The Frontstretch Newsletter: 2 More Sprint Cup Rooks Signed For 2016

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THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Dec. 15, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CCXVIII

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What to Watch: December 15-21

- After a couple of weeks to unwind, we are starting our driver reviews today, now packaged under the banner of NASCAR Rewind.  The format is a little different this year, a little more freeform.  We hope you like it.  We'll have a schedule for the Driver Reviews up at Frontstretch in the near future.

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This week's TV Schedule can be found here.

Top News

by the Frontstretch Staff

Brian Scott Takes Richard Petty Motorsports Cup Ride for 2016

On Friday, Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Brian Scott will take over the No. 9 Ford full-time in 2016, replacing Sam Hornish, Jr.  Twisted Tea will return as a sponsor for the team.  Read more

Chris Buescher Moves to Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports

On Thursday, Front Row Motorsports announced a new partnership with Roush Fenway Racing.  As a result, 2015 XFINITY Series Champion will return to the No. 34 with his crew chief Scott Graves, while still under contract with RFR.  Read more

Have news for The Frontstretch?  Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.a...@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.

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The Critic's Annex: 48th Snowball Derby

by Phil Allaway

Welcome back, chaps.  Hope you're enjoying the offseason.  On December 6th, Five Flags Speedway hosted the 48th Running of the Snowball Derby.  Bob Dillner's Speed51.com provided live coverage of the entire weekend via their Speed51TV online pay-per-view service.  I did not subscribe to the whole four days of coverage, but I did pay my $29.99 to purchase the broadcast of the pre-race and race telecast.

The $29.99 got viewers roughly two hours of pre-race coverage.  Here, the main story was how Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek got DQ'd from qualifying on Friday night due to a measurement violation.  Dillner filed the report with interviews with both drivers and grandmaster of technical inspection, Ricky Brooks.  It was a relatively minor issue, but Speed51 did a great job covering the issue.

What didn't get covered as well as it probably should have on the pre-race broadcast was the Saturday action.  Remember, not everyone anted up the $59.99 for the four-day pass.  There should have been detailed highlights of the Snowflake 100, and the last chance race.  As it stands, I didn't see much in the way of highlights of the Snowflake, but there were some highlights of the last chance race (mainly centered around Bell's charge).

Speed51TV had two pit reporters for the day in Jana Wimmer and Lenny Batcyki.  Both of them did quite well, despite the noise.  However, there were constant issues with Batcyki's microphone that decreased his usefulness.  I don't know if it was battery issues or what, but it really hurt his output.  Despite those issues, Batcyki maintained a positive attitude through it all.

During the race, there was a good amount of input from the pit reporters in regards to information, but not so much interview-wise.  That's partially because there weren't that many wrecks.  We did get an interview with Noah Gragson after he crashed out where he revealed that he suffered a wrist injury in the crash.

In addition to providing the play-by-play on the broadcast, Dillner also helped with driver introductions.  Every driver got some airtime on the pre-race show, which was quite useful.  For an event like the Snowball Derby, a number of the drivers are not necessarily household names.

Race coverage-wise, I'll be comparing this event to the other pay-per-view race I critiqued this year, ARCA's Federated Car Care Fall Classic at Salem Speedway.  While that broadcast was put on by the sanctioning body, the production values could be considered comparable.

 

Both telecasts featured a decent amount of racing for position and some decent commentary.  In Pensacola, it was Dillner and Adam Mackey in the booth and they compliment each other well.  Then again, we're talking about a finished product after the duo had shared the booth for the previous three days.

When I was watching the Speed51TV broadcast, the screen did freeze up a few times, but it ultimately wasn't much of an issue.  The whole broadcast didn't crash at any time, which was a problem at Salem.  Timing and scoring was up for the whole race, which definitely helps Speed51's case.  With the ARCA race, that was an ongoing problem all night that screwed up what would have been a superior experience to what Speed51TV was offering.

 

Despite no timing and scoring issues, I was constantly having to count laps on my own and keep tabs on positions.  There was an intermittent lap counter on the screen, but it always showed the previous lap completed and not what lap the cars were on.  That took a little getting used to.  While I didn't come into the broadcast expecting a ticker/scroll, I was expecting some more updates on positions.  I felt less informed about portions of the race than I would have been if I had been in Pensacola, watching from the stands.  

 

For the race itself, you're roughly paying what you would have paid for a ticket if you were in Pensacola.  Was the telecast designed to make you want to make the trip and not get the pay--per-view?  I'm not sure.  Traveling to a place like Pensacola for me is not exactly feasible.  Not the easiest place to get to from New York, especially when I'm already covering the Rolex 24 on-site.

