this still makes me emotional

jasn88cubs said:


espns good bye to nascar in 2000
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Don't get me started on Ned, Bob and Benny as they were the best. I would rather watch a standard definition ESPN Nascar broadcast from the 90's as opposed to any of the crap FOX and NBC have. Bob was the best broadcaster and even though Ned had been out of a car for years he could provide excellent analysis concisely. Benny was a hoot and added comedy and chemistry to the booth. Good stuff that will never return again.
 
no body can beat bob, benny or ned

also loved eli gold and buddy baker

ken squirer was great to

mike joy isnt bad but he really gets affected by dw and the fox crew

remember the days when espn would come on at noon, give a quick 5 miniute preview and hen teh green flag dropped?

much better than these 1 hr pre race shows
 
jasn88cubs said:
remember the days when espn would come on at noon, give a quick 5 miniute preview and hen teh green flag dropped?

much better than these 1 hr pre race shows
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I lived in the Central Time Zone then so the races came on at 11:00 and the cars were normally on the grid and sometimes already doing pace laps when ESPN signed on. Now if they say the green flag will drop at 1:16 it is still going to be later than that. Even though a lot of the races were longer they moved along at a good clip as they didn't have bogus cautions back then, for a time no pit road speeds, no free passes, scoring loops and a lot of the gimmicks they use today.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I lived in the Central Time Zone then so the races came on at 11:00 and the cars were normally on the grid and sometimes already doing pace laps when ESPN signed on. Now if they say the green flag will drop at 1:16 it is still going to be later than that. Even though a lot of the races were longer they moved along at a good clip as they didn't have bogus cautions back then, for a time no pit road speeds, no free passes, scoring loops and a lot of the gimmicks they use today.
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I'm not sure if pit road speed a gimmick. It seems like a pretty essential safety thing.
 
jasn88cubs said:
remember the days when espn would come on at noon, give a quick 5 miniute preview and hen teh green flag dropped?

much better than these 1 hr pre race shows
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Save yourself the aggravation and tune in at the scheduled green flag time. This weeks scheduled green flag (approx): 1:20pm/et. It's posted every single week on jayski's website.

Me, I like the pre race show along with the interviews. The post race as well.
 
ESPN did a lot of experimenting with racing coverage in those days. They were the first to put cameras in the car and on members of the pit crew.
 
The Nature Boy said:
I'm not sure if pit road speed a gimmick. It seems like a pretty essential safety thing.
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My bad as I did not mean pit road speeds were gimmicks. Poorly written on my part as with as much trouble as today's drivers have exiting and entering pit road at arcane speed limits it would be a bloodbath at speed so pit road speeds are necessary. Another thing today's drivers seem to have versus the older guys is bump drafting as they either do it on the wrong place on track, slam draft or hit the car in the wrong place.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Save yourself the aggravation and tune in at the scheduled green flag time. This weeks scheduled green flag (approx): 1:20pm/et. It's posted every single week on jayski's website.

Me, I like the pre race show along with the interviews. The post race as well.
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That is exactly what I do as if it is a 1:16 start I set the dvr for 1:20 and the yellow light is still on the pace car. With technology being what it is today it is very easy to see what you like and skip what you don't.
 
Zerkfitting said:
ESPN did a lot of experimenting with racing coverage in those days. They were the first to put cameras in the car and on members of the pit crew.
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Using the helicopter for overhead shots was cool and sometimes the cloud ceiling would be too low so the chopper was grounded. ESPN also was the first to use infrared to show track temps in different spots plus foot cams (way overused now) and they may have been the first to show cherry red brake rotors. Regardless it was a good time and things seemed more relaxed, there were more characters and it was easier to relate to the drivers and other personnel.
 
Benny Parsons . I can still hear him describing the Brushy Mountains, Rattlesnake Hill , Mt. Airy , various local eating establishments . He took you there , made you see unusual scenes that he saw . His comments on the pit crew , their work and their families . The background he gave on the drivers , their lives and their families. Not the press release crap , the actual things he saw and talked about in the garage area. Motor coach drivers who were great cooks , that stuff was great . We won.t see or hear that stuff again.
 
