumb inflection. Goodyear will mention "do you know these guys are going at over 200mph side by side" at least every ten laps. And, many mentions of princess Danica.

For anyone that missed it, there is a great video of Sarah Fisher on the John Stewert show. She is a sponsors delight.

[elis]

Meh, I'll no doubt get lambasted but who cares. Praise Versus all you like if you were one of the privilaged few who could actually watch any on track action this month.. but for those considerable numbers outside of the USA who have to rely on the web, & have seen nothing of importance, due to the blocking out of all on line streaming, then frankly it was an unmitigated disaster, to the point that personally I'm past caring about this event, which is saying alot given I'm an avid, long time OWR ran.

Zero access to any build up = muted/curtailed interest, & abject frustration. If the indy car series wanted to alienate fans from enjoying this allegedly 'biggest spectacle', .. then way to go.. mission accomplished.


Epic fail. (for a huge section of fans) :(

[garyshell]

Ellis,

"Blocking out of all on line streaming..." what are you referring to? Are you not able to see any of the streaming from IndyCar.com?

What about "Indycar Race Control"? They are not charging for access to it this year? It does not have the day to day streaming that is on IndyCar.com though.

Gary

[elis]

Ellis,

"Blocking out of all on line streaming..." what are you referring to? Are you not able to see any of the streaming from IndyCar.com?

What about "Indycar Race Control"? They are not charging for access to it this year? It does not have the day to day streaming that is on IndyCar.com though.

Gary

Hey Gary, I'm specifically talking about blocking out the important stuff this month. There was some streaming for Indy 500 practice sessions but as soon as the important stuff came up, like pole day, qualifying day, this mornings carb day practice (& IL race) online coverage was immediately axed.

Some folks found 'illegal' online streaming channels of the Versus broadcasts, but one by one they were closed down due to 'copyright' issues. It seemed someone from Versus IT was dispatched to seek out & destroy, thus denying international (& some US) fans any access to coverage whatsoever.

I'm assuming it was a prerequisite in the contracts that indycar.com could not stream any live feed that versus was airing, but this was a serious slap in the chops for a great many fans.

Even IMS Radio was only live intermitently & frequently was off air for 'archiving'. It makes it nye on impossible to follow stuff, & frustration levels are pretty high when you want to see what's happening on track yet have the 'rug' yanked from under you just when you need/want it most :(

[peasant]

Hey Gary, I'm specifically talking about blocking out the important stuff this month. There was some streaming for Indy 500 practice sessions but as soon as the important stuff came up, like pole day, qualifying day, this mornings carb day practice (& IL race) online coverage was immediately axed.

Some folks found 'illegal' online streaming channels of the Versus broadcasts, but one by one they were closed down due to 'copyright' issues. It seemed someone from Versus IT was dispatched to seek out & destroy, thus denying international (& some US) fans any access to coverage whatsoever.

I'm assuming it was a prerequisite in the contracts that indycar.com could not stream any live feed that versus was airing, but this was a serious slap in the chops for a great many fans.

Even IMS Radio was only live intermitently & frequently was off air for 'archiving'. It makes it nye on impossible to follow stuff, & frustration levels are pretty high when you want to see what's happening on track yet have the 'rug' yanked from under you just when you need/want it most :(

If you discover the word torrent and add some patience you might be happier.

[elis]

If you discover the word torrent and add some patience you might be happier.

uh huh... 'cause trawling round the web to seek out coverage of pole day/quali day/ bump day well after it's all done, dusted, & reported is simply 'marvellous'... not to mention a totally tip top way to encourage fans to get excited about the 'big' event. *eyebrow raised stare*

If that's your bag then knock yourself out.. but personally watching stuff after the fact is pretty irrelevent & totally diminishes the enjoyment & suspense.

Each to their own, but I've every 'right' to be disappointed, along with thousands of other indy car fans who were denied access to the important action. (check out the scores of similar comments across the internet racing forums/ics threads).

The point maybe went over your head.. Indycar's website aired live but 'irrelevent' streaming of fans mooching in the paddock etc during off track moments, but the lights went out for on track activity.... By switching off live streaming of the important on track sessions, Indy Car alienated a HUGE section of loyal fans, who they know RELY on the website feed.

Like I said previously, no doubt its contractual with versus, nothing is as black & white as we'd wish, but to countless disappointed & let down fans, it leaves a justifiably sour taste.

[JSH]

Looks like only way I can watch live here in Germany is with Premiere($$$$).... doesn't matter. Gonna be stuck in a traffic jam all day and night anyway..

[Mad_Hatter]

Ten minutes into coverage and I'm wondering who Dario Fran-ketty is...

[garyshell]

Isn't he the guy who says the line "they're magically delicious" in one of the commercials we just saw? ...big ol' grin...

