BeigeJournal

I spent a good part of May 30 watching automobiles go round and round very fast, first the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, then much of the Indianapolis 500, then the last half of the Coca-Cola 600.

I’ve become quite a formula 1 fan this year, and have seen all the races on the Speed Channel. By comparison, I think the oval track racing, both Indycar and NASCAR, is pretty dull. They just go round and round and round, all very fast left turns. I really think the road courses are much more interesting to watch, with the sharp, low-speed corners, the chicanes, the passing at different parts of the course. I also think the Speed Channel coverage is better. They seem to, for one thing, realize that there are other things to put on TV and other things for us to watch, and they start about 20 minutes before the race with some pre-race commentary, with a timer counting down to the race so we know when the real action starts, the race itself, then maybe a half hour after the race with some replays of highlights and the English language part, or part thereof, of the interviews with the podium finishers. Then they are done. They do not turn a ninety-minute race into a six-hour TV extravaganza. They also seem to do a much better job of displaying the relative positions of the racers than the broadcast networks do, with much clearer graphics.