One of the significant downsides of the broadcast was that there were no replays shown during the race of anything (my understanding is that it might be a special feature only for those with monthly or yearly subscriptions to Speed51TV.  That can create some problems.  For example, Chase Elliott took the lead in the first couple of laps from pole sitter Ty Majeski.  A couple of laps later, while the Speed51TV cameras were showing some other action, Majeski took the lead back from Elliott.  I have no idea how it happened.  It just happened.  The booth didn't really make much of a note of it either.

 

The lack of replays hurt even more when it came to the actual incidents.  Compared to previous Snowball Derbies, the wrecks were far and few between, but the lack of replays meant that the booth really couldn't describe what happened to the viewers very well.  Yes, it's like being at the race, but if I'm watching at home, I want more than that.  I could insinuate that Kyle Grissom and Augie Grill came together to cause the first wreck, but that's only because Grill got out of his car and was rather upset with Grissom.

 

Post-race coverage was relatively brief.  Viewers got interviews with the top 3 finishers, plus Nemechek, who ran well before mechanical issues and a fire knocked him out.  There was also a check of the unofficial results before the broadcast ended.

Of course, as you all know, Bell got DQ'd again before we could even get the race recap online.  There was no coverage of post-race inspection on the broadcast because it ended before the inspection really began.  I only realized that the dreaded DQ was being thrown around when I checked Speed51's live feed.  For future Snowball Derby telecasts, my suggestion would be to keep the cameras running for much longer since technical inspection seems to play such a big role in the outcome these days (remember, four of the last ten winners (on-track) of the Snowball Derby have been DQ'd in post-race inspection).

As far as I'm concerned, the teams might gripe about it (they don't want their trade secrets given away), but they cannot stop such coverage.  There is always the possibility that Brooks might object to coverage like that, though.  The man's meticulous and might grouse about the cameras being in the way.

 

Overall, I did like the telecast.  The action was pretty good, although I will admit that I thought Bell was going to get DQ'd two-thirds of the way through the race.  Just had the feeling.  I had never previously seen a broadcast of the race, just clips here or there, dating all the way back to when Tammy Jo Kirk won back in 1994 (Trivia Fact: Today, Kirk owns and operates Kirk's Cycle, a Honda motorcycle dealership in Georgia).  I generally enjoyed the race.  The lack of replays did hurt the broadcast because it decreased my awareness of everything going on, which bites when you're talking about a race you're not at.

As far as I'm concerned, I would treat the broadcast as a start and a lesson.  There are aspects of the broadcast that can be improved for 2016 that I've listed above.  Technology-wise, they're likely beyond what ARCA put on for Salem, but they need to make better use of their graphical technology.  The on-air crew is good.  If possible, keep everyone involved.  Having two pit reporters definitely helps.  Matt Weaver was a bit overwhelmed working solo at Salem, despite doing quite well in his pit reporting debut.

 

That's all for this week.  Next week, we'll be looking at CBS Sports Network's tape-delayed coverage of the Syracuse 200 that premiered on Sunday.  Until then, have fun, everyone.

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.  He can be reached via e-mail at phil.a...@frontstretch.com. 

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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:

2015 NASCAR Rewind: AJ Allmendinger

by Aaron Bearden

 

2015 NASCAR Rewind: Justin Allgaier

by Beth Lunkenheimer

 

2015 NASCAR Rewind: Aric Almirola

by Clayton Caldwell

 

2015 NASCAR Rewind: Trevor Bayne

by Kevin Rutherford

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:  In the 1980's, the Winston West Series held a number of road races in addition to the Riverside and Sears Point races in conjunction with Winston Cup.  The venues included two street courses. Where were these street races?

Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!

Friday's Answer:

Q:  In the mid-to-late 1990's, Tucson Raceway Park (now Tucson Speedway) was a hotbed of racing activity in the winter months with the NASCAR Winter Heat Series.  Which three series headlined the first series in the winter of 1994-1995?

A: The three series were the NASCAR SuperTrucks Series by Craftsman (still officially in the demonstration/exhibition phase), the Southwest Tour and the Winston West Series.  The Winston West Series event, which wrapped up the series, was the 1995 season opener.

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COMING THIS WEEK AT FRONTSTRETCH:
We'll have a number of driver reviews this week, starting with the four listed above that are running today.  In addition, we'll have a wrap-up edition of Couch Potato Tuesday and more.

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