Daytona 500

[TRB]

So the Daytona 500, "The Great American Race," seems to start later all the time. It's obscene, really. This year marks the 50th running (not 50th anniversary) of the race, and the "new" sponsor, Sprint (really the same firm that has Nextel, who decided that Nextel really didn't sound good next to the word Cup after all), has been giving a pre-race retrospective/concert. As such, they decided to invite Chubby Checker, Michael Macdonald, Kool & The Gang, and Brooks & Dunn to perform.

As it began, they started off with Chubby Checker, symbolizing the 1960s...never mind that the race started in 1959. The song, of course, would be, "The Twist." I'm sure everyone watching noticed the plainly obvious, that they piped through the original "Twist" track and that Chubby was doing a bad lip-synch along with the guitarist's bad pretend-playing.

Next, Michael Macdonald performed "Takin' It To The Streets." Slaughtered is more like it. Horribly pitchy, and just pretty bad.

Kool & The Gang followed with a truncated "Celebration," at the end of which they said "enjoy the race!" The fact is, they weren't even the final act, and were run off so that Brooks & Dunn could perform.

I really question the inclusion of the acts preceding Brooks & Dunn as acts to be included in a sort of retrospective; NASCAR's core audience in the '60s, '70s and early '80s probably didn't even listen to them. Another example of orchestration and marketing gone awry...in the end it wasn't really much involving elements of the racing at all, at least on the television coverage, which just cut back and forth with a couple of seconds of vintage vehicles running around the track, as well as banners displaying pictures of past winners. Brooks & Dunn were the only ones who really incorporated the race into anything, making references to Dale Earnhardt's car he used to win in 1998, as well as marking a decade since the historic victory.

"The Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing" is starting later and later, and slowly growing a pre-race show of Super Bowl proportions. What's the point? The core audience doesn't care and is probably annoyed. In any case, let the racing begin.

Edit: Sub-title should read "hilarious!" at the end, but was cut off by the board.

[The Rover]

I have never attended a NASCAR race. Someday I might.

But, I will this, watching the race on TV is b-o-r-i-n-g in itself.

If you're a big NASCAR Fan, or if you a big fan of a Driver, so be it.

I'm not trying to step on your sport. But... just viewing the racing on TV.... it is boring.

I know they're going very fast. But they're all going very fast. Not very exciting.

I'll take a stock car race, with cars going up to 100mph or so, with lots of passing.

Yep, that's what I would prefer to watch on TV.

I have been to a Demolition Derby. That was Cool to watch.

I have also been to NHRA Drag Racing Event. Also Cool.

[TRB]

Well, I don't watch evey week, but it's good sometimes. I watch Indy/F1 stuff sometimes also. The whole point was really to highlight what the event has become, along with the marketing sham of the pre-event-event...the illogic of it all. However, most folks probably thought, "oh, NASCAR, hicks/rednecks/hillbillies/whatever, I'm not gonna read this," and floated past.

Ryan Newman won the race, by the way.