Here are some items that crossed the TDP desk early in the week:
Steve Byrnes mentioned on the Monday night Race Hub show that SPEED would be carrying the January testing from Daytona International Speedway. We will try to get more details and pass them along. Testing is Jan. 20 - 22.
The picture above is of the late Benny Parsons at Daytona in 1969 running an ARCA car. Wednesday is the voting and announcement of the next inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Parsons is one of those nominated. SPEED has a preview show at 3PM and the live announcement at 4PM ET. The good news for fans who are away from the TV is that NASCAR.com will stream the announcement live starting at 4PM. Thanks to our friends at Turner Sports!
On a tough note, Neil Goldberg has been let go by ESPN. Goldberg was the Sr. Producer for NASCAR on ESPN and worked for NASCAR on FOX prior to that. He was arrested last week on a variety of charges after a Peeping Tom incident in his own neighborhood. Let's hope he gets some help and is able to confront the behavior that led to the incident.
Tuesday Mike Massaro hosts NASCAR Now on ESPN2 at 5PM ET. He will have Tony Stewart and AJ Allmendinger as guests. Both are set to announce new sponsors for 2011. Steve Byrnes hosts Race Hub on SPEED at 7PM. Rick Allen will stop by to preview his votes for the Hall of Fame. Also, Kurt Busch and Allmendinger are on the program.
The overnight (early) TV ratings are in and the NASCAR struggles continue. There were a ton of TV choices on Sunday and the race telecast got the expected results. From Jim Utter of thatsracin.com - Overnight ESPN TV ratings for Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at Auto Club Speedway are off 26 percent from year ago on ABC (2.3 to 3.1).
ESPN was kind enough to send along an advance copy of Tim Richmond: To The Limit that will air on Tuesday, October 19 at 8PM ET. This program will be on ESPN and is part of the 30 for 30 series that has been fantastic. The Richmond program is produced by Rory Karpf of the NASCAR Media Group. I'll be screening the show later this week and publish a review.
Finally, Shane Hmiel's family is updating his condition on a new Facebook page. Click here for the link that has the most up to date info and some great comments from fans. All our best to Shane and his family during this difficult time.
We will add any additional stories that pop-up on Tuesday right here. In the meantime, please feel free to comment on the topics mentioned above. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.
