Television coverage is a frequent
target of criticism by fans. Not saying it isn’t justified from time to time
(OK, a LOT of the time), but at least the races are on TV. Here’s my story of
being glued to the radio for a race other than the Indianapolis 500.
I have been a fan of Michael
Andretti since his rookie year at Indianapolis in 1984 when he diced with Rick
Mears and Tom Sneva and stayed at the front of the field the entire race.
(Andretti finished fifth, sharing Rookie of the Year honors with Roberto
Guerrero, who was second to Mears.) I got a firsthand view (not to be confused
with a good view) of this from my
seat in the bleachers on the inside of the track between Turn 3 and Turn 4.
Unfortunately, this early promise
was not followed up by any victories in 1984 or 1985. TV coverage during this
time was spotty. ESPN was carrying more races, for example, but the
Indianapolis 500 was still on tape-delay (and of course blacked out in
Indianapolis).
Because I grew up in Indianapolis, I
was used to listening to the 500 on the radio. So it wasn’t that big of a deal
to tune in to a race, which is what I did for the 1986 season opener at Phoenix.
It looked like Andretti would get that first victory. He was leading, then
dropped out late (imagine!), leaving Kevin Cogan to win his first and only
IndyCar race.
The next week, I tuned in for the
Long Beach race. I remember being on the edge of my seat in my dorm room at
Purdue as Andretti kept fighting off Al Unser Jr. to claim his first victory.
The other guys on the floor figured I had a screw loose, wasting time listening
to an automobile race on the radio. Actually, there was no choice – NBC showed
the race on “SportsWorld” the next week.
Last year, I purchased a batch of
Long Beach programs off eBay specifically to get this program from Andretti’s
first victory. That’s Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi and Danny Sullivan
across the top.
No comments:
Post a Comment