Rusty Wallace,ESPN and NASCAR--It may work out yet

With all the expectations that race fans had that ESPN would save NASCAR television broadcast; their work in the Busch Series wasn't exactly giving fans much hope.

Many of the Busch Series broadcasts were without any kind of chemistry in the broadcast booth.  Dr Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace and Andy Pettree just weren't clicking.

Rusty Wallace seemed to be the guy with the most to offer as a true NASCAR personality and yet Rusty many times, especially dating back to his open wheel broadcasts, seemed to lack any personality at all.  What made it so surprising was that Rusty was ALWAYS a great interview when he was an active driver.  Naturally everyone at ESPN believed that would translate into a stellar TV career.

This past week at Indianapolis, Rusty came alive.  What a complete turnaround.  Rusty was informed, glib and interesting during the ESPN broadcast of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.  What was the difference in the "Busch/IRL Rusty" and the "Cup Rusty"?  I believe it was familiarity.  Rusty was now among his friends and he immediately became comfortable in his surroundings.

No longer was Rusty working in foreign territory.  His IRL days were wrought with owners and drivers that were strange to him.  The terminology was different.  No longer were cars loose or tight; but now they were pushing.  There was no drafting in the IRL there was slip streaming.  It all seems trivial, but Rusty was learning a new craft and the least likely way to succeed was to make him do it in unfamiliar territory.

The Busch broadcasts have had their own mine fields to traverse.  He has tried mightily to not show any favoritism for his son Stephen, who is a Busch Series regular wrecker.  That again has had Rusty trying to tiptoe his way through the broadcasts.  He hadn't been able to spread out and relax and do what ESPN/ABC hired him to do--be Rusty.

That all changed this past weekend at Indy.  There was a much more relaxed and comfortable Rusty wandering the garage area, talking to his buddies and reporting on his findings.  Rusty had the old familiar grin on his face early in the week when he ran into Chip Ganassi outside the media room at Indy.  Rusty and Chip had a short grip and grin in the hallway as Ganassi was leaving an interview session with Juan Pablo Montoya.

The look on Rusty's face, as shown in the photo above, was one of relief; as if to say, "I'm finally home again."

Rusty's work in the booth on Sunday was by far the best of his career.  He, Punch and Pettree do a good job of working together and bringing some excitement and personality to the broadcast.  This group is still a work in progress, but from what they did at Indy, it looks to have a definite future.  ESPN needs to remember that their broadcasts in the 80's and 90's featured the racers and the races not the broadcasters.  Bob Jenkins, Larry Neuber, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were masters at enhancing the race broadcasts and not overpowering them.

This first effort was a good start.  Now--build on that.

photo:  ON PIT ROW-BethAnne Heisler

Comments

[robert bourne]

there is no replacing B.P. and Ned Jarrett but last weekends broadcast showed some potential..aslong as they don't over tech the whole broadcast...

[Pamm H]

I don't know what broadcast you watched, but it wasn't the same one I saw! Rusty was a mike hog once again. Andy is the only one that works out in the booth. Sorry, I love Doc, but he belongs in the pits. I listened to MRN..

[Steve]

Pamm H--You and I were listening to two different broadcasts. You were listening to MRN, who didn't even broadcast the race, remember. IMS, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Broadcast Network, broadcasts all races from the Brickyard. As robert said, there is no replacing the old team, but with your way of thinking; "I love Doc, but he belongs in the pits", I suppose JFK should have stayed a Senator. Before anyone gives Dr. Jerry Punch crap--he is exactly the opposite of what everyone is bitching about in regards to Eric Kresulius. Punch is a quality play by play man, learning that craft after years of pit reporting on NASCAR broadcasts and sideline reporting of college football. He is a NASCAR guy that learned to do PbP and has returned to NASCAR.

As I stated earlier, as long as this group does exactly what the Jenkins group did--stay out of the way of the race, fans will embrace this crew and when they are replaced years from now, you'll wax poetic about the good old days of Doc, Rusty and Sleepy.