I liked ESPN's coverage too. Only problem with it was you had to subscribe to cable (or later, satellite dish) to get it. When ESPN did fluff (like some of Benny's pieces), or repeatedly explained basic racing jargon or techniques, it didn't seem as irritating as how other broadcasters do it today. Seemed like fewer commercials back then too.
 
ted@economy said:
Benny Parsons . I can still hear him describing the Brushy Mountains, Rattlesnake Hill , Mt. Airy , various local eating establishments . He took you there , made you see unusual scenes that he saw . His comments on the pit crew , their work and their families . The background he gave on the drivers , their lives and their families. Not the press release crap , the actual things he saw and talked about in the garage area. Motor coach drivers who were great cooks , that stuff was great . We won.t see or hear that stuff again.
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Benny had some good stuff including "Buffet Benny."
 
gone said:
I liked ESPN's coverage too. Only problem with it was you had to subscribe to cable (or later, satellite dish) to get it. When ESPN did fluff (like some of Benny's pieces), or repeatedly explained basic racing jargon or techniques, it didn't seem as irritating as how other broadcasters do it today. Seemed like fewer commercials back then too.
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From what I read there was 3 hours of actual race broadcasting and a little over an hour of commercials. I doubt that includes the in race Dale Jr commercials and IDK if it includes anything else. With lower viewership (lower ad revenue) IDK if the networks are going to have to start shoving more commercials and advertising into broadcasts but it makes sense that they would. When the new TV deal was signed Nascar programming was supposed to enable FOX and NBC sports to jack the price of what they charged cable and satellite providers but I have not heard anything about any increases.

I am in the minority but I cannot watch a Nascar broadcast live because there is so much nonessential stuff, IMO, so I DVR them and either start watching a couple of hours after the race has started or sometimes the next day. Also it is really hard to give up nice summer days holed up inside.
 
Yep, I'm with you on both the commercials / nonessential stuff and on wasting nice summer days.

Haven't researched the minutes of commercials, but there are lists of it now-a-days (Jayski used to post it... maybe still does). I haven't been a fan of this "side-by-side broadcast" (where they show the race in a small box while a commercial is shown in a bigger box) - the commercial bugs me and the race picture is awfully small for my old eyes.

After I quit going to races I used to watch the TV coverage live. Then the coverage started bugging me so I taped the races to watch later - and enjoyed being outside. At first I'd watch my tape that night, but then I began putting it off a day or two... eventually I had a stack of tapes I hadn't watched yet so I quit taping. Now I only watch live coverage - but only if the weather outside is bad and I don't have something better to do in the garage. Even then I don't worry about catching the whole race, and often I'm doing something else (like using the computer) while the race is on. But at least the commercials / nonessential junk don’t bother me as much - I'm not paying enough attention. (Better not tell the advertisers...)
 
gone said:
Yep, I'm with you on both the commercials / nonessential stuff and on wasting nice summer days.

Haven't researched the minutes of commercials, but there are lists of it now-a-days (Jayski used to post it... maybe still does). I haven't been a fan of this "side-by-side broadcast" (where they show the race in a small box while a commercial is shown in a bigger box) - the commercial bugs me and the race picture is awfully small for my old eyes.

After I quit going to races I used to watch the TV coverage live. Then the coverage started bugging me so I taped the races to watch later - and enjoyed being outside. At first I'd watch my tape that night, but then I began putting it off a day or two... eventually I had a stack of tapes I hadn't watched yet so I quit taping. Now I only watch live coverage - but only if the weather outside is bad and I don't have something better to do in the garage. Even then I don't worry about catching the whole race, and often I'm doing something else (like using the computer) while the race is on. But at least the commercials / nonessential junk don’t bother me as much - I'm not paying enough attention. (Better not tell the advertisers...)
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A lot of times I end up listening more to what is going on and then looking up if something is going on and then rewinding if necessary. I am like you in that I like being outside and hate to waste a nice day inside.
 
It's kind of sad that Bob Jenkins never got another NASCAR gig after this. IIRC he did go on to do some Indy Car stuff, but I wish he would have landed on another NASCAR broadcast team somewhere.
 
