Where did they find Allen Bestwick?

BobbyFord

BobbyFord

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Is he the son or grandson of some media exec.?What a jackass!
I cannot stand listening to him commentate. He wouldn't know a racecar if one run him over. Has anyone noticed that he is no longer in the Cup booth? They've relegated him to a pit reporter on Cup coverage. I guess everybody is tired of correcting him on the technical end of it.
Must be nice to know the right people.
 
And any one of us could do a better job? :) He don't bother me that much........at least he isn't telling some long drawn out story about yesteryear!! :)
 
lol he was kind of anoying but not really bad
i liked him more than benny parsons
 
I don't mind him.

He was a MRN reporter. Maybe still thinks he's on radio and just has to keep talking, and talking, and talking, and the listeners don't know if it's fact or fiction. :growl:
 
I like Bestwick.

Parsons' 'Man-oh-man' everytime there's a pitstop or someone gets loose is what aggravates me. I like Wally, but that other turd they've got in the booth that used to do the countdown and the pit coverage, he should just go home once the flag drops. At least Bestwick would try to entertain us if things were slow, this puke welcomes us back from commercials, sends it to the pits, and sounds like it all is coming straight from the teleprompter. :)

I wish they'd put Bestwick and Dallenbach in the booth together every race, the heck with rest of 'em.

One good thing about this time of year is we don't have to hear Waltrip's crap every lap.

- k y l e
 
Isn't it nice to hear these sort of things over and over again. One day, someone should make a poll as to who they dislike the most in the booth or in the pits. For years, I kind of like Allen on the radio and then he went on TV with NBC when they got the contract. After a year or two, he began to annoy me and Benny has always annoyed me after his first couple of years on ESPN. Webber isn't an improvement as far as I'm concerned, but we have little to say about it. I've wondered myself why Bestwick is now in the pits and whether it was his choice or what, but I've not been able to find out the answer to that one. He's been released from another TV job as well.

As we all know, it's a pretty hard job to find a group of people that most everyone likes and have a good chemistry with each other. Also, while it might all come together one year, it could fall apart later. I think that it's a bit easier to find two guys to work together in the booth than to find three, but ever since ABC started Monday Night Football using three guys with two of them being so different, that many areas of sport have tried that equation, some successful, some not. Also, FOX tries to duplicate their success of their football coverage, i.e. with much charactors and humor.

I'd love to be able to put together my own cast of charactors/reporters, but I'm sure that while I might believe they would be a great team, they infact might not even get along with one another, and then there's the ego thing. Also, what I like may and probably is something totally different than what DEW would want. :) BTW, has anyone tried watching the races on TV and listening to the radio? Kind of hard because they concentrate on different things during the race.
 
Maybe it's easier in his neck to get his nose up his favorite drivers a$$ from the pit instead of the booth.
 
Everyone wants their own chosen announcer/commentator in the booth. Jerry Punch, Chris Ecomacki (is that how you spell his last name? :confused: ), Eli Gold, Ned Jarrett, Buddy Baker, Chris Myers, Bill Weber, Alan Bestwick, Darrell Waltrip, Wally Dallenbach, What's his name for the trucks, Phil Parsons, Benny Parsons, and any number of other people (both famous and little known). The fact of the matter is that each and everyone of those listed by me or whoever y'all can come up with will eventually irritate many of us with some quirk to their style of broadcasting. Alan with his reading from the teleprompter style, Benny with the occasional wrong driver in the wrong car, Wally with his quick judgments of on track incidences, Chris Myers with the hair spray look, and, of course DW with the "boogity, boogity, boogity" stuff. None of us will agree on who's best or who is even competent as an announcer. All I hear is MRN/PRN does it perfect........but is that really true? Get them in the broadcast booth for TV and we will rip them apart too. :)

The problem mainly lies with the varying degree of "experience" among the fans. Those of us who long for ESPN and Jerry Punch remember back when NASCAR wasn't as popular as a sport as it is since FOX/FX and NBC/TNT took over as the broadcaster of the races. We have been exposed to the terms "push/free", "tight/loose", and "drafting" for years.......we need no explanation. But with the sport growing in popularity as it is today there are a lot of people (potential fans) who don't know what those terms mean.........and the explanation is necessary for their benefit. When Benny makes a mistake about something Wally or Alan will correct him.......same thing when Alan or Wally do it. So what difference does it make really? I can remember the announcers with ESPN making mistakes too........it wasn't a big deal then but seems to be a major flaw now. MRN/PRN (the "perfect" ones :) ) make mistakes too.......on that, I'm certain. Calling a race with 43 cars on the track at the same time and so many things going on at the same time is quite a challenge.........and we tend to demand mistake free broadcasting. :rolleyes:

Like I said in my first post in this thread, Alan doesn't bother me and who among us can do better? I also want to say that ESPN had its problems in this area too..............but we were a little more tolerant back then since all we wanted was to be entertained by the race. We weren't wanting to be entertained by the broadcasters too. And that's the source of my problem with the differences between the two networks........one tends to place more value on the booth entertainment over the track entertainment. I want the race on the track to entertain me. Not the broadcasters in the booth. I want to know about the driver of the cars the cameras are focusing on at the moment.........not a story about some race in 1989 or some such cutesy thing. Benny's "man 'o man" gets on people's nerves probably about like DW's "boogity, boogity, boogity" gets on mine. But Alan doesn't get on my nerves at all..........niether does Bill Weber. They're pretty good considering what they are attempting to do...........call a live, very fast paced, event with very few, if any, mistakes.
 
