Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Information? Examining The Importance of Information to the Car, Racing and Drag-and-Drive Hobbies
We’re living in an age of endless information, and although it’s not coming from as many printed sources as it used to, the stream of good, bad, misleading, incomplete, and even AI-generated information is out there.
A popular saying is “it’s always better to have too much information than not enough,” but I almost wonder if that statement is starting to lose its luster, and it even applies as an announcer.
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I grew up with drag racing heavy in my life starting at age 9. Back in 1985, you would catch some NHRA professional drag racing from time to time on the ESPN network. And starting in 1986, the USA Network broadcast six of thirteen NHRA events held that year. Produced by Diamond P Sports, the one hour shows usually premiered 4-8 weeks after the event was held.
A common duo to see in 1980s NHRA drag racing TV coverage was Steve Evans (left) and Dave McClelland, and both did their share of announcing from the towers before making the jump to TV.
Stop and think about that for a minute. Some drag-and-drive events are 30-50 hours of live stream coverage for the week, sometimes done by professional crews. And we used to be satisfied with 40-something minutes of coverage (once you factored in the commercials).
Anyways, looking back on the coverage in the 1980s, it is truly remarkable to see what TV personalities / reporters Dave McClelland, Steve Evans, Bret Kepner, Brock Yates and many others did with no internet and no cell phones. Want a live look in? Go to the pits and take notes!
It was the dedication of these men that gave us more information in the broadcast than just the on-track numbers.
Sometimes though, a good bit of announcing in the 1980s was describing what they saw on the track, and sometimes not much more. That was captivating enough, but looking at it compared to today, we know there so much more to report.
Almost every racer has a good story to tell, there are hardships and struggles. there are families that spend every dollar to get to the track. There are emotional moments.
As an announcer, I can get “on the chip” a lot when I’m on the microphone, and it’s because I love relaying every bit of info I can. Watching my father race, and being a racer myself, all those stories on the track, in the pits and the staging lanes, even on the way home, are what you remember.
Those stories that I hear, are what I want to relay to the masses. Some have told me it’s too much, while others are grateful that their story is told. Is there such a thing as too much information? Should I just be commenting merely on the vehicle and the performance?
Some may look at a 2021 Ford F350 pick-up making runs on the drag strip and think “what’s the big deal? It’s just a 15-second pick-up truck - that can’t be that much fun.”
Let me tell you, Robert Hill was having just as much fun in his diesel Ford dually pickup-up as people running six seconds quicker than him on last year‘s Sick Summer presented by TBM Brakes.
On the last day of Sick Summer at Cordova Dragway, after a week full of 15-second runs, Robert kept making lap after lap on the big Ford, because he had told us he wanted a 14-second pass.
Without that valuable piece of information from Robert, I would’ve been left to discuss his performance only, or the number of runs he was making. And if I wouldn’t have announced that 14-second goal, the chat room on the live stream might not have started cheering on Robert every time he made a pass.
When Robert’s pick-up finally did click off the magical run after several attempts, the chat room went crazy. I lost it on the microphone. These are the stories that put everyone in the same category - an enthusiast!
Whether it’s a 6-second Unlimited car defying the critics by surviving hundreds of miles on the street and five days of hard runs on race tracks, or a 19-second Chevrolet Camaro that a teenage Wyatt Schultz used to attend his first drag-and-drive in last year, each and every one has stories.
Putting that information in stories (print and online), as well as relaying them over the PA at tracks, is what keeps the interest in cars, racing and drag-and-drives growing. Don’t be afraid to tell and share your stories; it could inspire somebody to make the leap into creating stories of their own with cars!
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com