TV Times

TV Times – Mike Mulhern says, “NASCAR’s soaring TV ratings crashed and burned over the summer”

Monday, September 15, 2008 619 reads
Lou Modestino

Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem (NC)Journal wrote that NASCAR’s soaring TV ratings crashed and burned over the summer. All that has put NASCAR’s Chase to the Championship into a deep hole. Mike backed up his hypothesis with the following. Turner Network’s six-week TV stint was a bust. The tire debacle at Indy was another major hit. The Nationwide Series didn’t help at all. The Olympics blew away NASCAR for weeks and the COT (Car of Tomorrow) is a disaster. He also feels that it’s a three-driver Cup show, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and most recently Jimmy Johnson. Mulhern adds that the teams also hate the COT.

The ESPN brass disagrees for the most part with Mulhern. But, the Olympics did put a dent in the ratings. Bad weather at a number of races contributed significantly to the downturn in the TV ratings which makes sense. One other item on Mike’s list was that ESPN is giving viewers too many things to process with their extensive coverage. That item could be true and puts a lot of viewers in overload. From our perspective, NASCAR along with ESPN/ABC/ESPN2 have their last shot coming right up now with the Chase to the Championship to perk up the ratings.

ESPN earned a 3.0 household coverage rating and 3,973,812 viewers for its coverage of the rain-delayed Chevy Rock and Roll 400 Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway Sunday afternoon. The race was originally scheduled to air Saturday night in prime time on ABC but was postponed to Sunday due to the effects of Tropical Storm Hanna. Last year’s race earned a 4.2 rating when it aired on ABC and was one of ABC’s highest-rated Sprint Cup races in 2007. Sunday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond, delayed two days due to Tropical Storm Hanna, earned a 1.0 household coverage rating and 1,431,872 viewers on ESPN2, down from the 1.4 for last year’s race that ran and aired on schedule. This report came from the ESPN PR office and StockCarGazette.com.

Rumors continue to circulate that the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks could be in trouble. Reports tell of Ford, Dodge and Chevy telling NASCAR that they should nix the series because they are not selling trucks. That’s a fact and due to the spiking gas and diesel prices. If NASCAR did scratch the CTS, it would devastate the NASCAR ladder system and take out a lot of drivers and teams on the way up and those on the way down. Let’s hope that this rumor doesn’t ever become fact.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was appointed as the Formula One Teams Association’s first chairman. The association was set up by the 10 Formula One teams to work closely with governing body the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to help improve the sport.

Ferrari said the meeting had agreed five primary objectives and established three commissions: a Sporting Working Group will be led by McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh; a Technical Working Group by Honda team principal Ross Brawn and a Commercial Working Group by Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore. Montezemolo is the top executive at Fiat, which also owns Ferrari and Maserati brands. Luca also sits on other major Italian industrial councils.

The 11th Annual Coronado Speed Festival is rapidly approaching. Zoom on down to the Naval Air Station, North Island in San Diego on September 27- 28. This year promises to be “bigger and better” with more cars and the additional 9th race is back again! So, when you are looking for somewhere fun to spend a day or weekend and a unique experience appropriate for all ages, look no further than this year’s “Race At The Base”. You can look forward to:

• Watching 220 of the world’s most unique machines race.
• Stepping back in time to enjoy auto racing’s rich history with tours of the racecar pits and interviews with drivers.
• Visiting the car corral, which shows off a variety of automobiles that range in age, model and make which include Lamborghini, Porsche, Viper, Mustang and Mini’s.
• Enjoying musical entertainment in the Car Club Corral.
• Visiting the 3rd annual Car Show.
• Purchase racing equipment and accessories in vendor village.
• Seeing a multitude of current Navy jets and helicopters, special boats and hovercraft, as well as vintage aircraft and step aboard these massive and historical machines.
• Lunchtime Activities:
  Drifting Exhibition by the Drift Circuit:
  The U.S. Navy Parachute Team, Leap Frogs.

The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) announced that Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Nico Izzi is the 2008 AMA Motocross/Supercross Rookie of the Year. In his first full professional season, Izzi started the year strong by finishing third overall in the Supercross Lites East Championship. The momentum continued to the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship presented by FMF where Izzi claimed fifth overall in the Motocross Lites standings.

AMA Rookie of the Year honors are awarded to the eligible rookie rider with the most points accumulated in the Motocross Lites and Supercross Lites classes.

The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) announced an exciting opportunity for race fans to meet and greet the biggest stars of the new extreme sport of Endurocross at the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum on Friday, October 3, from 7-9 p.m.

Pro riders expected to attend the session include Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ricky Dietrich, Destry Abbott and Damon Huffman; Red Bull KTM’s Mike Lafferty, Taddy Blasuziak and Mike Brown; and Zip-Ty Suzuki’s Ty Davis.

On the tube this weekend is the following. Starting Friday at 11 a.m. Speed airs Cup Practice from Dover. At 3 p.m. ESPN2/TSN both offer Cup Qualifying from Dover. ESPN2 airs NASCAR Cup Practice at Dover at 4:30 p.m. Speed returns with NASCAR Nationwide Practice at 5:30 p.m.

Saturday coverage starts at 11 a.m. as Speed/TSN2 air NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice from Dover. Speed airs the Grand-Am race from Tooele, UT at 1 p.m. ESPN2/TSN2 both air NASCAR Nationwide Practice from Dover at 3:30 p.m. ESPN2 comes back with Sprint Cup Final Practice from Dover at 6 p.m. ESPN2 offers NHRA Qualifying at 10 p.m.

Sunday has a late start with ABC going with the Cup race from Dover at 2 p.m. At the same time Speed airs the FIM Superbike race from Italy Round 1 with Round 2 set for 3 p.m. TSN2 offers the Cup race from Dover at 4 p.m. while The Duce broadcasts the NHRA Finals from Dallas at 7 p.m.

NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.