|
|
|
|
NASCAR on FOX
|
| |
|
| |
NASCAR on FOX is the branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts NASCAR races airing on the FOX network since 2001.
ovember 11, 1999, a new contract was signed for American television broadcast rights for NASCAR, split between FOX/FX and NBC/TBS (later TNT) beginning in 2001. FOX/FX would cover the first half of the season (from the second race of the season, currently at California Speedway, to the last race before the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, currently at Infineon Raceway) the (Dodge/Save Mart 350).
Discussion
Ask a question about 'NASCAR on FOX' Start a new discussion about 'NASCAR on FOX' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
NASCAR on FOX is the branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts NASCAR races airing on the FOX network since 2001.
Background
On November 11, 1999, a new contract was signed for American television broadcast rights for NASCAR, split between FOX/FX and NBC/TBS (later TNT) beginning in 2001. FOX/FX would cover the first half of the season (from the second race of the season, currently at California Speedway, to the last race before the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, currently at Infineon Raceway) the (Dodge/Save Mart 350). Meanwhile, NBC/TNT would air the second half of the season from the race at Chicagoland Speedway to the season finale (the Ford 400) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
From 2001-2006, FOX alternated coverage of the first and most famous race of the season, the Daytona 500, with FOX getting the odd years and NBC the even ones. For balance, the opposite network would air Daytona's July race, the Pepsi 400. This particular television contract was signed for eight years for FOX/FX and six years for NBC/TNT and was valued at $2.4 billion . In addition to coverage on the Fox Broadcasting Company, the FOX-owned Speed Channel carries the entire Craftsman Truck Series schedule, a contract they bought out from ESPN in October 2002.
Contract extension
On December 7, 2005, NASCAR signed a new eight-year, $4.48 billion deal with the Fox Broadcasting Company and SPEED Channel. Also included in the new contract are Disney-owned ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, along with TNT. The contract came into effect in 2007. The rights were split up as such:
- FOX will carry the Daytona 500 every year and the twelve points races after that. In addition, they will carry the Budweiser Shootout and two Craftsman Truck Series races. (In 2007, they were the Martinsville spring race, and the race in Mansfield, Ohio the Saturday before Memorial Day. In 2008, FOX will again show the Kroger 250 from Martinsville, as well as the San Bernardino County 200 at California Speedway, instead of Mansfield).
- TNT will carry the next six Sprint Cup races including the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
- ESPN and ABC (through the ESPN on ABC arrangement) will carry the final seventeen Sprint Cup races, with the ten races comprising the Chase for the Sprint Cup airing on ABC airwaves. ESPN will begin the coverage with the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The entire Nationwide Series season will be aired primarily on ESPN2, with selected races on ABC.
- SPEED Channel will carry the Gatorade Duel races and the Sprint All-Star Challenge, as well as the entire Craftsman Truck Series season, except for the two races carried by FOX.
Announcers
Studio
For all of their broadcasts, FOX uses a portable studio called the "Hollywood Hotel" for the pre-race coverage. The exception was from 2001 to 2007 at Daytona, where they would use the infield media center situated next to Gatorade Victory Lane. As of last year, the Hollywood Hotel and the "Ford Cut-Away Car" areas are also incorporated into SPEED's Happy Hour coverage with Steve Byrnes joining Jeff Hammond (Myers' contract is exclusively to FOX).
If the race is delayed to a Monday then the "Hollywood Hotel" will be sent to the next race. However, if a Saturday night race is rained out to Sunday then the studio will stay. If the Hotel is no longer available, Jeff Hammond can be shifted to fill in a pit reporter's position or analyst's role if necessary. Hammond also did this in 2002 for the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway for Steve Byrnes when Byrnes was unable to make it due to his wife going into labor.
During the 2004 Dodge/Save Mart 350 the studio was not used and Myers and Hammond were located on the hillside on outdoor chairs. No explanation was given for this.
The mobile pre-race concept led FOX to make the 2006 Fox NFL Sunday pre-game show a moving pre-game show with lead play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, who hosted the actual pre-game portion of show during that season (with Curt Menefee hosting halftime and post game segments), and the three analysts moving from stadium to stadium each week. The concept was abandoned for the 2007 season.
Broadcast booth
For full races on Sunday, Waltrip is positioned initially in the studio for the show's pre-race segments.