Well said, DEW.

Personally, I don't like the "entertainment" aspect of the announcers --- I want to watch a race and be filled in on the facts of what is happening. Period.

But, I have no say in what "personalities" that wind up in the booth. I do the best with what I have. I may not like the stories, the idiocies, and the quirks, but that's the way that particular cookie crumbles. I am a captive audience --- I have no recourse to any other way to watch the race --- it is TV or nothing.
 
Watch the race on mute... You'll find it much more enjoyable. If you really want to go for the full effect, feel free to make race car noises.
 
I think the last couple Busch races with Allen and Wally have been the best broadcasts of the whole season.
 
They all suck IMO if you compare to the in depth analysis MRN gives you. I prefer radio broadcast for any sport rather then Television. Too bad the radio broadcast is usually ahead of what is going on TV.
 
N2, unfortunately, some of us don't have the luxury of getting the MRN broadcast.

It is like comparing apples and oranges --- you just can't make it work.
 
I really think Bestwick does a pretty good job. Allen and Wally have been off of each other's backs and have been much more enjoyable. Very professional. When I listen to the Benny Parsons and Crew broadcasts, I feel like I'd rather be at the bar listening to the drunks yell about who sucks and who doesn't. Its nice to have some professionalism in the booth for once.
 
Not sure what your age/background is, Bobby, and I don't want to be rude. Are you sure you're qualified to criticize his knowledge of racing and NASCAR ?

Allen Bestwick's CAREER HISTORY:

Began broadcasting at age 15 on radio station at local high school in Coventry, RI … announced races at local short track, where father fielded cars in late 60s and early 70s … broadcast NASCAR races on radio from 1986 through 2000 for Motor Racing Network … began television work in the mid-90s, first with ESPN's NASCAR Today program … signed on with Speedvision at network's formation in 1996, hosting Inside Winston Cup and other programs … joined NBC Sports and TNT Sports in 1999, serving as play-by-play announcer for all of the networks' NASCAR coverage
 
I'm 42 years old. I've been around some form of racing my whole life, started working on cars around age 9 at my father's shop. My dad and uncle used to race with the likes of Freddie Lorenzen, Curtis Turner, Andy Granatelli, etc.
Being in a booth is far different than being in the garage.
Bestwick constantly goofs when he's refering to the technical part of the racecar.
I understand everybody's point. I know that there are people who like Bestwick. I simply do not. He's an announcer, not a racer. I like listening to somebody who has actually raced.
It's kinda like listening to Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football.
 
BobbyFord said:
.Being in a booth is far different than being in the garage.
Bestwick constantly goofs when he's referring to the technical part of the racecar.
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OK, Bobby. Your background is impressive. BTW, Allen is 44. So you two are not far apart. I totally agree with you that being in the garage is different from the broadcast booth.

But you know what? Being in the booth is also different from being a part of the audience. Picture yourself with the task of talking into a microphone. Maybe you'd make the occasional blunder.

Having said all that, I don't know why I even got into the act of defending Bestwick. I'm sure he can do a better job himself. :growl:
 
I'm in partial agreement with mostly everyone and I edited my last post.
I'm not looking for an argument, I'm just saying that Bestwick guy is buggy.
 
N2racin88 said:
They all suck IMO if you compare to the in depth analysis MRN gives you. I prefer radio broadcast for any sport rather then Television. Too bad the radio broadcast is usually ahead of what is going on TV.
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Difference of opinion. I used to travel a lot and had to get almost all my NASCAR race coverage from MRN. Absolutely hated it. Those voices going faster the engine's RPMs are very annoying. But I do understand why. When the director gives you your cue, you have to talk like hell for your x number of minutes. With video it's much more laid back.

If you're trained for radio, it's not easy to switch to TV. Like the gentleman who is the subject of this thread. And others who have graduated into TV. They never seem to lose that urge to non-stop talk.
 
Oh great BF, you must love Bill Weber then, he sure knows much more about the cars than Allen. ROFLMAO!!!!

Allen may not be perfect, afterall, he IS an announcer not a driver. But he is also very close friends with Mikey, Kenny, Johnny as well as many of the other drivers and crew chiefs I bet you think Kenny Wallace is great then, but I've not heard ANYBODY worse than him. He's constantly pointing out his vast knowledge by diagreeing with what the guys running up front say in their interviews.
 
I love Allen Bestwick ......

Like someone mentioned .... better than Benny Parsons.

:cool:
 
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