Television has some similarities to racing. When you’re having a tough night you have to improvise in the moment for the best possible performance you can. That was the case this weekend, we’ll touch back on that in a moment.
This weekend was my second live broadcast of the ARCA Menards Series from Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The day started like a usual race day. Get to the track early, get familiar with the drivers, the cars and dig for some stories, or (as TV people call them) nuggets of information for the show. For a reporter, the crossover between ARCA and K&N is wonderful. There’s drivers and teams who run both, which helps getting familiar with people in ARCA. I know I’ll run into people like Mark McFarland, Kris Bowen, Mardy Lindley and David Gilliland during the season in both series’. Which is nice because sometimes there’s a bit of hazing for new reporters or media to a series. Driver and crew members usually feel you out before working with you in their environment, it’s a trust thing. Even the crews and drivers I hadn’t known were very open and eager to give some information.
One of the best parts about racing, is if the people like you, you’re treated like one of their own. I’d walk from hauler to hauler taking notes and most teams offer some lunch or a drink. They would invite me up into the front lounge to chat with their drivers one-on-one. Very rarely does the media get treatment like that in the upper echelons of racing…but this was ARCA and it has a family racing atmosphere. A little while later, it was time to visit the ARCA series trailer to get familiar with the night’s victory lane procedure. It was nice to take a few minutes and sit down with Mark Gundrum and PR director Charlie Krall. Charlie was fantastic to work with, always assuring if there’s anything our TV crew needed, just ask.
After qualifying it was time to fax (test) our equipment for the broadcast. In hindsight, I should have tested the mic while cars were on track because our microphone system works off an RF signal, much like the radios in the cars. Our focus for pre-race was the drivers who had experience at Five Flags Speedway compared to the drivers who had none. Our pre-race interviews went off without a hitch but once the engines fired up and the radio traffic started, I lost communication to the truck. Something must have been interfering with the radio frequency of our mic. We tried reporting a few stories from pit road but the reception was spotty and the reverberation through the headset made hearing yourself impossible. I could hear Bob Dillner and Jim Tretow but could barely hear the producer and director counting me into a report. The engineers in the MAVTV broadcast truck were quick to address the issue, they fixed the internal feedback to communicate with the truck but the mic was going to take some time.
DON’T PANIC! That was the advice I received from all my TV mentors when doing a live show. Live shows are never perfect and you always hope for the best outcome. It was time to go into pit producer mode. Find the stories, get the info and get it to Bob and Jim in the broadcast booth. As soon as we saw Travis Braden with a fire under the hood, we relayed it to the truck right away. We went investigating if Kayden Honeycutt took two or four tires during his last pit stop and gathered up as much information for the booth talent. With about thirty laps left and communication back to the truck restored, producer David Foster was quick on his feet to devise a plan for victory lane. The truck would open my mic at the very last second while I did a two count in my head before talking. To avoid the reverberation in the headset, I would ride the volume of my IFB pack while pulling one headphone aside to hear the person we’re interviewing. David’s plan worked and the post race show looked flawless.
So, as I mentioned before, television is a lot like racing. Theres always a few bugs to work out before getting into the swing of things. We started off solid, then lost some ground in the middle of the race. We planned a strategy and rallied back for a strong finish. At the end of the night we were laughing and joking while giving handshakes and pats on the back. The next stop for me is the season opener for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Two weeks later the Tour returns to South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia for the first time since 2001. The next ARCA Menards Series race for me on MAVTV is Salem in April. We already have a plan in place for a mic rehearsal. It’s exciting to be going back to Salem for the second time, it gives me more confidence going into a race being familiar with the landscape. Much like a driver returning to a track for the second time. See…there’s that TV and racing correlation again. See you at Salem!
-Derek Pernesiglio
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