Knoxville not to be on tv

S

Sprintcar#8Fan

New Member
I just got a call from my dad and he was watching wind tunnel. Well knoxville didn't want to pay speed channel for being there an extra day so we all got you know what! I can't believe it, the biggest race of the year and we don't get to see it! That dirtmotorsports group is a joke. They should pay speed not the track itself. The outlaws need a tv deal bad. The outdoor channel not everyone gets and the races are two weeks old. I understand that a little coverage is better than none, but come on! I'm so mad right now over this whole deal! Like I said, the biggest race of the year and we don't get to see it! What are your thoughts and comments?
 
Dirt Motorsports and The Outdoor Channel has nothing to do with the TV deal for the Knoxville Nationals, the Nationals deal is done solely by Knoxville's promoter and race director, Ralph Capitani with SPEED TV. Knoxville pays for this race themselves and did not have a choice but to cancel their plans for this year. Sorry it does stink, but life does go on...... I did listen to it on the American Dirt Network.com broadcast and it worked out just fine. Way to go Kraig Kinser!

Here's the press release from Sunday........


Weather KOs Knoxville Nationals TV​

Knoxville, IA – August 14, 2005 – by Bruce Neimeth



Continued weather problems finally caused the 45th Annual Knoxville Nationals presented by Midwest Ford Dealers to miss the Saturday date for the first time since the mid-80s. The rescheduling to Sunday has taken the event out of the available TV window.



Senior management at Knoxville Raceway and Speed Channel worked throughout Saturday to keep the 4-hour live broadcast, even extending the start time to 11 pm EDT. When it was determined the races would be rescheduled to Sunday, Speed Channel, the fastest growing motorsports network and home to the “360” Knoxville Nationals, Knoxville Nationals and Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals worked with Knoxville Raceway to find a mutually acceptable prime-time slot for a highlights show.



With the earliest dates carrying into late fall, the logistics and cost involved in rescheduling the equipment and forty crew members it was determined that Knoxville Raceway would return focus to running the Friday and Saturday races this Sunday for the most important people here in Knoxville – the fans, teams and drivers.



According to Ralph Capitani, Director of Racing, “I appreciate Speed Channel working with us during the last few days. Obviously we will starting planning ahead for our 2006 broadcast as soon as possible and build in a timely date to air a tape-delay version of the event in case of weather problems. Hopefully we’ll go at least another 18 or so years before we have to deal with this again.”



Knoxville Raceway, using the in-house video production facility headed up by Kris Krohn, will video-tape today’s races and using already recorded early segments, produce a video-tape for sale in early fall. “Our contract with Speed Channel allows us to produce and market a highlights version of the Knoxville Nationals with a portion of the income shared with Speed Channel” said Bruce Neimeth, Director, Business Development.



The next air dates for Knoxville Raceway events include the 15th Annual “360” Knoxville Nationals on Saturday, August 20th at 8-10pm and the 2nd Annual Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals on Saturday, October 8th at 8-10 pm.



For more information contact Ralph Capitani at (641) 842-5431 or Bruce Neimeth at brucen@Knoxvilleraceway.com raceway.
 
I almost forgot, if you want to blame anybody for the lack of sprint car coverage, blame TNN and Ted Johnson for that one. We had live TV coverage on TNN and them screwballs went and changed management around and ditched the motorsports programing, then Ted inked a deal with SPEED TV a couple of years ago and oops, didn't pay them for their services and got sued! Be thankfull that Dirt Motorsports paid for Ted's debts and has got them back on the map. It may not be the perfect situation but atleast they are on TV weekly.
 
You're right, at least they are on tv. I just hope they have learned from this and the next time it gets rained out we'll be able to watch it. In my opinion they need a tv deal with live coverage to take sprintcar racing to the next level. Maybe 10 to 15 races a year for starters. Start small and see what happens. The nationals have to be shown no matter what. That's the race that will get your average fan started in sprintcar racing. Look at NASCAR with daytona. That got the ball rolling for them. I hate to say it, but I don't think sprintcar racing will ever be as main stream as NASCAR. However there are alot of fans that will watch the WoO on tv and hopefully attract more fans to the sport. I think with a better tv deal everyone wins.
 
They said nothing!!!

hey,


I was at knoxville on sunday for the saturday make up show and the people announcing never said anything about the race being taped or being showen Live. so i dont know if Speed will even show the race at a later time.


thanks cya:)
 
All I know is we spent Friday nite sitting in a motel while the thurs. nite show was mostly ran. Saturday we spent 6 hours waiting at the track until they finally called off the races after it had rained all day. Went sunday and the best "race" was the B-main when Haud passed about 5 cars in three laps to make the A. It was an enjoyable time, but I definately could wait a lifetime to have a rainy nationals weekend like that again.
 
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