Once upon a time there was a show called Trackside Live on Speed. It was nicknamed “Friday Night House Party”. Weekly, during NASCAR season, the crew would gather, Byrnesy (Steve Byrnes), DW(Darrelll Waltrip), Hollywood(Jeff Hammond), Ell-yut(Elliott Sadler) and the guests and talk about the upcoming race, practices, the track, the drivers, the garage, the weather, and anything else relevant to that particular week’s contest. Several drivers would show up and plug something and generally shoot the sh*t with the guys. I looked forward to it. It was appointment television.
The show aired after the day’s practices and before the night’s racing. It was my favorite of all of Speed’s NASCAR shows (just behind This Week In NASCAR – the Monday night wrap-up show). It had a casual air that reminded me of the FOX NFL Pre-Game show. It did not appear to be an attempt to copy that winning format – it just had the same feeling of rollicking fun and informative analysis.
And then they added Rutledge Wood. Hollywood did not appreciate Rut’s crap and typically made his feelings known. I appreciated Hollywood’s honesty and agreed with him. Hammond’s reaction to the so-called comedy bits reminded me of Terry Bradshaw’s reactions to Frank Caliendo’s and Jimmy Kimmel’s crap on the NFL show. I did not and do not understand the constant addition of ‘comedians’ to programming. Typically if the person is a legitimate comedian they are making a living making people laugh. If they have time to appear on shows that are not comedy focused they are typically not funny. Those that can, do.
DW would often provide insight from the garage. He’d often tell the audience what the insiders were really saying. Sometimes the person, or people, who were involved were unhappy that the information was announced at the time it was announced, but it gave the viewer a real insider’s look at the sport and a peek into the garage and the reality of NASCAR life. Old drivers (those not currently competing) and current drivers would respond to the relevant topics. He would often ask their opinions on some hot topic in the garage. For some drivers like Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch it was an opportunity to expound upon their feelings on the subject and their reasoning. For other drivers who seem to depend on their PR people to give them their opinions, like Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon it sometimes became uncomfortable as they tried to dodge answering the question in order to avoid giving a non-approved answer. There were some drivers who were skilled at answering the question or simply saying they wouldn’t or couldn’t answer it. You gained insight into the driver. The show was raucous fun.
Then things continued to change. The length of the show was cut. The house party became more of a pre-dinner cocktail party.
At a certain point of the season DW would cease to be on the desk weekly, usually replaced by Elliott Sadler. I would miss DW, though he would often send text messages to the people on the desk.
The show continued to morph. It became more structured and the guys on the desk complained about having to throw to commercial break in the middle of an interesting segment or having to end a segment that was really cooking. Often I agreed with them, especially when the segment was stopped for a segment with Rutledge. Initially there were scheduled guests and various drivers would drop by sometimes shuffling the guest line-up as warranted. The show’s spontaneity made me feel as though it was on top of what was happening in NASCAR and bringing it to me “as it happened”.
Then Kyle Petty began to appear. Kyle is argumentative to the extreme. The fact that he frequently begins his sentences with the phrase “Let’s be honest…” leads me to believe he is rarely honest. He is one of the most contrary people on television this side of conservative radio/television show hosts. He seems to live to argue. His negativity was a bummer and he would often bring the conversation and the laughter to a complete stop. He subtracted a lot of fun from the show and he seemed to be the only person who found Rut funny.
The show continued to change as they changed the set. Initially the hosts were sitting above the crowd. The set was lowered so that the audience was much closer. That became extremely distracting as people spent long periods of time waving, and waving signs, and chanting. It was disruptive in a negative manner.
Most recently the host line-up and format changed. Krista Voda, another person who spends entirely too much time trying (and failing) to amuse, was named host. She was joined full-time on the desk by Rut and KP. Rut and KP are like 11-year-old boys when they get together. I frequently expect potty humor in the midst of their giggles. They crack each other up leaving me wishing they’d just get on with it. To that foul brew, some chick called Marianella was added. Her only qualifications seem to be her looks. She does not appear to know anything about NASCAR. Her job description appears to be eye-candy. She seems to have been hit on by one too many guys so she has an extremely sharp tongue and does not appear to easily roll with the flow. Her bits are more staid than Rut & KP. Oddly Hollywood was relegated to a himbo role for a while – dressing in frighteningly tight t-shirts with little to say or do.
I tried to watch the show last season, especially toward the end of the season when Krista was busy with the truck race and Byrnes returned as host. The format remained the same, and we were exposed to entirely too much Rut, KP and Marianella. The enjoyable show was gone without a trace.
Because the words Trackside Live bring on happy memories I get excited when I see it in the channel listings. Luckily, the commercials for the show stop me from watching. My excitment is immediately dashed as the announcer tells us what Krista, KP and Rut will have for us this week. I miss the Friday Night House Party.