By Joe Dunn
Here we are in the midst of a new racing season and SPEEDTV has pulled out all the stoppers. But perhaps they have pulled just one too many as long time race fans tuned into 2010 to find that This Week In NASCAR, a weekly staple is gone. It seems that the powers to be at SPEEDTV made the decision that this long time popular show was just not connecting to the race fans.
As we all awaited the highly touted replacement, billed as Michael Waltrip’s dream show, Fast Track to Fame, the fans could only wonder. Well Monday night came and the Fast Track to Fame made it’s maiden voyage across America’s airwaves. As quickly as they got the first act on the stage, the fans began to cringe. Good old Michael raves about the ‘old guy with the spoons’, but the spoons were drowned out by the off key singer.
As the show progressed, it sadly failed to improve, but instead went steadily down hill. A simple read of some of the tweets on Twitter surely gave the view of NASCAR fan’s and their reaction to the show. “This fast track to fame is trying my patience, was looking for speed, it lacks that. 1 & out” “why dear God why? At least American Idol has produced something. Other than total train wrecks, what have they done” These were just a few, they get better as the show progressed … “some acts were ok, but was looking for the connection to racing. Last time I will watch it” …This is just a sampling, there were hundreds of tweets condemning the show.
I sat through the entire show, hoping that the real talent would be the one up next, maybe they are saving that lone act for the last show. This show is a disaster in the making, it is an insult to the real NASCAR fans. I have liked SPEED for many years as they have progressed from weak to strong and even stronger in the programming. Like many of the fans, I looked forward to 2010 and SPEED continuing to improve on their format and content, but alas, the balloon has popped and Fast track to Fame has disaster written all over it.
It’s time for SPEED to wake up, and get back to actual racing shows for the race fans. Save your network and scrap this show before it’s too late. One comment that really hit the nail on the head came from Twitter member JoshuaBrown18 “not too late to pull a dream sequence on us. Bring TWIN back next week with Biff, MW, Chad and Steve and this never happened.” That pretty well sums it up folks, for those who watched the show, let SPEED know how you feel about this one by going to http://www.speedtv.com/feedback/ and tell them what you think.
