[Kevin Panzino]

So what exactly is the "joke"?

Looks like pretty darn decent coverage to me!

Are you saying NHRA needed to convince one of the big media giants to cancel some Big Bang Theory, America's Got Talent, Dancing with the Starts or Will and Grace episodes to make sure some 14-second stockers or throttle-stop dragsters get on national TV?

"So much for getting the NHRA brand in front of the public?" What exactly do you propose? I have a steadfast rule in the plant I am blessed to manage: "You are not entitled to a stage from which to stand and complain if you can't provide a sincere and productive suggestion to correct the issue."
So what is the suggestion? Round by round national coverage of sportsman quals? Maybe the aging brain fade is really setting in, but I cant recall ever seeing any in-depth sportsman action from the 1992 keystones, or 1994 summerats on national television, nor have I ever seen a local sprint car race on Friday night national TV coverage (other than one which wasn't embroiled with a most unfortunate incident)...

Perhaps our beloved forum brethren who are so passionate, devoted and obviously knowledgeable in all the details of what it takes to put a non-dramatized, non-scripted (and in the current spectrum, a relatively quite slow racing program) on national TV will step in and take over the program to provide the widespread changes for which the paying sponsors of our hobby (yes, that is what it is) will decide the dramatically increased investment of expanded national TV coverage is financially justified. Yep, lets make sure every round is displayed on national TV because we all work so hard on our junk and love our hobby.... 283 U/SA car vs the 15 second fwd stock eliminator or not.. No worries about the quad turbo, 900-cubic inch, 99-stage nitrous, no-prep cars complete with scantily clad lovelies staging them on the other channel.. Nope, don't worry bout that, the masses (for which the advertising dollars are chasing) will no doubt chose to instead tune in to the broadcast to watch the stock eliminator 4cyl fwd run a ZZZZ/sa Pacer battling each other in round 3 on a Thursday.

I hope the sarcasm of I what I put forth is apparent. Your damn right, I personally would get a kick watching the UUUU/SA run the ZZZZ/sa, but I (and all of you) are not the mainstream. Of course I want to see our classes represented better online. And there are plenty of classes, and plenty of 'characters' (and I use that term lightly) that would be tons of fun to see represented online. But can we come to grips with what we are up against, and please come to terms with reality on what would actually make good TV coverage? I am terribly sorry to say I suspect less than .01% of the general public wants to watch two high-letter stockers or superstockers, or two throttle-stop .90 cars race each other.
Obviously the FS/X classes make good footage and script. The Hemi shootout is of course always tons of fun and also makes for great footage, as would some of the faster class stock and superstock class races. But the entire entertainment package is what sells. And that is always going to be the faster class of cars, the unique driver personality/peculiarities, and yes, a bit of 'tension' between the competitors. I'm not going to go so far as to say 'Drama' because that whole aspect of the other 'popular car racing' type of TV shows has become thoroughly overdone, pathetically scripted, and has now begun to border on a Judge Judy/The People of Walmart/MTV Cribs show all combined. But just a little tiny bit of that tension and excitement on the part of the competitors would be just fine for us.

Thanks Mr. McKenna for the support and promotion of our beloved addiction, in spite of the negativity of what I truly believe to be less than 5% of the roster of active racers (but unfortunately a far higher percentage of the active posters).