Who Needs Three?

At the risk of joining the never-ending critiques of television’s view of racing, I have a suggestion. Dump the usual model of three commentators in the booth in favor of two.

Whether it’s an ex-driver or former crew chief, put a knowledgeable guy together with an experienced “play-by-play” caller. That way, the show is forced to focus on what’s happening on the track — instead of what’s going on in the talking heads residing in the booth.

Howard Cosell is long since dead (but likely still providing astute analysis of the hereafter). So why keep trying to hitch television sports to the same tired three-man formula? Cosell’s presence on Monday Night Football made that approach perfect and since then — what?

Racing fans tune in to follow their favorite teams and drivers. The more focus on those teams and drivers, the more interest by fans. But producers inevitably seem to have their eye on expanding coverage by adding drama in the booth that captures the imagination of the casual fan — or by having explanations drawn up to be sure the casual observer knows a pit stop from a pit pass.

I can’t tell for sure from where I’m sitting, but most producers strike me as the classic ego-driven nut cases who need to see their own vision come to life. Hand them a TV show and presto! It’s a shame the emphasis sometimes seems to be more on ego and less on vision.

All producers not only know television, they know sports. If so, then they should all check out yesterday’s telecast of one of the all-time best Super Bowls. Two knowledgeable, well-prepared guys in the booth focused on the challenges facing the individuals on the field. When it was over, it was clear everyone had just viewed a great game. The commentary was great because it wasn’t the focus.

The three-man approach has a lot of vulnerabilities, chief among them the tendency to believe what goes on in the booth is more important than on the track. Above all, it allows less talented people to work in the booth and puts less emphasis on individual preparation. With two guys, they have to walk and talk as opposed to argue and kibitz. There’s no hiding a lack of talent — or preparation.

Given the budgets, there’s no reason producers can’t find two commentators who can carry an entire race. If the budgets are big for shows like NASCAR, money is no object. If the shows are run on a nickle like SpeedTV’s F-1 telecast, it’s easy enough to pay one less guy to travel to the studio in Charlotte.

With two guys in the booth, it naturally puts more focus on the pit road reporters, who can provide updates on the day’s drama for individual teams. That’s what fans want to know.

So what about making it a show? Well, as NASCAR has learned over the last couple of years, any sports show is about authentic drama (see again this year’s Super Bowl and its ratings). The more you hype a sport in the course of competition, the less authentic it becomes. Put the hype into the pre-race show by creating real story lines.

I share the concern of producers who worry about the “long middle” portion of motor races that inevitably follow a big start and precede a big finish. It’s just not possible to fill the air time with strategy discussions or updating what is going on in the pits of each contender. In addition to lobbying for shorter races (in the case of NASCAR), there are other possibilities beyond relying on the pit road reporters.

Get two guys in the booth who are interesting enough that their discussion due to the passion, knowledge, insight, humor and anecdotal information actually engage the viewer without getting in the way of the race. Who needs a third guy in the football broadcast booth, for instance, when you have John Madden?.

The formula is as clear for motor racing on TV as yesterday’s Super Bowl. Team a bona fide TV professional like Mike Joy, Bob Varsha or Lee Diffy with an engaging former athlete who doesn’t waste time talking about what he did ten years ago. In NASCAR, the best choices are obvious and are currently available such as Darrell Waltrip, Andy Petree, Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach Jr. In open-wheel and road racing, Scott Goodyear, Calvin Fish and Dorsey Schroeder set the standard. In the NHRA, Mike Dunn is superb.

What we need is more talent, more racing and fewer commentators.

Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jonathan@jingrambooks.com

Monday, February 4th, 2008 Filed under Uncategorized |