ABC coverage--PATHETIC

[Ickxfan]

To the IRL and all sanctioning bodies, dont let ABC telecast your races. Regardless of the rain delay, it was horrible coverage by ABC. When there is a lot of action on the track, they go to commercials or interview someone. Whereas, when there is a yellow, they follow the cars around.

[Ickxfan]

I am of course, refering to the INDY "500 commercials"

[Jay]

Isn't all American TV like that?

[Liz]

Yes, it was sorry coverage. It was funny that Montoya blew off their interviews and said "It's just another race" and they all got so horrified ... of course to people outside the United States it IS just another race, and to someone like him especially. And the announcers talked about him as if he'd never been in an open wheel car before, just because he'd never run round and round and round and round and round on their track.

And what was that slap at Montoya they made when they were listening to him talking to Chip and one of them said "I can't understand a thing he says in that thick accent of his." EXCUSE ME? Is that because he's not from Alabama?

And I had to laugh when Tom Sneva was trying to get Montoya to talk to him on his victory lap and Montoya just ignored him!

[Crash Test]

I was planning to stay up and watch the whole race, but i was just too tired after a weekend at the track. So i got up at 4am to change the video tape to find nothing happening. go to bed, wake up at 8 to watch the 600. So i caught the last 15 laps. From the tone of the commentators voices, it was almost as if there was something wrong, but i think the problem may have been that Juan was in the lead, and not one of the good ol boys...

They just didn't seem as enthusiastic as they should have.. what did you think??

[Liz]

They don't want to have to face The Wrath Of George - just like Hitler at the Olympics when Jesse Owens beat all his "fair haired boys."

Wouldn't I love to hear what George was saying in his private box as JPM swept over the line!

[Jay]

I could just hear in their voices that they wanted Montoya to tag the wall on those last few laps.

If it wasn't for the poor pit strategy we surely would have seen a TCG 1-2 finish. I have to think that we were watching an amateur race with 1 semi-pro team. Do you think the fellow Cart drivers will accuse TCG of going back to kindergarden and beeting on the little kids?

[Jared]

Look, Montoya and TCGR made the IRL boys (and girls) look like amateurs out there and their win validated the opinion that CART teams are better. But this Indy-bashing is pathetic.

Liz, did you ever think that just maybe Montoya didn't hear Sneva? He had just won the race and his crew was congratulating him over the radio and maybe Sneva's ABC signal didn't reach Juan.

And the comments on the other thread about the women in the race and the supposed "sexist" attitudes of the IRL drivers and announcers. I'm sure that if Sarah Fisher got a CART ride, the CART drivers would be very tolerant and unoffensive. Right. Sure they would. They whine and call each other names enough.

And yes, I think some of the excitement of the announcers was gone in the last few laps, because Montoya was leading/dominating. If you believe Robin Miller, Bob Jenkins hates CART and its drivers.

BTW, I think Montoya was practicing his snotty F1-attitude for next year.

[Neil C]

Liz, if it's "just another race" why did TCG and Montoya bother to go through all the expense just to race there?

The announcers didnt slam Juan for his accent. Luyendyk merely pointed out that it was one of the reasons he was hard to understand on the radio, and Sneva had a laugh at Arie because he (Arie) has an accent.

[Liz]

I didn't say it was "just another race", I said that JPM SAID it was, and I could see him doing it just to make that girl jump up and down. (I have no idea if he meant it or not.) I know Chip doesn't think it was "just another race" as he said so many times during the afternoon - he has always been a big fan of the 500.

And I do believe Montoya was ignoring Sneva; after all, Little Al could hear him fine! But that is only my opinion.

On the other thread I was not talking about CART pilotes as that was not the subject. I daresay there are as many sexist pigs in CART as in the IRL, but I hope not. Anyway she (Fisher) sounds as if she can handle herself whatever she has to deal with and good for her.

I still don't think the comment about the accent was an innocent one.

[Jared]

Okay, Liz. If Montoya did ignore Sneva, what did Tom do to make Montoya want to snub his cool-down lap interview? Other than that, go back and read what I believe happened to cause the communication breakdown. The TCGR crew was busy congratulating Juan and Sneva couldn't get through to him.

[Dave S]

If only the shows producer would ignore Sneva! I liked him as a driver, but as an announcer he just blows chunks. I chalk as much as I can of the missing action on the fact that it's a live telecast, but definitely a poor show that could have been done a lot better. For out & out rancor though, you can't top Arrute(?). The guy is a total IRL shill.

[Jay]

I wouldn't be surprised if Montoya was ignoring the request for the incar commentary at the end of the race. He clearly did not enjoy commenting on the start of the race at the beginning. He was probably sick and tired of being asked, 'how does it feel to race in the Iny 500?'. Which to him is about 3 steps down from where he should be.

I don't think that his team was talking to him over the radio. The TV guys have to ask the team if they can talk to the driver over the in car radio. TCG more than likely set it up for the commentators, and Juan ignored them.

Besides, Interviews are for after the race not during it.

[Liz]

I agree, Jay. He had probably said everything he wanted to say by the way he crossed the line ahead of the rest of the pack!

My favourite line of his was the closing line of his interview with that girl, whoever she was - she asked him "What do you have to do to win the race today?" and he rolled his eyes and said "Get across the finish line first?"

Which he did.

[Dan Friel]

IRL - rubbish

ABC coverage - rubbish..

I was saved by the fact that I was watching it on Sky Sports in Britain, and when you guys went to the adverts, our coverage continued. We got adverts every half an hour, I reckoned the USA got them every 10 minutes - no way would I be watching that..

[Liz]

Every TEN minutes - we should live so long! 65-75 commercials, promos and other interruptions over 2 hours works out to a lot more than that, I think.

I wish somebody would just buy a block of time and run one advert and say "The first half hour of this race is being brought to you by XYZ Corporation without commercial interruption. Gentlemen Start Your Engines!" And I bet they'd sell a lot more of whatever they had to sell.

[TimD]

Now THAT is a neat idea.

I'd buy.

[Liz]

ABC lists their coverage of Milwaukee as starting at 6:00 p.m. Presumably so they can finish covering NASCAR.

TSN, on the other hand, begins its coverage at 4:00.

So if Gil wins, I can see it twice! Except I'll have to hear Page & Parker register a Concentrated Expression of No Interest in him as long as they possibly can, in hopes that Mikey will win ...

ONE MORE WIN FOR GIL AND HE GOES INTO FIRST PLACE.