Do any of you remember these days in NASCAR?

dpkimmel2001

dpkimmel2001

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I just saw a link to this YouTube video of the 1978 Daytona 500. What's the significance? This was the last Daytona 500 that was not broadcast in its entirety. Give it view for a few minutes to see how it used to be. I complain as much as the next fan when it comes to NASCAR's television coverage, excessive commercials, commentators and the like but we sure have it good these days even if we don't want to admit it.

 
When people throw a fit about a practice session being shown on delay I laugh because of how fortunate we are that so much non-race activity is shown live and in HD. When I was a kid we had a neighbor that looked forward to getting the paper delivered on Monday afternoon so he could see who won the race.
 
One thing about those days as compared to now. Back then, I really looked forward to televised races, looked forward to it like Christmas. Now? There's so much saturation with practice, news shows, testing, reruns, internet, everything else, I can miss a live race and not sweat it.
 
I recall the days when, the only reporting was in print media and in many locations, only if the media were within 100 miles of the track holding the event. Aside from the Daytona 500, the rest of the races were barely heard about. Thank goodness for Chris Economaki and his National Speed Sport News. Watching for the mailman on Thursday or Friday following the race was, to some, yesterdays news but current for me. No radio coverage where I lived and races were not on television yet. As much as I urinate and grumble over the Waltrip mouths, putting up with them is better than nothing. Think 1958 when I went to my first NASCAR race at Old Bridge, NJ and put it into perspective as far as coverage is concerned.
 
I started really following NASCAR in 2007, and it seems that a lot of people say thats when NASCAR has been at its worst. I never really understood the complaining, but cannot comment on it because I wasn't a huge fan several years ago. All I know is I'm pretty happy with the coverage and the racing (grant ya there will always be a few duds during the year).

It seems like people expect there to be 100% side by side heart pouding action from the drop of the green to the checker. I would love for someone to show me a major sport (big 4) that is thrilling from start to finish, just doesnt exisit.

I also feel as if NASCAR listens to their fans more than any other sport and constantly try to improve the race day and TV experience.

Like I said, I dont know what I missed but I am happy with how things are moving along.

(insert comment "30 years ago cars would beat and bang for 400 straight miles and not one driver would complain, they were real men doing real racing rabble rabble rabble")
 
And it ended with just two cars on the lead lap and fourteen cars DNFed.

The racing just isn't as good as it used to be... :sarcasm:
 
I am certainly remember the days the Daytona 500 was only shown in bits and pieces on Wide World of Sports. They'd typically break in with some updates, then show about the last 100 miles to the finish. So yes, as much as I complain about some of today's TV coverage, I certainly don't want to go back to that. But like VaDirt said, there is so much of the whole weekend on now that you really loose that anticipation of the actual race coming on.
 
MRM said:
I am certainly remember the days the Daytona 500 was only shown in bits and pieces on Wide World of Sports. They'd typically break in with some updates, then show about the last 100 miles to the finish. So yes, as much as I complain about some of today's TV coverage, I certainly don't want to go back to that. But like VaDirt said, there is so much of the whole weekend on now that you really loose that anticipation of the actual race coming on.
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Thats just how I remember it back in the 60's. About the only entire live race was the Indy 500.
If my dad allowed it on the one TV in the house I would be glued to the TV.
The only way I caught any Nascar stuff was on Wide World of sports because that's what dad had on.
I guess we are spoiled nowadays.
 
EI2IC said:
I also feel as if NASCAR listens to their fans more than any other sport and constantly try to improve the race day and TV experience.
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There's not much NASCAR can do about the TV networks. How they can't do side-by-side or another form of PIP for commercials is beyond me. NBC and ABC do it for IndyCar. ESPN does it for the Chase, TNT (the king of commercials) does that "Wide Open" thing at Daytona and FOX does it when they feel like doing it. Why they choose not to do it for every race is beyond me.
 
I bought an annual subscription to Winston Cup Scene to try and keep up with the news , but it was two weeks old by the time I got it.
 
I remember when they would show a little bit on "Wide World of Sports"...then switch over to Cliff Diving in Acapulco and my Dad would cuss up a storm :XXROFL:.
 
We sat on the carport and listened to the radio broadcast of each race. My father worked for a team so we kept up with most every race. ( today when the TV ticks me off I will go to radio. )
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I just saw a link to this YouTube video of the 1978 Daytona 500. What's the significance? This was the last Daytona 500 that was not broadcast in its entirety. Give it view for a few minutes to see how it used to be. I complain as much as the next fan when it comes to NASCAR's television coverage, excessive commercials, commentators and the like but we sure have it good these days even if we don't want to admit it.

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As a race fan that belongs to the group that, as kids, first watched NASCAR on TV on ABC's Wide World of Sports on Saturday afternoons, let me be the first to disagree, at least to a point.

Granted, the live coverage of every race that we have today is terrific. The commentators, with just a few exceptions, are OK and commercials can be considered a necessary evil, so to speak. However, imo, it's the coverage of the actual race itself that sucks.

Back in the day, as in the YouTube clip of the 1978 Daytona 500, they apparently could only afford to set up just a few cameras to cover the race action, which resulted in just one or two camera shots of the cars as they circled the track.

Usually they would use a long camera shot that would show numerous cars in a way that would allow you to constantly see the cars' relative position to each other. In other words, you could see the cars racing as if you were actually at the track.

Today, using more cameras than you can count, the cameras shots are usually too close up to see more than just a few cars and are constantly changing to the point that it's difficult to figure out where the cars are on the track, let alone their relative postion to each other.

And the cameras along the fence that give you the ZOOM - ZOOM - ZOOM effect only tells me that the broadcasters don't have a clue as to how to cover a race.

Well, that's all the time I've got as I've got to run out to the mailbox, pick my newspaper up off the driveway, and then dig out my Rand-McNally Road Atlas in preparation of the road trip I'm making later this week.

Anybody gotta stamp ?
 
ted@economy said:
I bought an annual subscription to Winston Cup Scene to try and keep up with the news , but it was two weeks old by the time I got it.
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:newbie:

One of the recent guys, huh? Why, Sonny, when I bought that paper, back then, it was called Grand National Scene and the best reporter was a chap named Joe Whitlock.
Just so's ya don't go getting the wrong idea and start thinkin' I had it easy, I carried a wood bucket to school, a five mile walk, uphill, both ways. On the way home from school stopped at the town water well, filled the bucket and and carried it home. YEP! Just like racin' from back in the day, them was the "good old days!"
 
Whizzer said:
:newbie:

One of the recent guys, huh? Why, Sonny, when I bought that paper, back then, it was called Grand National Scene and the best reporter was a chap named Joe Whitlock.
Just so's ya don't go getting the wrong idea and start thinkin' I had it easy, I carried a wood bucket to school, a five mile walk, uphill, both ways. On the way home from school stopped at the town water well, filled the bucket and and carried it home. YEP! Just like racin' from back in the day, them was the "good old days!"
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I remember when that town just had a brook.:D
 
Whizzer said:
:newbie:

One of the recent guys, huh? Why, Sonny, when I bought that paper, back then, it was called Grand National Scene and the best reporter was a chap named Joe Whitlock.
Just so's ya don't go getting the wrong idea and start thinkin' I had it easy, I carried a wood bucket to school, a five mile walk, uphill, both ways. On the way home from school stopped at the town water well, filled the bucket and and carried it home. YEP! Just like racin' from back in the day, them was the "good old days!"
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Tell me , did Joe Whitlock have a young wife who hung out at the tracks and was a bit of a cougar? Or am I thinking of someone else?
 
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