The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir reviews the first of five installments of ABC News’ “Nascar in Primetime”, which premieres tonight. “The first episode,” Sandomir writes, “offers nothing new about Nascar, which raises questions about ABC News’s motivation in producing a documentary about a sport that its Disney cousins, ESPN and ABC Sports, began carrying last month under a contract worth $560 million a year…”
Later in the article, Sandomir adds, “(The show) is most effective when it turns to a group of swooning fans who describe the many aphrodisiacs of Sunday racing: the thunder of 43 roaring engines, vibrating their chests and rattling their teeth; the goose bumps raised by the weekly invocation of ‘Gentlemen, start your engines’; the thrill of the green flag whipping down to start each race; the sensation of 200,000 fans standing at the end of it.”