That's a great way of putting it...

This is GREAT feedback! Some of the decision makers for the show lurk on this forum and some do not...I'll make sure that all of them see these comments. I'll also work toward keeping this thread alive as the shows progress so opinions about any progress [or lack thereof] can be expressed.

Carry on!

My thoughts for a winning format...

quick intro to event
intro to location of event and review format and track layout
intro key competitors
let Chad drive the courses while giving a description of whats happening (my favorite part of the into show)

play by play of action for event 1
showcase a car/driver during play by play as that person comes up to start

play by play of action for event 2
showcase a car/driver during play by play as that person comes up to start

play by play of action for event 3
showcase a car/driver during play by play as that person comes up to start

Mix in some design and engineering features, tech info, and random Chadness and you have a show.

This was posted on Facebook some time ago. I had nothing better to do so I watched it. Despite being nearly 30 years old I still found it enjoyable and thought why cant we have similar cvg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZfKDlvCtDQ

These are good things to know.

I had looked up going to one of the events at the beginning of the year. Got on the website, saw that just a few laps were run on the road course, autocross, and speed stop. Cost to enter was $500. Cannot find now, where or what I was searching

I too have only read where the seat time has been very high and people sometimes get tired before they run out of track time. Good problem to have as a driver/participant.

Unfortunately, it also appears this has been a direct function of the lower numbers of participants than hoped for. More benefit to the ones that do sign up!

The only LOSERS in the USCA events are the guys that are making all manor of excuses for NOT showing up.

You'll have the time of your life.... there are FREE instructors... your FRIENDS are there... GREAT VENDORS are there to help you and answer questions...

Novice to Expert... you're going to have a great time being with similar folks that are more than willing to share info and help you out. You WILL meet new friends - you WILL meet people you'll want to know...


I can't speak for the TV show - haven't seen it - but I went to TWO of the first USCA events to support them and my friends and I had a friggin' blast and I wasn't even driving. (driving people nuts does not count).

Could someone in a position of power please contact DirecTV and get them to change MAV-TV into an HD Channel. Other people are claiming that the show is in HD on Dish. Home videos from the 60's have better quality.

Thanks

X2...

Why yes it is in HD on dish. Ahhhh....HD goodness. Bet you guys wish you had dish. Sure is nice in HD. I can't even imagine watching stuff in SD. I block all my SD channels; I mean, they could hurt your eyes or something. :lmao:

You suck. Watching a show that was filmed in HD... Shown in SD... on an HD TV... really blows dude. I know there are a lot of people that agree.

Totally agree. Just couldn't help but gloat. LOL :bump:

I watched the shows in HD on Dish satellite. My only complaint is that the HD cameras make even Jimi Day and Kyle Tucker look like hell...and they're the 2 cutest guys I know :)

I was really looking forward to this series…….I have watched two episodes so far……..I thought it was a suppose to be a show about finding the ultimate street car……instead, it's a show with people talking about cars and almost no action or info about the cars themselves.

If it doesn't get better very quickly, I won't bother watching.

MAN CRUSH!!! LOL



Jimi is a good looking stud!

I am one of the slow guys that participated at Texas and gateway in St. Louis to have a good time actually driving my car and hanging out with car guys. The optima folks are trying to put together a great opportunity for car guys to have the chance to drive on historic tracks and I am very surprised that more people aren't taking advantage of it. I can assure anybody thinking about coming out, you'll get more drive time than you want.

As for the 2 episodes, the first one did a good job of setting the stage and laying out the format to qualify for the finals in Vegas. The second one was at total let down. They have to focus on the fast cars, details about the builds, and most of all the Competition that is going on between them trying to get the invite.

The guys that truly have a chance to win the whole thing need to be made into the stars so the audience can latch onto their favorite car and driver so the audience will have a reason to follow the series.

FOCUS on the COMPETITION.

Jeff

I had another idea...

How about trying to find a way to make sure that every competitor's car makes it on the TV show at least once? A good time might be to show some video of the lead\follow laps at the start of the road course event. I'm pretty sure the whole field rolled by the chase camera car at least once during this time at Gateway.

This does two things, it shows the viewer ALL of the different types of cars that competed in the event and it throws a bone to all of the participants at the event.

Agreed.

USCA people... Please read this.

To begin, I do not have Dish or Direct TV so have not been able to watch any of the episodes, and cannot comment on the show.

