http://www.speedvision.com/pub/artic...s/011023b.html

One of my favorites: "Liberatore also announced that the popular Inside Winston Cup program, shelved earlier this year, would return to the network's weekly programming line-up. " Did anybody who religiously watched Speedvision watch this show???!!! How could it be so poplular if it was shelved???

 

"This is just the first step in an evolutionary process to deliver a more focused and quality product"

Do you think he means NascarChannel??!! LOL!

This is weak...but Ill just have to live racing more now, instead of watch it.

 

I don't get that. They're reviving a show that was unpopular and shelved.

 

Makes as much sense as having 4 drivers killed in a little over a year and not taking any worthwhile measures to improve safety. Oh wait... this is NASCAR we're talking about.

 

"Speed Channel?!?" That is soo GHEY! Speedvision flows so much better, they should've kept it at that.

 

Speed Channel?!?!? OMG that is just lame!

 

<rant mode>

I agree. Why would they feel the need to change the name and logo, anyway? Speed"vision" can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. It's obscure, yet specific. It's just intelligent enough to be perplexing. And it fairly reflects the many facets of the current programming.

But Speed "Channel" is redundant. I mean, it's obviously a channel because you are watching it on TV. So why do they feel the need to mention in the name that it's a channel? Because the average new viewer might confuse it with the Speed "Radiostation" or something? That speaks volumes about their target audience with the new format...

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that roadracing/motorcycle/airplane/boat enthusiasts (i.e. the majority of current SpeedVISION watchers) are a definite minority compared to the millions of tribes of Budweiser-swilling, mullet-sporting lemmings of lower-middle-class-America who think that NASCAR is "racing".

I'm not saying NASCAR is easy to win, and I'm not saying it's not fast, but I am saying that it's WWF wrestling on wheels. Nothing gentlemanly or sportsmanlike about it, and nothing reflecting current technology. Pure entertainment for the masses... but a total farce for true auto racing enthusiasts.

50,000 signatures on the online petition is a drop in the well compared to NASCAR's current viewership. They have sold-out in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Change the format and **** off a million current subscribers, but attract a hundred million new subscribers in the process. It's the American way... who can blame them? But it still sucks for us!!!

<mullet mode>
"Hey, what kinda dumb hippie queer would wanna race a stupid Acura Integra or Porsche 911 anyway? We all know that Monte Carlos and Intrepids are the only REAL race cars in the world. I mean, they go 220 miles per hour, and they are stock, because NASCAR is 'stock' car racing. And what's up with those dumb hippie queer uphill-downhills, and right-hand turns, on those tracks? Real tracks are ovals with walls. Walls are cool. Walls mean wrecks. Wrecks make for good entertainment even when people die, like Dale. Dale died because God said it was his time. It didn't have anything to do with NASCAR's bullshit formula and archaic safety rules. Nothing at all. Gawd bless NASCAR. NASCAR is racing. Racing is speed. And the speed channel is my new favorite. I sure wish we could get cable here at the trailer park!"
</mullet mode>

I'm not implying that this will be the death of televised roadracing. In fact, I'm thinking there will still be plenty of that, just less of boats/planes and not much in terms of motorcycles. BUT, the dice have been tossed... and the corporate bean-counters have won the war. It's a damn shame IMHO.

Thanks for letting me vent,

Jon
(who will be selling bootleg copies of Speedvision's 2001 12 Hours of Sebring flag-to-flag live coverage on Ebay by the year 2003)

</rant mode>

 

Yea! I better get that TiVO now!

 

That is so profound it is scary . . .

 

Funny, when I was 10, I went to NASCAR races. Watched them a fair bit. Worked at a couple. But I guess I grew up...

~Chris, 19 years old, not a NASCAR "fan" but still impressed with the sight of 3400lb behemoths at Sears Point or the Glen.

 

Try 3700 pound behemoths... that, for all their high dollar construction and hype, are less than 8 seconds faster around VIR-North than a street legal Nissan Sentra SE-R with DSP-autoX-level bolt on mods. Woo hoo!

Jon

 

And those 3700lb behemouths are slower around The Glem's short course than the Trans Am cars are around the full course (like 9 seconds slower).

 

Since we are ranting about NASCAR, how about a racing organization who caught one of their "stars" cheating and didn't DQ him from the race?!? I'm talking about this past weekend's race won by Dale Jr. They checked his car after the race and it was too low. So did they take his win away? No. Did they take any points away? No. They fined him, probably less than what he got for the win and the publicity. So if you are Dale Jr., all you have to do is cheat on every race and win the championship. It is so scripted it's pathetic. At what point do we stop calling it racing and name it something more appropriate.... a car drama?

Matt

 

I like to simply refer to it as nASScar . . .

 

LOL

 

There was a NASSCAR race this weekend? I didn't notice. Has their season started?

 

this blows!

 

I just drop the 'n' alltogether!

 

Maybe NASCAR is actually a motorsports entertainment corporation run by Vince McMahan(sp?) of WWF ?

yoshi - who thinks that the N455CAR races are scripted before the race even starts.

 

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

I don't think you can use that word in mullet mode...

 

Hey, you drive a truck, you're supposed to know these things!

It definitely sucks that Speedvision is dead, but at least I don't have to waste energy hounding my cable company to carry it any longer.

Karen

 

Yeah, but it's a Ford, which is the winningest engine manufacturer in Formula 1 history. Not Ferrari, not Honda, FORD!

 

well. the discovery channel. the
learning channel. its not like the
"intelligent" network(s) dont use
that to their advantage. the travel
channel?..

and about assvision.. this is really
disappointing. im not able to get
out to the track so speedvision was
basically my only opportunity to see
good motor sports that arent on
oval 'tracks'. no more super bikes
or rally or gt fired. what does it
take to start a tv network.. HTTV?
if only it were that simple..

 

>>"Liberatore also announced that the popular Inside Winston Cup program, shelved earlier this year, would return to the network's weekly programming line-up. " Did anybody who religiously watched Speedvision watch this show???!!! How could it be so poplular if it was shelved???<<

Actually this is the best NASCAR show on TV. The drivers are very very candid and show that they are human. It was the only NASCAR show that I loked forward to seeing as you got something besides the Politically Correct NASCAR approved pablum that the other shows have. I think the reason it went off the air was not because it was unpopular but that the 2001 NASCAR contract with NBC and Fox kept Speedvision out of NASCAR.