Monte Dutton On NASCAR

by Monte Dutton



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Click for printable version of this column BIG BROTHER COMES TO NASCAR AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Sometime in the not-too-distant future, NASCAR's director of broadcasting, George Orwell, will offer a glimpse at the brave new world of televised race coverage. Or perhaps the announcement will be consigned to his bright young assistant, Aldous Huxley. For those who do not recognize those literary figures, they are generally identified with a rather pessimistic vision of the future, one similar to the one being crafted in the NASCAR enclaves in Daytona Beach and Charlotte. The long-awaited "TV package," centrally negotiated on behalf of all its tracks by NASCAR, a.k.a. Big Brother, will soon be completed. All sorts of awful rumors are circulating concerning the potential impact of those negotiations, which are actually being headed up by a gentleman named Bray Cary. All the major TV players -- CBS/TNN, ABC/ESPN, NBC, Fox -- will be lining up at the NASCAR trove early this week to try to secure rights to "America's Fastest Growing Sport." Journalism is apparently not high on anyone's list of priorities. NASCAR intends to sell off its rights in a new package that will bring in considerably higher revenues, while at the same time increasing the governing body's control over what goes out over the airwaves. The primary vehicle in this race to censorship is a centralized production company that NASCAR is taking in-house. A television feed will be furnished to the lucky parties who get to do the announcing, commercial-splicing and other meat-and-potatoes duties. Most of the real shots will be called by Mr. Cary and his storm troopers. Among the symptoms of this brave new world: NASCAR operatives have been circulating in the garage area, quizzing drivers, crew chiefs and owners -- all the bigwigs -- about what TV reporters they like and which they don't. Those who ask tough questions are unlikely to be included in the popularity rankings. Within two to three years, the "base" versions of NASCAR telecasts could be rather vanilla. That's because all the newfangled technology will be in place on a new NASCAR network, which will provide the bells and whistles -- in-car cameras, feeds between driver and crew, state-of-the-art graphics -- only to those who subscribe on a pay-per-view basis. What viewers see of the race will be at NASCAR's behest. NASCAR-approved coverage is unlikely to include much in the way of the profane, the unruly or the corporate-unfriendly. NASCAR's vision of the sport might actually embrace the mythical "family values" that everyone likes to talk about these days. In other words, no more anger, no more throwing things, no more human emotion. Following the race, most of the interviews will be not on the network coverage, but rather on NASCAR's channel. This could include a lot more of, say, Bobby Labonte preening with wife and cherub-faced children than Dale Earnhardt snarling at Rusty Wallace. Obviously, many of these dire predictions will be denied by the publicly happy-faced operatives of NASCAR Nation. This kind of censorship is often dispensed in the name of individual groups -- baseball, basketball, football teams -- but only in local networks on those teams' behalf. Such a state of affairs in nationwide, comprehensive coverage apparatus seems astonishing. Ah, such are the new realities. At some point -- and the week of the Winston Cup Awards Banquet in New York would seem to be the likely site -- this great advance in the stock-car dictatorship will have to be announced and exposed to some modest scrutiny. At which time, a fitting question might be, "Whatever happened to journalism?" COPYRIGHT 1999 THE GASTON GAZETTE

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