Who's ready for the first episode of Heartland Thunder tonight on Discovery Channel? It's about time we got a dirt racing reality show! Now we just need one for sprint cars.

I will check it out...I would love to put together a sprint car documentary or reality show in the Indiana area. I have a contact with 40 plus years of executive production experience in hollywood and is a huge race fan. Any ideas as to what true die hard sprint car fans would want to see?

This die hard fan wants to see on track action for half of a 1 hour episode. combine that with a feeling of how much time is spent traveling, shop and carwash time, fan interaction, sponsor interaction, family sacrifice, etc.

And please don't sacrifice the integrity of the sport and don't demean the participants and fans for the sake of ratings... (Madhouse style)

I guess my thread wasn't good enough.....

https://www.indianaopenwheel.com/showthread.php?t=33546

Anyway, dvr'ing it.

What time does it start?

I think you hit the nail on the head pretty good there. I agree with not sacrificing the integrity of the sport and not demeaning people. But, for the regular viewer (who isn't an avid racing fan) I think that you almost have to impose at least a bit of drama to keep it interesting for them and to keep the show from getting cancelled. All in all, I think finding that balance would be good for the sport and get more people to the tracks and interested in local track racing. One good thing about the sprints is that it's not beating and banging (mostly) like it is at Bowman Gray.

I think another good thing would be to focus on multiple tracks. Get racers that travel to be the stars of the show. It would be different and it would give much need publicity.

I couldn't think of a better place to do a sprint car reality show than in Indiana. We sure have plenty of great tracks to choose from here.

I'll watch it. Heck, I enjoyed the show that was at taped at Anderson.

Madhouse didn't change anything. It was an accurate portrayal of what goes on every weekend at BGS. That's why I've only been there a couple of times even though I live only 45 minutes from the track and I love modifieds. But apparently a lot of people enjoy it because they consistently have crowds approaching 10,000 every race.

What's changed is the the crowd has more than doubled since the TV show. The few people I know who go there say it is miserable. They estimated 25,000 fans were on hand for opening weekend and people were standing ten deep at the top of the stadium. It's ridiculous that the track sold more tickets than they could accomodate.

So, be careful what you wish for. Indiana has some great bullrings that provide awesome racing in a comfortable setting. That whole comfortable setting thing could be history if you have a show like Madhouse (but the promoter will love going to the bank on Monday).

I would love a sprintcar show. I think you would need to capture both angles of the racing spectrum though to make it interesting. Your stars of the show should be from both the high end racers that have the best of everything to the local racers that don't can't afford to buy a brand new parts, etc. The drama of the show would naturally be there. From someone working their butts off all week getting the car ready and then on race night tearing up or not making the feature. To the shear emotion of someone getting the victory. If such a show was ever made it would for sure be on my TiVo.
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I agree. Esp with the traveling part. The avg race fan does not understand how much of this sport is spent on a road getting to the track.

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I can feel the pain part about cant afford to buy a new part lol.