ROCKINGHAM RACINDEALS

Figured I’d set down in front of the TV with the laptop
during the race today and jot down some thoughts as the race progressed. I’m
afraid that we’re getting an idea of what happens when you’re a lame duck
network. At the 1/4 point of today’s race, TNN was so screwed up on the pit
stops that it was hard to tell who was where. When they came back from
commercial where the first caution happened, the viewer had no clue that the
front runners didn’t pit.

On the plus side they did do the "split screen"
when they went to the pits, so we could at least keep up with the action on the
track. I’m glad I was watching on my 27" TV instead of the 13" screen,
because the oval they put the action in was a little too small.

TNN still isn’t giving us laps down on their rundown. Fans
have been begging for years for what other networks do, and TNN still only does
it when they show intervals.

It seems that TNN is certainly getting in enough
commercials for this race. I’m sure the fellows over at Perfect
Paranoia are keeping up with the number of minutes of commercials, but my
feeling is that they’re loading up on us more than normal.

Turning to the Busch Series for a second, I’m glad that
Rick Hendrick is getting his nose out of Casey Atwood’s business. It would have
been the kiss of death for Casey’s career to have joined the Hendrick
organization. Hendrick would have had to create a brand new fourth team or put
Atwood in his #25 "R&D" car, and either situation would have not
been in Atwood’s best interest. I’m not sure why he thought he could have some
control over Atwood’s career, to the point where he prohibited Ray Evernham from
talking to Atwood. I think that Atwood would have had a good case in court for
prior restraint.

The tail end of the Monte Carlo, both on the race car and
the street car, has got to be the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure
what Chevy was thinking when they came up with that configuration, but last
year’s rear end looked a lot better.

Oops, the Viagra car just took a stiff shot hard into the
wall, bringing out the caution. Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. Isn’t
it odd that Pfizer isn’t even using the driver of the car they sponsor in their
men’s health commercials?

Yawn. About a hundred laps to go and it’s pretty obvious
that they’ve settled down on the track and are just riding around right now,
waiting for the next pit stop. Gonna be a long run toward the end as they try to
make it on one more stop. So it looks like the outcome of this race is going to
be determined by the pit crews, and not the drivers.

Sure enough, Labonte’s team pulls off a fast stop, and
after we cycle around he’s back in the lead. Earnhardt comes out right behind,
and we go to commercial. We come back to find that Labonte has a 5 second lead
over Stewart? What happened to Earnhardt?

Labonte continues to pull away from the field but
Earnhardt manages to get by Stewart. But Labonte is just too good and gets the
win. Of course, we missed 10 of the last 20 laps because, you guessed it, lame
duck TNN goes to a commercial.

Not the most exciting race I’ve seen, but it was certainly
better than Daytona. I’d give the race a C+ and the broadcast a D. You can’t
blame TNN for not really wanting to put any more money or effort into their
broadcasts, and I’m sure that we’ll see the same degradation in quality when
ESPN shows their first race. But before then, we have to put up with ABC for two
races, and they certainly don’t have any reason to improve.

Next week the Cup Series returns to Las Vegas, not exactly
a venue known for exciting on-track action. Then we have Atlanta, which is
really a bad Charlotte, and then Darlington, where hopefully it won’t rain.