Gary

[nigelred5]

Painful to listen to is all I can say. It reminds me why I've rarely watched IRL races in the past. There has actually been some good action. But listening to reed and Goodyear has just been painful.

[beachbum]

Painful to listen to is all I can say. It reminds me why I've rarely watched IRL races in the past. There has actually been some good action. But listening to reed and Goodyear has just been painful.
I listened to the radio with timing and scoring up and the in car cameras and left ABC in the background. What little I heard of the ABC coverage made me wonder if they were watching the same race. They certainly didn't cover anything other that their "favored" drivers. If they fawn all over Danica anymore, they need to change their name to the ABCD network. She ran a good race, but there are other drivers out there. They sure missed a lot of action.

But what about an Indy where all but one driver running at the end was on the lead lap? Even Milka shouldn't have been a lap down, but she was caught out by the one yellow and a slow stop.

I do hope Vitor is ok as that was a hard hit.

[edv]

What was up with that in-car shot with telemetry? I could not understand the 'Steering' graphic....I mean, we could see the actual steering wheel being steered. What a stupid thing to show! Oh and the throttle at a constant 100% was also very illuminating. NOT

[Mark in Oshawa]

yea, but cheever has his face on the borg warner.


There is a reason for that...LACK OF COMPETITION. 100 years from now, they will put asterisks on the 96 to 2000 winners because the depth of field in this era was pitiful. Sorry guys, I wont back down from that one when Penske, Ganassi, Green and Newman-Haas were not there and had the top drivers at the time. Eddie couldn't beat any of them straight up and HE KNOWS it.

This broadcast was awful, but I came to the conclusion that the announcers are just a small part of the problem. Someone in management makes the call on how they are going to cover this race, and they just focus on the front 4 plus Danica. There was racing in the midfield, with Tagliani running from 33rd to 11th at one point and not once did they even show his CAR. Tracy and Patrick had a few interesting battles. We never saw them really. Townsend Bell was a huge story, but we didn't really see him. He was mentioned when it was impossible to ignore him but it was in passing.

AS for the women, well if You tuned in after the race started, you would only think there was one woman if you were not paying really close attention, yet Sarah and Milka didn't hit anyone, didn't cause any trouble, and in the case of Sarah, hung onto that lead lap. She had a heck of a race in a team that might have a thimble full of money compared to the Andretti Green resources, yet she was barely acknowledged.

I have said this before. If Danica were not the hot little number in a bikini, they would not give her the fawning coverage, and it bothers me. If I am watching the HOOTERS bikini contest, Great, bring it on, but when I am watching racing, cover her as a racer. Does she have the talent or doesn't she? Show her mistakes and show me her successes. When you balance that with all the other drivers, she is NOT worthy of the time they waste telling me how she is doing. She did well yes, but she was NOT the story, but I always felt ABC wanted her to be the story. IF not for the nice drama of Helio being able to beat the IRS ( again, I was aware of that 15 times by the time he took the checkers ), they wouldn't have done anything but dwell on Danica.

It is nauseating to watch ABC/ESPN coverage, and as I said above, I think it is time to blame the directors and producers. I think the "talent" is just doing what they are told to do. I think Goodyear can be weak, but he worked well with Cheever. Arute seems like he is not dumbing down things as much as he used to and he didn't tick me off, so I will give the talent a fair rating this year....

[NickFalzone]

Mark, I agree. I find ABC's production to be awful, yesterday's race was not the most exciting 500 ever, but there was a lot of action in the middle of the pack. ABC doesn't cover where the action is, they're either airing commercials or having Goodyear and Reid talk about the top 4, that's about the entire broadcast and it stinks. With VS they do a nice job of covering the entire field. Part of that I guess is the directing, but also the announcers are specifically looking and pointing out moves farther back in the pack. When the announcers do that, the director/camera people have to cut to those drivers. But Reid and Goodyear just drone on and on about BS and the top 4. Zzzzzzz.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Mark, I agree. I find ABC's production to be awful, yesterday's race was not the most exciting 500 ever, but there was a lot of action in the middle of the pack. ABC doesn't cover where the action is, they're either airing commercials or having Goodyear and Reid talk about the top 4, that's about the entire broadcast and it stinks. With VS they do a nice job of covering the entire field. Part of that I guess is the directing, but also the announcers are specifically looking and pointing out moves farther back in the pack. When the announcers do that, the director/camera people have to cut to those drivers. But Reid and Goodyear just drone on and on about BS and the top 4. Zzzzzzz.

Reid, Cheever and Goodyear knew there was no point. They brought up Tags moving up. The did mention Bell, and the camera cut to the leaders. They talked about Tags and no one in the truck picked up on it. The boys in the booth I suspect couldn't stray off the "message" that someone decided on because the only pictures we were going to see was the leaders and Danica wherever she was.