Pit Road
Former
There must be three pit reporters at any time. This became an issue from 2001-2006, when Jeanne Zelasko was reporting on pit road, and only worked into May because of her Major League Baseball on FOX coverage duties. In 2007, Voda replaced Zelasko. At the 2002 Dodge/Save Mart 350, Jeff Hammond moved to pit road because Steve Byrnes was excused for family reasons (his pregnant wife Karen was hospitalized), and with just Yocum and Berggren available on pit road, Hammond moved to pit road for the coverage.
Also, Yocum was not on the NASCAR on FOX telecasts at Las Vegas and Atlanta in 2007. Instead, he was on NASCAR Hot Pass, pay-per-view coverage of the races shown exclusively on DirecTV. Yocum told the NASCAR media site SpeedCouch that the re-assignment was at his request, and that he planned to return to NASCAR on FOX at the next race in Bristol. The broadcasts continued with the three other reporters.
Pre-race segments
The segments of NASCAR on FOX for 2009 include:
- Opening – Myers, Hammond, and Waltrip usually sit in the studio at the start of the telecast, discussing the previous race and usually interviewing the race winner or other significant player in the previous race or current race weekend including but not limited to the polesetter. For this interview, the person in question will have a microphone, and the three in the studio will alternate questions.
- Around the Turn – Leading to the first break, Myers will tease upcoming segments, including feature stories on drivers, mechanics, or other key characters.
- News Update – Introduced in 2007, Chris Myers uses this segment to run down some of the important news since the last NASCAR on FOX telecast. This would usually lead into...
- Gas 'N Go – Inspired by FOX NFL Sundays Rapid Fire, Myers asks Hammond and Waltrip questions pertaining to the issues of NASCAR and teams. Each analyst is given between 10 and 30 seconds to answer the questions. In recent broadcasts, Waltrip wears a genie-like hat during the segment.
- The Hit List – This segment, new this year, has Myers asking a question to a variety of drivers, usually generating a variety of responses.
- Driving Zone – Waltrip and Hammond drive a two-seat Richard Petty Driving Experience Dodge Charger, usually to explain quirks of a race track, to explain what a driver and crew chief are thinking during the race.
- Opening Ceremonies – The invocation and National Anthem are given. As a result of a 2004 recommendation by FOX director Artie Kempner, NASCAR moved the command to start engines from slightly after opening ceremonies to five minutes after opening ceremonies complete. The rule was Kempner's idea for drivers to participate in the ceremonies and not be in the car for the invocation and anthem. This idea has since been picked up by NASCAR's other broadcast partners. When FOX air some NASCAR coverage from a Northern U.S. city (i.e. Detroit, Michigan), then two national anthems (O Canada and The Star-Spangled Banner) are performed either after the invocation (with O Canada performed between the invocation and the performance of The Star Spangled Banner) or with the invocation between both anthems.
- The Adventures of Digger – "Digger" (see below) is the gopher which began as a symbol of the corner camera and which has now been adopted as the unofficial mascot for its entire coverage. Beginning with the 2009 Daytona 500, Digger has been extended into a series of short cartoons that air during the pre-race show. Country music superstar Keith Urban recorded the theme song for these shorts. The storylines revolve around Digger and his life underneath a fictional racetrack. Other characters include a girlfriend named Annie and a villain named Lumpy Wheels. They are named after, respectively, David Hill's wife Annie (Hill is the president of Fox Sports) and former track promoter Humpy Wheeler.
Past segments
2007 produced a video game segment called "Chad On The Couch", featuring various drivers. The many versions of this segment showcase a rambunctious teenager named Chad Jamian Williams. Chad is featured in his living room playing video games with the drivers. Each driver sits through Chad's boasting and retaliates with witty insults. This segment was filmed specifically for the 2007 Nextel Cup Series by FOX.
Also in 2007 was Photo Finish, when Myers would show drivers pictures from their past and they would talk about the days of the past.
Theme song
A new theme song centered on Waltrip's signature words at the drop of the green flag ("boogity boogity boogity") was introduced in 2008. The song is called "NASCAR Love" and the artist is country singer Toby Lightman. An instrumental version replaces the music that Fox Sports had aired from the package's inception in 2001.
The song is available as a ringtone from Jamster and a download at iTunes.
