[Ray Hocker]

I want to complement Doug Plumer, his crew, and the Producers of the Speed coverage of the Rim of the World Rally. The footage from the stages was excellent despite the incredibly difficult conditions in which the camera crews had to work. The in-car footage was among the best I've ever seen. The program once again raised the bar on coverage of SCCA Pro Rally events.

Although I enjoyed the coverage, I had a problem with some of the content. The program portrays that the decision to shorten the course came from the "SCCA Officials". The televised interview with Dan Coughnour leaves one thinking he made the decision to cut the rally short because it was cold and uncomfortable. I watched the TV crew interview Paula Gibeault, the event chairman, only moments earlier as she explained why they where shortening the event. Then someone made the decision to re-tell the story to make it look like "SCCA Officials" were calling the shots. This was a PR move designed to make it look like the SCCA was conducting the event.

This is not to say that the SCCA's Series Manager and the SCCA's Safety Steward were not an important part of the decision process. They were, and should be. I object to the implication that the SCCA conducts the operation of the event. Although the current evolution of the sanction agreement does give the SCCA Series Manager final authority over the event, he does not control the operation of the rally.

Even in the WRC, the highest level of the sport, the Clerk of the Course is clearly in charge of the operation of the event. No FIA official would presume to make an important operational decision without consulting and obtaining the consent of the Clerk of the Course. In every case, the Clerk of the Course is one of the key event organizers and not an official from the FIA.

The event organizers are better equipped to make these decisions. In addition to being tied into the communication network, they alone have an intimate knowledge of their course, personnel and resources. The SCCA officials arrive only a few days before the event and have none of these. In the case of the Rim of the World Rally, the organizers also have more general rally experience than any SCCA employees present. The Rim organizers each have over 20 years of experience organizing rallies while the SCCA officials present have little or none.

The role of the SCCA officials at Pro Rally events is (and should be) to conduct the operation of the national championship, adherence to the rules and to oversee and support the safe operation of the event. It was a total fabrication for last night's TV program to imply that they are in operational control of the event. To purposefully misrepresent their role in the Speed program was an insult to every volunteer and event organizer in the country.

 

[rallytaff]

Well said Ray! It's the Organizers that are in charge, not these high faluting SCCA "officials" who are basically clueless, but think that because they are part of the Organization, they should be mentioned. I think SCCA should publically apologize to you, Mike and Paula, Donna all all the workers who helped you put this event on. It seems that due to all this bad publicity for SCCA, they seem to be running scared and making more screw-ups as they advance, to what, I hate to think.

 

[Ray Hocker]

Thanks Pete but I was not an organizer at this year's Rim. As you know, that would be Paula and Mike Gibeault and Pat and Denise McMahon. Working on the scoring team, I was able to watch and listen to the radio network all weekend and see what was really going on.

My intent was not to discredit or make light of the hard work and dedication of the SCCA staff at the rally. It just gets under my skin when someone is given credit on national TV for someone else's decisions and accomplishments.

It's the SCCA's TV show to do with as they choose but they wouldn't have much of a show without the year-round efforts of the event organizers and volunteers. The only thing the TV show gave them credit for was providing the course notes, which of course are not supplied by the organizers.

Ray Hocker

 

[Crash]

Good point Ray. I must admit I, as a worker, was personally insulted by his comment (paraphrasing considerably) to the effect that the workers didn't want to stand in the rain any longer was a consideration in cancelling the stages. My team was prepared to do double duty on Del Sur, which was an option being discussed before it even started. If the roads had only survived...x(

 

[Mad Mike]

Ray,

As a published freelance journalist and former newspaper writer I hold journalistic integrity in high regard, so the only way I can look on "our" telecasts without popping a blood vessel is to accept them as infomercials and nothing more. I thought the move to a one-hour format would allow the broader story to be told but clearly that is not happening since (I'm told) that no mention of either Production class was made despite the fact there were new and intriguing cars claiming victories in those classes at Rim.

So, infomercials they are! Looking on them as such allows me to be pleased when they include a shot of my Bug (it's happened three times, after all) without elevating my blood pressure when it comes up way short of my finicky expectations.

I recharge my journalistic-integrity-for-rally batteries by reading the last two large Sports Car Magazine articles about the ClubRally National Championship. Of coure, YRMV ... ;-)

Halley ...
Owner/Driver ProRally #86 - world's first New Beetle Rally Car
RealAutoSport, LLC
http://www.realautosport.com

* Edited to add the missing 'i' in finicky.

 

[RussR]

>TV show gave them credit for was providing the course notes,
>which of course are not supplied by the organizers.
>
>Ray Hocker

The Route Book is provided by whom then? please clarify.

Russ

 

[Widget Codriver]

>The Route Book is provided by whom then? please clarify.

Stage Notes by P-Sport through SCCA, Inc, Route Book by organizers.

 

[jprowland]

Was it just me, or was there 0% coverage of PGT and P classes? I didn't even see any results posted on the show. Only Open, GpN, G5, and G2. Maybe I just missed it or something...

--
JP Rowland jeremyrowland -at- mac.com
Visit my boring web page: http://homepage.mac.com/jeremyrowland

 

[RussR]

>>The Route Book is provided by whom then? please clarify.
>
>Stage Notes by P-Sport through SCCA, Inc, Route Book by
>organizers.

That's right, and since two times I said "Route Book" in the broadcast, I feel that saying they were provided by the organizers was correct. I couldn't clearly see the in-car shot to see if they were the stage notes (which I assume they were) or the route book. Steve Turvey, in the scene Ray was referring to, could have been using either. I would have liked to taken the time to explain the difference between pace notes, stage notes, and the route book there, but Ramana would explain some of the differences later in the show. So I was trying to set that up...