I have however attended 2 events so far, and will try to squeeze another one in if my off road racing schedule allows :). Jimi and crew do a great job putting on the events, and like most car related activities, the people and good times are what make it memorable.

Mr. Weld has commented on the attendance levels; which if you are one of the attendee's is a good thing for track time, but if you’re the promoter not so good. This is a business, and like most business will not sustain with limited customers. I am not sure if it is a cost thing or just the fact that our small PT world is now flooded with events of all kinds.

I love racing as much as anyone and would hate to see things go back to the days of 4-5 events per year, in total across the board. Optima is trying to expand the market as they know the PT crowd is not large enough to support the sheer number of events out there. We at ASCS share the same issue as Jimi and have changed our model due to it.

In the end the sponsors will ultimately determine if this series will survive. All we can do is attend as many as we can, and show them we appreciate what they are doing for the hobby.

I have not seen the MAV production (don't get it), but have helped a bit at the Vegas events the last three years. Those finished productions had a mix of sponsor, vendor and competitor stories along with track action. Some episodes were better than others.

Chris and Jeff you guys are on point - this is the formula and the TV production people know it. Viewers need to get hooked on the plot and care about the characters. No matter whether it's a car show or Gone with the Wind.

Either the director needs to be fired, or the sponsors need to let them do their job. JMHO.

Mister?? LOL



Brian -- I'm trying to flog these guys into attending.... So far most of them only have ever run the "Cup O'excuses" event. Frankly -- as much as I love the series -- I'm really more about the guys going out to SOMETHING -- ANYTHING - to use their cars. Once they do - they'll be so hooked... the only excuses being made will be to their wives for why they're not home for her birthday/wedding anniversary/Xmas/first child birth... LOL

Personally I can't imagine being offered a chance to drive on some of the best known / renowned tracks in our country and not taking advantage of it...

Agree 1000% with you Greg, if we had .001% of the people on the web talking about how fast they are actually show up to prove it, you could not ever get on the track.

Texas was fun, but Daytona was insane. There is some physical transformation that happens to your body right around 150 MPH, which was around the middle of the high banked turns, that you will not get too many other places.

I haven't attended an event yet this year, heck this I've only had 1 wknd to myself this summer. I have attended events in the past couple years and even made it to Vegas last year for the OUSCI finals, so I know what goes on in the background and what fun it can be.
IMO, if MAV does not change the production format and what is delivered to the viewer, this series will not last. I deleted the Laguna Seca episode from my DVR as soon as I finished watching, while I still have all my events from last year.

I agree with everyone here saying we need to get out to the events to show sponsors people are interestes.My sched will finally allow me to visit MIS this month, I even invited my co-worker hoping he'll check it out. The bottom line is we want to grow the sport and expose it to new drivers and generations. People who have never been to a PT event will probably want to see it on tv before driving 3hrs the first time having no idea what to expect.

Improving what is to be delivered should be easy because I'm sure they already have the footage. MAV just has to be willing to get rid of the current formula of presentation. If I wasn't generally interested in the sport already, I would have turned away after the first 15 min.

Yeah I laughed at that too.

Reminds me of a really good golf joke. :D

:topic:

Aww, what the hell...

One Sunday this guy’s on the links and he’s having the best round of his life! 10 under par and he’s thinking he’ll go for the course record.

All of a sudden his mobile phone rings and it’s the doctor on the phone. “Hello, Mr. Weld?” Yes says the guy. “Your wife’s been in a terrible car accident and we need you down here right away!” Ok Weld says, I’m golfing but I’ll be right over. After he hangs up he thinks to himself, you know, she’s already had the accident and I’m having the round of my life; I’ll just finish the back nine and get over there pronto. Sure enough, the guy has his best round ever and heads over to the hospital.

With a dismayed look on his face, the Dr. says, “WTH were you??” Your wife was conscious for a short while and she was asking for you. Now she’s slipped into a coma and has little brain activity! She’ll be bed ridden the rest of her life and you’ll have to take care of her every need for the rest of her life. You’ll need to feed and clothe and bathe her, and you’ll have to give up your golf and car hobbies. Sh*t, really? Weld says.

“Naw, I’m just fu**ing with you, your wife's fine.” the Dr. says with a smile. “What’d you shoot?”

(all respect to Gwen!)