Criticisms
Gimmicks
General complaints about FOX's coverage often include the overemphasis on gimmicks and hype instead of actual racing in their coverage as with their other sports broadcasts. For example, from its first race in 2001, FOX featured "Crank it Up" segments without commentary, intended to maximize the viewer's surround sound experience. In 2007, FOX also began promoting the Green-white-checker finish as "Overdrive." "Overdrive" devolves from other sports which use the term "overtime" to describe a period after regulation. The overall meaning is a race condition that ends one or more laps after the scheduled distance of a race.
Turn cam and "Digger"
In 2008, the network introduced the "Gopher Cam", a camera angle from the bottom banking of a track's turn. FOX implied that they invented the technology. However, it was quickly brought to light that Terry Lingner of ESPN, along with engineer James Fishman, had developed the technology fifteen years earlier under the name "Tread Cam."
FOX placed a cartoon gopher in the camera shot as a symbol and named him "Digger" after receiving suggestions from viewers. The network then began to market him, making T-shirts and other apparel that are sold in the FoxSports.com store. In 2009, as already noted, he was expanded into a cartoon series and Hill openly told the press that he wanted to explore the possibility of a full-length motion picture. This led to a backlash from many viewers who thought that the network had gone too far.
On-screen graphics
For the show's debut in 2001, FOX first introduced the scoring banner to its national broadcasts. The first banner was simpler than the following two versions. From left to right, an advertisment with "FOX" underneath, then "RUNNING ORDER" in a Handel Gothic font, and finally the current placements of the drivers. The placements would be in yellow boxes while to the right of the boxes, the driver's name and car number.
For the 2004 season, a new ticker was introduced, with a style similar to that of FOX's NFL score banner at the time. Instead of retracting from the top of the screen, this version flashed on and flashed off. This time, the "NASCAR on FOX" logo was on the left, and the car numbers would be shown in the car's colors.
Some viewers pointed out that the running order on FOX's on-screen ticker quickly became out-of-date due to on-track changes in position. In response, FOX introduced "top 10 only," "top 20 only," and "lead lap and free pass car" tickers starting at the 2006 Coca-Cola 600.
For the 2007 season, a new ticker was introduced, with a style similar to that of FOX's NFL score bar, but divided into 2 strips, one strip containing lap count and other information such as updates of positions, and a new unobstructed ticker that stretches the entire width of the screen. However, until May 2008, the standings still did not update in real time. The option finally became available at the Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond, but only because FOX diverted from NASCAR's official scoring. Instead it uses global positioning systems located inside the cars, so the ticker can now be updated live if the position of a car changes.
Commercial bias
In the starting grid for the 2001 Twin 125 races at Daytona International Speedway (which used 3D representations of the cars), FOX showed only the logos on the hoods of cars that had paid the network to advertise during the race. For instance, Budweiser was shown on the #8 and The Home Depot on the #20 were shown, but Miller Lite on the #2 was not. After outcry from some of the excluded companies, full logo graphics were restored to all cars three days later for the Daytona 500 telecast. After some controversy, the computer-generated cars used initially on the starting grid and top-five standings when going to break were phased out from main broadcast use, entirely discontinued in 2005. While some writers continue to imply that FOX altered or removed some sponsor names on camera shots of cars during competition, this never happened.
End of the 2001 Daytona 500 and Dale Earnhardt's death
The 2001 Daytona 500, which was FOX's very first NASCAR telecast, also brought an unrelated controversy. At the end of that race, FOX left the air shortly after Dale Earnhardt, fatally injured in a crash on the last lap, was admitted to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. The network provided no updates on his condition at the time of the 5:15 p.m. EST sign-off (although no information was available at that time), and continued regular programming (with the animated series Futurama) at the moment Earnhardt's death was confirmed at the 7:00 p.m. EST press conference. NASCAR's other broadcast network partner, NBC, delayed a commercial break at a National Basketball Association game and ESPN (which aired the Craftsman Truck Series at that time) had earlier, and much more extensive coverage, of Earnhardt's death and its aftermath. Also, Fox News Channel and Fox Sports Net broke into their programming to announce the seven-time champion's passing. Shortly after the race, Hill explained to the Associated Press that the network had gone over its allotted time (in part due to a long red-flag delay on Lap 175) and that continuing to cover the story would be too morbid. Neil Goldberg, producer, also said their staffers were not allowed near the crash scene.
External links
|
| |
|
|