Russ

 

[Trevor Donison]

>Was it just me, or was there 0% coverage of PGT and P
>classes? I didn't even see any results posted on the show.
>Only Open, GpN, G5, and G2. Maybe I just missed it or
>something...
>
>--
>JP Rowland jeremyrowland -at- mac.com
>Visit my boring web page:
>http://homepage.mac.com/jeremyrowland

No P class, No PGT, Only group 5 was the turbo Neon. No summary at the end showing class winners for those classes also.

 

[Ray Hocker]

Russ,

The Subaru Team and Steve Turvey were instrumental in bringing in the use of course notes because it was as close as they could get to the pace notes. I can assure you that there is not a single team in the top 5 at any Pro Rally that are not using the course notes on a stage.

Ray

 

[RussR]

>Russ,
>
>The Subaru Team and Steve Turvey were instrumental in
>bringing in the use of course notes because it was as close
>as they could get to the pace notes. I can assure you that
>there is not a single team in the top 5 at any Pro Rally
>that are not using the course notes on a stage.
>
>Ray

I agree Ray, but that's not the point of my post. I don't want to go back and forth on this, but in the broadcast I didn't say stage notes were provided by the organizer. (Which is what you thought I said, and then my integrity came into question according to Mad Mike) I said a route book was, which is correct. I am making every effort to be correct in the commentary, if I make a mistake, I apologize. And I take constructive criticism well. But when I am credited for a statement which I did not actually say, I need to clarify....

Russ

 

[SagSert]

There was mention of Gr2 but no mention of Gr5 by the way the Gr5 winner was not the Neon, it was the Starion of Okcuoglu brothers.

Frankly, the coverage was boring, no action, no variety, it was like tofu of rally coverages.

Cheers

M.Samli

 

[saywhat]

I liked the coverage. I like the format very much-always liked the Canadian event coverage. The commentary between two announcers is great. I hope that we see some split screen stuff too-that's great.

It was a bit of a Subaru commercial-however the event was cut short-therefore not alot of footage and a time slot that needed filled. I'll give some slack because of this.

It would be great to educate the Yankee viewers that there are multiple races at the same event,ie, Open, PGT,P,G2,G5. That each of the classes is it's own race and has it's own winner. All the classes do deserve air time and more then just a mention.

If people are expected to follow rally with interest then the viewer needs to be brought into the circle. Learn that not everyone racing in America is from overseas. Learn the different personalities in the different classes and hopefully watch teams progress though the classes. Not to mention view our little boo-boo's!

Russ, I think you guy's do a great job! I'm confident the coverage will only get better and better and I believe your heart is in the right place. Thanks for the improvment.

 

[RussR]

Thanks! I appreciate you seeing the big picture!

Russ

 

[Trevor Donison]

>Thanks! I appreciate you seeing the big picture!
>
>Russ

Yep. Picture of prominent SCCA, and a ton of Red and Blue. But no White that wasn't on a Dodge/Mazda. Where is the patriotism?

 

[Glenn Wallace]

I was disappointed there were no pics of the 3 historic cars, it would have made an intersting (if self serving on my part) sidebar.

 

[Widget Codriver]

Colors

>Yep. Picture of prominent SCCA, and a ton of Red and Blue.
>But no White ....

Don't you remember, Trevor? Hyundai dropped out of the series!

}>

 

[johnfelstead]

The bigger picture

I was stood behind the Camera as Paula explaned the circumstances of the event cancelation, she did a great interview. If the programme then portrayed the SCCA as running the shots on the event, thats regretable and hopefully speed wont repeat that mistake again.

As to speed not showing any of the runners other than the top guys, and not showing cars in P and PGT, they are doing the sport/manufacturers a disservice as these are the classes the viewing public should be made aware of as realistic introductions to the sport, something they too could buy and rally without spending out of reach fortunes.

The guys running in classes like PGT have some great stories to tell, they are colourful characters who work incredibly hard to compete. Speed are missing out on telling a story that would interest and enthuse their audience by ignoring these classes.

You are telling a story about the sport, open yourself up to doing something special rather than obvious, go find the real stories behind the competitors, mix that in with footage that you already cover and you will have something special IMHO. What could be better for the manufacturers than seeing their showroom products rallying on the same events the specialist Open class factory teams compete on, thats a major link for the consumer to understand which may generate more interest for the Manufacturer.

John, who flew from the UK to service a trophy winning PGT car at Rim.

 

[Rallychick from Oregon]

RE: The bigger picture

Personally, I was expecting about 10 minutes on the top 5 cars, 30 minutes on a look back at the last 20 years of Rim of the World (betcha didn't know this was a big anniversary for this event!), 2 minutes on every other class, and 18 minutes of commercials.

So we got more than 10 minutes of the top 5 cars, no look-back at the history of the event, several interviews with the dude in charge of Subaru (I think that was his title, when they stopped showing rally footage I stopped paying attention), some good interviews with the drivers (YEAH LEON!!!!!); very, very disappointed to have absolutely nothing, NO MENTION WHATSOEVER, that would indicate that there were any other classes running this event besides Open, GN, and G2. Hello?? Is this thing on???

If I didn't know any better, I would think that there was only 7 cars running the event, and wouldn't understand why it warrants a full hour long show. Heck, even the lawnmower racing show talks about the rest of the field, including the "non-professionals".

The commentary was okay, although since I know too much, I objected to the fact that Russ talks about how the top teams are using the organizer-supplied route book, when I'm pretty sure they only use those for the transits.

Real rallyists use the route book.

Oh, and all our team's rally cars have cupholders; mine and Dad's has the stereo still installed, with speakers. They're Production class cars; maybe you've seen mine in Grassroots Motorsports?

KT