Tips on covering NASCAR

[maumann]

Lots of good suggestions. First thing: meet the track's media relations director, introduce yourself and ask for their help. They know their track. They know their race. They may have suggestions on what to see and where to go.

Be very careful about getting into the lemming mentality that's overly prevalent in a NASCAR media center. As soon as one rumor starts, it seems like everybody chases after it, whether there's any validity -- or even newsworthiness -- to it. That's rarely the best story of the weekend, trust me.

Every team has at least a dozen crew members, so there are over 500 possible stories there. Some of the guys are former athletes, some are the brightest engineers on the planet, some may be from your hometown. If you're writing features, don't concentrate just on the stars.

And don't ever be afraid to go outside the chain link fence that separates the media from the great unwashed. It's rare to see anybody venture away from the media center/garage area/press box, but some of my best stuff has come from wandering around and keeping an eye open for the unusual.

NASCAR's fan base is more than just the stereotypical redneck racefan. If you go and talk with people, you'll find doctors and lawyers and corporate executives mixed in. You may find someone attending their first race. You may find someone who was there when Lee Petty beat Johnny Beauchamp.

There are $500,000 motorhomes and beat-up purple schoolbuses. And you might be surprised to learn a great story or two from talking to the owners of either one. (And at least, a free beer and food.)

There's a lot of stuff happening that doesn't have to be filtered through public relations people. Thank goodness.

 

[WTH!]

Find out who the celebrity for the weekend is, like the grand marshal or whatever....try and score an interview with them....some of my best interviews have been with people like Jay Leno, Kevin Costner, Nicolas Cage and Hulk Hogan...the interviews made for some great stories that appealed to non-NASCAR fans....

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

Feel free to remind the runner-up that second place is the first loser.

Especially if it's Tony Stewart ...

 

[TallSportsGuy]

Thanks for all the tips, everyone. I appreciate it.

 

[Double J]

Semi-pro? You're either paid or you aren't. Not a knock on original poster, I've just never understood that term. Adult amateur ball? What?

Well, it's where you get paid, but not nearly enough to make a living from it ...

like newspapers?

Well played.

 

[crimsonace]

Another thing ... not sure if they do this at every track, but the races I've covered at Indy, there is usually a sponsored set of driver interviews on practice day/the first day at the track, during a downtime in track activity. If you need to get driver access for weekend preview stories, that might be your best bet. There are usually 6-8 guys going at once, and the pack follows the biggest names, but there are some good stories to be had throughout the garage. They'll end up bringing half the field.

However, one of the best stories I ever wrote came from asking Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott & Ricky Rudd about their early days at one of these planned media cfs. Jarrett looked at me, said "how much time you got?," and all three gave me gobs of material.

I've covered one NASCAR race a year for years, and access to drivers has progressively gotten worse. Starting several years ago, if you didn't have a "hot" pass, access to the garage was pretty much shut off when drivers might be there, so the early Friday media availabilities have been gold for getting weekend stuff. On Sunday, they'll probably give you a transcript of the press conference. Hit the haulers as soon as the race is over and start intercepting the drivers as they head out.

 

[murphyc]

Some great advice here. I'll add a couple of things:
1. Try to find a chart listing where various team members are. Probably someone in NASCAR's PR department could help. That way, you can see if there's anyone from your area. If there is, get in contact with that team to see if you can do a story on that crew member or maybe even shadow that person during the weekend if you can set it up with the team.
2. Find an experienced reporter who can show you the ropes, so to speak. I'm thinking someone along the lines of a Mike Mulhern or something like that. A track PR person can probably help you out as well, or introduce you to someone you can tag along with.