Gary will be returning with a new blog post the week of May 13. This week, he’s asked race announcer Randy Kane to guest blog. RCN TV viewers should recognize Randy from the Grandview Speedway broadcasts airing April through August each year. Click here to read Randy’s bio from the RCN TV “Our Broadcasters” page.
Local Racing and RCN TV: A Perfect Marriage
By Randy Kane
Randy Kane – Guest Blogger
Now underway full-speed, the local racing season and RCN TV’s coverage from Grandview Speedway is a perfect marriage!
Some may recall RCN TV began its coverage of motorsports at Nazareth Speedway. Seventeen years later, when Nazareth Speedway closed its doors, RCN TV showed races from the Flemington Fair Speedway for three years. Finally coverage moved to the high-banked clay oval in Bechtelsville, PA, Grandview Speedway, where it has been going strong for the past 13 years.
RCN TV has been part the local racing scene for close to 36 years – quite impressive, to say the least. And the fun part of it is that I’ve had the good fortune to be their racing broadcast announcer throughout all those years. As a racing journalist, it has been, and continues to be, a pure joy.
I think there are as many viewers in the area who watch local racing coverage as there are who watch televised NASCAR races. NASCAR brings in more money with its big national sponsors; however, local racing, in my opinion, is much more fun and exciting to watch. Whereas NASCAR races can sometimes go on forever, the local competition is shorter, faster, entertaining, and keeps viewers on the edge of their seats during every broadcast. NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Chase – the last ten races of the season – to crown the year’s champion is not as popular as you might think, plus all the better cars start every event out in front when the green flag waves. In addition, watching the qualifying time trials is like watching paint dry.
Local events are shorter. The winners get paid less. The better cars, usually, start further back in the starting line-up. Every racer has community business people sponsoring their car. Local racing puts a lot more fun into that complete package; and the fact that viewers can see it all on their televisions in their own living rooms, well, you just can’t beat it. RCN TV is the only television network that has been there, all these years, bringing it to you.
RCN TV coverage is a tremendous boost for the local racing teams. Racers can use the RCN TV broadcasts as a tool to attract potential sponsors – during a race a sponsor can be mentioned or seen or talked about often, as a result. The track benefits when viewers see the kind of racing that goes on and coverage gets those viewers to visit and see races in person. Bottom-line: racing attracts new fans through TV broadcasts.
As I mentioned earlier, doing the local racing broadcasts all these years has been a pure joy. Watching racing grow and the driving talent improve at the track through the years becomes a very interesting and fun path to follow. Racing almost never gets old. It only gets better with age. Kind of like a fine wine. You learn to truly appreciate the sport by being involved for years.
And, when you realize just how long RCN TV has covered the local racing scene and what their broadcasts have meant to the teams and tracks throughout the area, you’ll understand soon enough that local racing and RCN TV, together, have formed a perfect marriage. It is something that should last for many more years to come. There’s little doubt.