ToyYoda said:
It's kind of sad that Bob Jenkins never got another NASCAR gig after this. IIRC he did go on to do some Indy Car stuff, but I wish he would have landed on another NASCAR broadcast team somewhere.
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IDK why Bob never got another Nascar gig but in retrospect it may have been the best thing as the network brass may have tried to turn him into something he wasn't. Bob never stuck me as a guy who was interested in things like storylines or deciding how to broadcast a race in advance.

Out of all the people who have been in and out of the broadcast booth in the last 15 years or so I liked Wally D as he didn't mind being critical when criticism was called for and I like Jeff Gordon as he has a handle on things. Most of the guys I am neutral on but I thought Jerry Punch was awful as a race broadcaster but good as a pit reporter. I thought Rusty Wallace liked the sound of his own voice too much, DJ did not seem comfortable in saying what was really on his mind, Andy Petree seemed grateful to have a job and Bill Webber just needed shot lol. I never minded Larry Mc and still don't as he at least seems to prepare and keep up on things, DW was OK but it seems like he just shows up in the booth and is out to lunch on many things and uses feeble attempts at humor to ingratiate himself. Mike Joy is inoffensive but the NBC booth guy is awful. How can I take a nap when he is always yelling 3 WIDE and SIDEWAYS? Burton and Letarte are OK but one of them would be enough as they seem to each think they are getting paid by the word.
 
Kyle petty was a goldmine on TNT. My fav

Gordon I like.

Benny and Ned I don't rem too much. I did not like Benny at TNT(or was it NBC) but I think that was more because Weber was horrible.

Bob Jenkins best play by play ever. Mike joy is good but Darrell makes him childish at times.

Rusty I liked just for the fact he always said I wanna see somebody crash or I wanna see somebody fight. Lmao wtf
 
Fans have short memories.

ESPN was good in the 90s, but it wasn't that far superior to today's coverage. Honestly, those broadcasts all revolved around Dale Earnhardt way too much -- especially if Ken Squier was announcing on CBS or TBS.

Fox, in 2001, was the gold standard and far better than ESPN's coverage was. They implemented the scoring ticker and did so in a way that it didn't take up a ton of space and they had a ton of graphics that complimented the broadcast. Of course, Fox has gotten carried away since then, but their coverage in their first few years was second-to-none.

The NBC coverage from 2001-2004 will always be my favorite though. I really enjoyed the trio of Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach.
 
fordfan said:
Benny and Ned I don't rem too much. I did not like Benny at TNT(or was it NBC) but I think that was more because Weber was horrible.
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Bill Weber was a great pre-race host and pit reporter. He was terrible as the play-by-play analyst. Worst mistake NBC ever made was putting him in the booth.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I lived in the Central Time Zone then so the races came on at 11:00 and the cars were normally on the grid and sometimes already doing pace laps when ESPN signed on. Now if they say the green flag will drop at 1:16 it is still going to be later than that. Even though a lot of the races were longer they moved along at a good clip as they didn't have bogus cautions back then, for a time no pit road speeds, no free passes, scoring loops and a lot of the gimmicks they use today.
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Start times changed after Sept. 11th. That's when the prayer and anthem became part of the race broadcast as a display of patriotism. That's also when drivers started remaining outside the car until after the prayer and anthem were completed, only then getting in. This led to another delay / commercial break while they buckled in, and another one after they started the engines. Remember the old joke, "What are the last four words of the Star Spangled Banner? 'Gentlemen, start your engines!' " That one doesn't work anymore because they fire 'em up five minutes after the song ends.

I'm as patriotic as the next vet, but I too preferred it when the race started 3 to 5 minutes into the scheduled broadcast.
 
lisa said:
I miss Benny.


Who is Bob?
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Bob Jenkins. He used to narrate my Sunday's when I was a kid. He was also the track announcer at Indy this year. He may have done it last year too. Idk.. I hope he stays though, if he isn't gonna get back on TV.

AndyMarquisLive said:
Fans have short memories.

ESPN was good in the 90s, but it wasn't that far superior to today's coverage. Honestly, those broadcasts all revolved around Dale Earnhardt way too much -- especially if Ken Squier was announcing on CBS or TBS.

