I have direcTV

So my Dad finally watched the pilot episode yesterday... My Dad is 75 years old, lives to watch stick and ball sports on TV and is one of the ones I described above that looses interest pretty quickly if he watches any of my GoPro videos at all. He likes cars and taught me quite a bit about working on cars in my early teen years and even these days comes out to the shop to hold a light, press the button on the lift or lend a helping hand when he can while I work on my car.

He said to me, "Now I finally understand what you've been up to" and we talked about the types of cars and competitions a bit. When I asked him directly about the show itself, his first comment was "That guy with the goat hanging off his chin needs to not talk so much".

I said "but he's the host of the show and is very knowledgable about all aspects of what's going on, plus he's just cool" and Dad said "He needs to cut that crap off his chin". That's just his generation showing though.

As far as the rest of the show, Dad said he enjoyed watching it and plans on watching the Laguna show probably today. He said the pilot episode did a good job of explaining what the series is about and how it all works. I'll update with his opinions after he watches the Laguna event show.

I'm not sure that he's the target audience as he'll not be buying any Optima Batteries or car accessories any more, but along with what Sieg said above...it has to be a fine line for the producers to walk between satisfying the sponsors of the show\series and getting as many eyeballs as they can to watch the show for the ratings. It's my thought that you have to get the eyeballs to watch the shows and keep watching the shows to get the ratings, once the ratings are there the sponsors get the eyeballs on their products. We have to remember that our group is very much in tune with what is going on here, but we are also a very small number in the grand scheme. The show has to draw in eyeballs from other groups of people, those that aren't as in tune with the Pro Touring scene.

The problem as I see it is if the shows turn viewers away by showcasing the sponsors too much up front, the ratings will never even get there to start with. Does that average viewer that likes cars but has only tuned in to watch street cars participating in a competition really need to watch a 10 minute piece about putting an air filter on a car or a long segment on a basically pro built show piece car that also drives around a bit? It seems like this crowd didn't like those that much, but how about the rest of the viewers... ?

Hopefully the producers of the show have a way to gauge interest so far from other target viewers that are maybe not so close to the sport.

Hey I resemble that remark!!:bang: but that is about to change :warning:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I agree. I wish they would just cover it like a racing event, and not like an infomercial. Here are the cars, here's the event, here are the results. Next event.... repeat.

But I understand that would take more effort and time, which may not be in the budget.

There won't be a need for a budget unless they get their sh!t together.... and by that I mean - make the show worth watching.... and get participation up to speed at the events. Sometimes in business -- sticking to the budget is the root cause for the failure of the future. Most refer to this as "when the bean counters take over".

"Why wouldn't I seriously consider going?
cost...$500, + travel, fuel,
sounds like I will have very little track time. Lots of standing around "

YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!!!!!

You will have so much track time you will skip run sessions.

I have to agreee with Chris here. I too was skeptical on the overall cost. Is it a lot, of course it is. But the amount of time you spend driving is crazy. I've done two now, Daytona (unbelievable experience) and Road America. I sat out several sessions due to track time overload. I needed a break and my car needed one too.
I'm looking forward to MIS next weekend as it's in my backyard, so the travel portion will be reduced for us on this one.

That was my original 3 event picks to obtain the minimum events for overall series scoring (like I had a snowball's chance anyway:lol: ). But now, I'm considering the Pittsburgh event as they are so much fun.

Sounds like a common theme from watchers here is that they would prefer more action (cars, on track video, etc.) and less about the people/drivers.

Now, if you are already in this segment or know of or know directly a lot of the players (like most of us around here) then you might actually enjoy that.

But if this programming is to gain viewership, it needs to bring in more viewers, and players, and cars... right? And that isn't going to happen IMO talking about people all day. The cars will do that. You don't tune in to a new car related show on TV to hear interviews or chats with nice, humble (for the most part) car owners and drivers. The cars are what will lock into you and bring you back.

This isn't reality TV where the people and their drama ARE the show.

That's my thought after reading reviews of those who don't have Comcast.

I don't get MavTV, so I can't comment on the Show.

But I'm looking forward to meeting folks at Sebring next month