Monday, May 21st, 2012
Dear NHRA, please improve your ESPN coverage. It’s Monday of the biggest race of the year and I can’t even get through 30 minutes of your show. I’m a drag racing fan and I am finding it difficult to watch. What does the general public think?
It feels like the same show over and over again. NHRA is overexposed on TV. Cut down the length of the shows and make the content more compelling. Drag racing doesn’t carry over well on TV and people have a seemingly endless selection of on-demand entertainment in the technology age of 2011.
When a drag racing fanatic like journalist and former ESPN host Bret Kepner says, “It’s the same movie every week”, there’s a problem. Even the core audience is bored.
I’m so sick of the fluff packages, the history packages that are the same year after year and the John Force interview asking him about his grandchildren. This show needs to reinvent itself quick. It’s dreadful. Ratings are awful. Here’s a new format – Open, ACTION, ACTION, ACTION, Close. Make it no longer than 90 minutes.
A 3-4 hour program that show cases only
the biggest names in the business does get boring. I’m a dragbike guy and I hate waiting 50 mins. on the hour for less than 5 mins. of PSM. If there’s an upset
in any class they seem to over look it
because they are focused on watching only the big names, do some profiles on the new comers every once in awhile.
TV is all about story telling. NASCAR comes across as a good television story. It’s easy to follow the beginning, middle, and end, and all the drama in between. Drag Racing is lousy TV – 5-7 second blasts over and over again. All of the things that make drag racing great in person, smoke, fire, thunderous noise, don’t carry over on TV. NHRA can have a good show, it just has to be done differently. Who is going to watch 6 hours of US Nationals coverage on Labor Day? I want a quick “in your face show” that leaves me wanting more.
Ditto! remember the NHRA today show in the
late 80′s early 90′s, quick and to the point.