Fox, in 2001, was the gold standard and far better than ESPN's coverage was. They implemented the scoring ticker and did so in a way that it didn't take up a ton of space and they had a ton of graphics that complimented the broadcast. Of course, Fox has gotten carried away since then, but their coverage in their first few years was second-to-none.

The NBC coverage from 2001-2004 will always be my favorite though. I really enjoyed the trio of Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach.
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When fox came out with the ticker, I wondered where it had been all my life.... but then it became normal and they turned each announcer into a character, they put graphics on everything and it became terrible.

My favorite announcing group was Benny, Bob and Ned, for sure. I'd agree that the TNT coverage was extremely top notch and the best ever, though.
 


Seriously, this here is one fine motorsports telecast. The graphics were innovative but very low profile. The pictures and the announcers told the story. And Jaws hadn't fallen off his rocker yet.




Another fine telecast. And I would pay $$ for the music NBC used for the Daytona 500. So majestic.



Charlie Spencer said:
Start times changed after Sept. 11th. That's when the prayer and anthem became part of the race broadcast as a display of patriotism. That's also when drivers started remaining outside the car until after the prayer and anthem were completed, only then getting in. This led to another delay / commercial break while they buckled in, and another one after they started the engines. Remember the old joke, "What are the last four words of the Star Spangled Banner? 'Gentlemen, start your engines!' " That one doesn't work anymore because they fire 'em up five minutes after the song ends.

I'm as patriotic as the next vet, but I too preferred it when the race started 3 to 5 minutes into the scheduled broadcast.
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Again, short memories.

They aired pre-race ceremonies before 9/11.

And I remember seeing pre-race shows on TBS and CBS.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:


Seriously, this here is one fine motorsports telecast. The graphics were innovative but very low profile. The pictures and the announcers told the story. And Jaws hadn't fallen off his rocker yet.




Another fine telecast. And I would pay $$ for the music NBC used for the Daytona 500. So majestic.





Again, short memories.

They aired pre-race ceremonies before 9/11.

And I remember seeing pre-race shows on TBS and CBS.
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Watching the 2001 D500 again I still find it hard to believe that seemingly soft wreck took Snr.:(
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Fans have short memories.

ESPN was good in the 90s, but it wasn't that far superior to today's coverage. Honestly, those broadcasts all revolved around Dale Earnhardt way too much -- especially if Ken Squier was announcing on CBS or TBS.

Fox, in 2001, was the gold standard and far better than ESPN's coverage was. They implemented the scoring ticker and did so in a way that it didn't take up a ton of space and they had a ton of graphics that complimented the broadcast. Of course, Fox has gotten carried away since then, but their coverage in their first few years was second-to-none.

The NBC coverage from 2001-2004 will always be my favorite though. I really enjoyed the trio of Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach.
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Oh my dear God how true. ESPECIALLY Ken Squire.....

And yes, I really enjoyed Benny and Wally. Wally has a pretty smart wit about him that I think many people don't quite understand.
 
Ford 222 said:
Oh my dear God how true. ESPECIALLY Ken Squire.....

And yes, I really enjoyed Benny and Wally. Wally has a pretty smart wit about him that I think many people don't quite understand.
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Couldn't agree more on Squier. I think he thought Earnhardt was the only driver in the race.
 
be9ak7ts16 said:


This right here to me is the ultimate announcing team.
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OK. I give! I'm usually pretty good with this stuff but I can't figure out who the dude with the big dip in his lip next to Bob is! Help?
 
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Dangit! We didn't have cable on my road until 1989 and we couldn't afford the WV State Flower. (10 foot satellite dish. LOL)
 
We didn't have cable, so I didn't see much ESPN back then, but I've seen so many clips since then that even I can say they are probably the best team ever. I also liked TNT, particularly compared to the other broadcasters at that time. But I remember back in the day, it was Sunday morning Church, then a quick lunch and settle down for the race, if it was so I could watch it. That was just what you did back then. Of course, I was a kid, I could spare the time. Now if I catch one from the start on Sunday its a miracle. Most of the time I watch them on DVR over the next couple of nights.
 
ESPN was great at showing the whole field back in the day

Bob, Benny and ned didnt talk down to you like you were stupid
 
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