Greg Petrolati wrote:
> If you're going to wait until TV covers Vintage Racing like we
> enthusiasts would like to see it covered, you're gonna have a long
> wait... An don't hold your breath. You'll rarely see them
> cover a bunch of mid packers or back markers... even if the REAL
> racing is taking place back there. Even though the comentators give
> lip service to the "Vintage Racing Ideal" e.g. "The cars are the
> stars".
> When you come down to it the "personalities" and "high roller-front
> runners" are gonna get the press. Could you just see it? Detailed
> coverage of an intense mid-pack dice between a TR4, MGB and Elva or
> a shoot-out between a passle of Minis, Sprites and Spridgets,
> driven by a bunch of talented nobodies with Brian Redman, or Sir
> Stirling 3 blocks ahead of the pack in a Ferrari or a Corvette?
> . . . .
Well, if I'm going to enter the fray, I might as well start by taking issue
with a good friend like Greg . . .
I certainly agree that the coverage was abominable from an enthusiast's
point of view. But there's no way to put a whole vintage weekend into one
hour and still cover all the "real" action on track - much less include
featurettes on all the interesting cars that are entered.
Perhaps I'm easily pleased (not bloody likely), but I'm just happy to see
this coverage at all - it breaks up the endless hours of motorcycle and boat
races that SpeedVision seems so fond of :-) And that one hour of coverage
gives far more information about the cars and the races than you'll find in
any vintage-racing magazine coverage of the event.
But if SpeedVision concentrates on front-runners and personalities because
they think that's what majority of their audience wants, then they're just
flat wrong. Or lazy. Or both. No one unfamiliar with vintage racing is going
to know Brian Redman (or Bob Akin, for that matter) from Joe Schmo.
Stirling, maybe.
Most folks watching vintage races on television ARE enthusiasts. And there's
not all that many of us - which is why the old GP and sports car races shown
"Legends of Motorsport" come on at 2:30 in the morning.
Actually, my primary interest in watching vintage racing at places like Lime
Rock and Watkins Glen is to see what the track is like - I'd trade a couple
of minutes of any of the races for one complete lap at speed, and on the
proper line, from an in-car camera. If my racing budget and work schedule
ever allow me a trip to these "Far East" tracks, at least I'd know which way
the road goes when the brake markers start to appear.
Jim Hill
Madison WI
|