:lol: :cheers:

Now...:topic:

RIGHT!!! the last 20 min session at Daytona had 1 car in it!!! everyone was so worn out from driving all day!!!! that this guy had 20mins under the lights at historic Daytona all to himself.....NASCAR teams over 10,000 bucks an hour for testing, and this dude for his entry and he even used the 100 bucks off we had going....



keyboard racers....bring your cars out ugly or not

Tonight's episode, Texas, was much better. Not because I happen to be in it :lol:
I like the fact they showed a lot more action. It was a bit crazy at the Autocross racing around with Chad and camera crew running around, but they got some never before seen angles. I am glad they trusted me and some others to get that close. Play by play, corner by corner commentary in the middle of the Autocross was awesome! I want more!
They can't always show everyone I guess, but overall, a huge step in the right direction.
I am looking foreword to the rest of the season.

I completely agree Brian. This was my favorite episode yet. :thumbsup:

I definitely enjoyed it way more than the Laguna Seca episode for sure.

First I agree with you Brian. Second I don't get MAV so I can't comment on it.
I built my car over the course of a year after going to the El Toro ASCS event and wanted to get into the action. Never autocrossed or road raced before. I gutted my car and transformed it into what is is today. I missed Laguna Seca but participated in the Fontana event even though i had not even shaken the car down. I did terribly but like most have said the event was well run and I had a blast. I was on the fence for the Portland event for several reasons. I took advantage of a discount offered by Ridetech (thanks Bret) drove almost 1000 miles one way, got a speeding ticket, slept in my truck and participated with my car even though it still had some issues which ultimately took me out of the action during the second session on the track. Lots of heavy hitters at the event and again i did not finish well but i learned a little bit more about the car, driving and met some great people and got to know others a little better. While I wish I had the ability to travel to some of the other great tracks I look forward to participating in this series when it comes back around to the West Coast.

Dangit... It's on my DVR at home in Missouri (I hope) and I'm still stuck in Florida and won't be home until Monday... Sounds like I've got even more motivation to get home now. Can't wait.

I agree. I was on the edge of my seat watching that. I could feel the competition building. Chad does a great job of announcing a showdown. Give him some free rein to make it happen.

The first half of the show felt like an episode of My Classic Car or LOKAR Car Show. Drop the Car Show format and go with the performance. Do a breakout about the car as it pulls up to the line.

We dont need soo much USCA information. It still feels a bit infomercial like. All of that info could have been given while showing the cars going around the track.

Anyone else notice that MAV-TV is now a sponsor here.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe they have been and I just didn't notice...

I did. :) We're trying to do our part to promote the channel and this show. This involves both members and sponsors of this site and I think we should do what we can to watch it and provide feedback so they can make the shows even better.

They also have a lot of other cool car and boat racing that I watch. :)

Being one of the biggest critics of the Laguna Seca show, I think it's only fair that I review their 2nd attempt.

It was better. They had a lot more racing coverage and Chads commentary during the auto-x was cool. It was nice to be able to actually hear the cars while they were racing. They do still need some work on their editing (I saw footage from Laguna Seca and Daytona on this episode). Overall, I wasn't to excited to watch the show and if it was anything like the Laguna show, it would have been the last episode I would have watched. I like the idea that someone else posted about showcasing the top 3 players for the overall win, but, I don't know how easy that would be to figure out who they would be.

Needless to say, I will watch the next one with an open mind and hopefully they keep getting better.

I think you may see a bit more promotional activity from the series sponsors [including MAV] going forward. EVERYBODY wants to see this series thrive. Obviously there are more than a few ideas of exactly how to accomplish that. That is why this forum is crucial for providing relevant feedback on the show.

Chetly [and everyone else]...keep those comments coming. Even if they don't act on your ideas, they need to hear them!

Personally...I thought the Texas show was significantly better this week. Now I can proudly tell all my friends and family about the Daytona show next week!

BTW...now that many of you have seen the show...we are filming another one in Michigan next weekend. RideTech even has an extra $100 discount going on. Use "ridetechnation" in the promo code to get your $100 off. No reason you can't be in the TV show too! http://driveusca.com/events/brooklyn-mi-august-22-24/

I can't believe they were dumb enough to get close to me :confused59:

HAHAHAHAHAHA Okay - that's just funny Tim....

Much better show than last week. It is almost like they listened to this thread and made immediate improvements.



I like MAV tv, sprint cars, sprint boats, heck the have motorcycle ice racing this Wednesday. I pay extra to get the channel. They took the place of speed tv.