Fox Sports is not very fan friendly with some motorsports right now.
Sure, it has the newly acquired Indy Car series and the Indianapolis 500 for May as well as some of the other series events, but Fox doesn’t get it. It’s nice to have all those eggs, NASCAR, Indy Car and NHRA as well as college football, the NFL, MLB, college basketball and others, in one basket.
The only problem is how you treat them, carrying them between broadcast and the fan. The end result? Well, besides egg prices being high, so are Fox’s claims.
I’ve never been a big Fox Sports fan. I always felt like they were a lot like ABC from my childhood and teen years; buy the big box-office movies, claim you’re number one and use the product to its ultimate demise, or in this case, ratings demise, and then move on to the next sweet fruit on the tree.
This year, Fox Sports is touting Indy Car, the series and the Indy 500 as the fastest motorsports on the planet. Top speed in Indy Car? About 220-230 mph. NHRA? Try over 300 mph. Brittany Force recently set a dragster record this year at 341 mph. That, in my opinion, makes NHRA the fastest motorsport on the planet, followed by Indy Car and then NASCAR.
One drag-racing star doesn’t appreciate one element of the hype. NHRA team owner and Funny Car driver Bob Tasca went on a rant with Fox Sports between runs, one weekend early in the season at Gainesville, Fla.
“I should be talking about that run right now, but really, to me, I gotta call Fox Sports (out). All winter long, we heard about the fastest motor sports on the planet. And I was a little confused because I didn’t see (my car),” Tasca said. “And the truth is, it’s an insult to the fans and to the drivers for Fox to go on TV and say that the fastest motor sport in the world is IndyCar.
“Come on, now. I didn’t think it was fake news network on Fox,” he added before walking off.
It’s obviously for positioning themselves as the self-proclaimed experts on motorsports. NHRA and its fans have a legitimate beef with Fox, but NASCAR fans do, too.
I have to admit that in the last few years, NASCAR on Fox has not been the best. Mike Joy is arguably one of the best-and well-known announcers in the sport and has been reduced to just a talking head during NASCAR broadcasts. He’s made some flubs, we all have, but I feel like Joy’s knowledge of the sport, the drivers and the teams has been reduced greatly on Fox’s coverage of NASCAR.
Some fans have called for house cleaning, starting with Joy. I can’t call for Joy’s career to be severed like a head in a guillotine during the French Revolution. Joy is about the best we have covering NASCAR for the Cup Series for Fox.
But if your Rick Allen, former point man for NASCAR on NBC, you’re still seeking answers as to why NBC cut Allen.
“It hit me like a ton of bricks,” replied Allen on a recent podcast with Dirty Mo Media and the “Dale Jr. Download.” It all hit when Michael Jordan addressed Allen on the golf course and asked Allen, “What did you do, man? How come you are not announcing the races? You’re NASCAR.”
Allen is a very humble man. Not a flamboyant type, just a simple man. He’s a woodworker as well as an entrepreneur now that he’s not working for NBC.
Before being in the broadcast booth, he was a celebrated track and field star at Nebraska and Olympian. He was going places in announcing.
But the thing is Allen did nothing wrong or at least by his admission to Dale Jr. on the “Dale Jr. Download.” It wasn’t his choice and so the famed Peacock Network opted to spread their tail feathers to drop kick Allen out of the press box and to the side after NASCAR’s hiatus for Olympic coverage and go with Aussie Leigh Duffey.
Now let’s set something straight, Duffey is not a good ol’ boy broadcaster. He loves motorsports and NASCAR, but the matchup is about as comfortable for some fans as wearing sandpaper underwear in 100-degree weather. Duffey, not of his own doing, or rather NBC, rubbed fans the wrong way. There were still answers to questions of what happened to Allen.
NBC provided no information. Allen had been in the broadcast booth for almost 10 years before being cut loose. Allen told Earnhardt Jr. that he was supposed to have a new contract for the next few years along with Earnhardt, and then suddenly both of them were told their contracts would not be renewed. He was told not to say anything and regrettably, Allen faded from view.
Another announcer who suffered a similar fate, John Roberts, was charged with anchoring one of the best NASCAR pre-race shows on TV. Suddenly without any warning, Roberts was cut loose by Fox. Roberts wanted to find out why the show had been axed. He called and called Fox execs until one finally talked to him.
What’s worse during the conversation, the Fox exec didn’t even know who Roberts was while cursing him on the phone, essentially telling Roberts that “they (the execs) know better what the public wants.”
All of these examples also reflect on why Allen Bestwick, former voice of NASCAR on NBC the first time around, isn’t around. Bestwick was, in my opinion, well on his way to becoming a Ken Squier successor. I remember talking with Allen Bestwick long before his NASCAR career on MRN Radio when he was working for ABC Radio Networks and “American Top 40.” Allen had potential. Now, he is the voice of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
So, in summary, you’ve got a bunch of know-it-all execs who know more than we know, calling the shots claiming they know what is best for fans. It might take NASCAR leaving the networks like Fox and NBC and be a good thing.
I’ll say this, NASCAR, like Fox and NBC, need to be seriously paying attention to the fans and what the fans desire. Bristol was not a ratings bonanza for Fox this spring after dominance by Kyle Larson. Fans are grumbling and they continue to grumble and gripe as to stage racing wanting instead to go back to a straight run race with no stage breaks and winners.
Then, there’s the advertising and running commercials side by side or, as Fox did yesterday, run the big ad, reduce the racing action to a smaller square. All of these and more have led to a fall of fan support from older NASCAR fans and the sport paying less attention to the 18-30 age group, which NASCAR desperately needs to move forward into the future.
Network execs and NASCAR honchos need to pay attention. The fans are watching, and the future is in your hands, sort of like those broken eggs you made when you think you know a better way other than simply carrying them in a safer basket.
But then again, I guess we fans don’t know anything about television programming either, or cutting cable, or going to on-demand programming and not paying high prices for subscriptions and not receiving our programming a la carte.
The yolk is leaking, and it’s not on the fan, but rather about to hit the fan, when it comes to coverage of all sports, not just NASCAR or the NHRA.
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