Before centralised contracts, Winston Cup races reached viewers through a patchwork of networks, cable channels and track deals that rarely looked alike.
Before 2001, NASCAR races reached viewers through track-by-track deals with networks such as ESPN, TNN, TBS and CBS. NASCAR then moved to centralised contracts announced in 1999, which replaced that patchwork with packages negotiated directly by the sanctioning body itself.
In the 1990s a Winston Cup race could reach viewers on almost any channel, and the deal behind it changed from track to track. Networks bid for individual events, cable channels filled the gaps, and by the end of the decade the sport was ready for a single contract that would replace the patchwork.
How were NASCAR races sold to networks before 2001?
Until 2001 race tracks made their own agreements with networks. In 1999 NASCAR decided to centralise television contracts, so that networks would negotiate directly with the sanctioning body for a package of races rather than dealing with each track. That shift handed the sanctioning body control over the package.
The change followed years of growing interest. As more races reached television, the sport wanted to capitalise on its popularity, and a central deal gave NASCAR more control over when and where its races appeared.
For most of the decade a race's broadcast depended on the track that hosted it.
When did ESPN and TNN begin covering NASCAR?
ESPN began showing NASCAR races in 1981, starting with a race at Rockingham Speedway, and its first live race came later that year at Atlanta International Raceway. TNN followed in 1991, when it began live Winston Cup coverage, although it had aired taped races in the 1980s on its American Sports Cavalcade programme.
By 1985 every Cup race was televised nationally, and by 1989 almost all of them were live. Networks struck individual deals with track owners during this period, and several channels could carry racing action on the same weekend.
Which networks carried Cup races by 2000?
By 2000 six networks had televised at least one Cup race: CBS, ABC, ESPN, TNN, TBS and NBC. Each carried a different slice of the schedule, from the Daytona 500 to the mid-season races at smaller tracks. Some of those networks were cable channels rather than broadcast networks.
TBS broadcast the Richmond spring race from 1983 to 1995, and it covered the fall races at Rockingham, Atlanta and Riverside in the mid-1980s. For several years in the 1990s its only Cup races were the two from Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Coca-Cola 600 and the UAW-GM Quality 500.
TBS also aired the July race at Pocono from 1993 to 2000, and it hosted exhibition races at Suzuka and Twin Ring Motegi in Japan from 1996 to 1998. The now defunct Prime Network was the first to televise Winston Cup qualifying on a regular basis, mostly for races that TBS would later show.
What did TNN bring to NASCAR coverage?
TNN started showing races live in 1991 and ran its own TNN Motor Sports division until 2000. It picked up second-tier Cup races that ESPN had let expire, including events at Rockingham, Dover, Pocono, Loudon and Phoenix, and it also showed races from IMSA, ASA, USAC, the NHRA and ARCA.
Long races were a problem for ESPN. The 500-mile events at Rockingham, Dover and Pocono could run for more than five hours, which required a broadcast window of up to six hours. The Rockingham and Dover races were shortened to 400 miles in 1995 and 1997, and both stayed on TNN's schedule.
TNN's Sunday afternoon schedule made room for those long windows. When The Winston moved to prime time, TNN picked up the rights to it as well, and its coverage of the Cup races ended in November 2000 at Phoenix.
Did pay-per-view ever carry NASCAR races?
Viewer's Choice produced one Pocono race a year on pay-per-view from 1988 to 1990. Fans were reluctant to pay for races they could see free of charge, so the experiment did not last, although it did introduce viewer phone-in questions during the broadcasts.
Speedvision launched on 31 December 1995 with motoring programmes and minor racing series. It was founded by a group that included cable providers, and in 1999 it became the title sponsor of the Sports Car Club of America's World Challenge series.
Small series also found space on television. The Winter Heat Series ran from the 1994 to 1995 winter through the 1998 to 1999 winter at the 3/8 mile Tucson Raceway Park in Arizona, and TNN first carried the races before ESPN took them over.
How did CBS and ABC cover the big races?
Two decades on from its Daytona 500 coverage, CBS deployed at least 200 people and more than 80 cameras. The equipment list ran to 33 in-car cameras on 11 cars, plus 10 pole cameras over the pit lane, 35 trackside cameras and a blimp-mounted camera.
ABC billed its 1994 Brickyard 400 as a special presentation of ABC Sports, and in 1994 it used a transparent lap counter, the first permanent score bug on the network, at the Purolator 500 in Atlanta. During its tenure on ABC, the Brickyard was blacked out on the local station and shown by same-day tape delay, a policy that ended in 2001.
Earlier still, NBC had shown the National 500 at Charlotte from 1979 to 1981, and a Winston 500 at Talladega from 1983 to 1985. It also carried the Miami 300 and Pennzoil 400 at Homestead in 1999 and 2000.
| Years | Network | What it carried |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | ESPN | First NASCAR race, at Rockingham Speedway |
| 1983 to 1995 | TBS | The Richmond spring race |
| 1988 to 2000 | TBS | The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte |
| 1991 to 2000 | TNN | Live Cup races through TNN Motor Sports |
| 1994 to 1999 | TNN, then ESPN | Winter Heat Series at Tucson Raceway Park |
| 1995 | Speedvision | Launched 31 December 1995 |
| 1999 | NASCAR | Centralised rights agreed |
How did the 1990 Daytona 500 finish play out on television?
Dale Earnhardt looked set to win the 1990 Daytona 500 until a series of late events changed the race. A puncture from metal that had come off a failed engine on another car ended his chance, and Derrike Cope drove past to take his first Cup victory, the first of two he won that season.
The finish was also disrupted by a local decision. KIRO-TV, the CBS affiliate serving Cope's hometown in the Seattle suburb of Spanaway, chose to show a SuperSonics basketball game, so the race was pushed back to 3:00 pm Pacific time.
How did the 1992 Busch Clash move affect the schedule?
In 1992 the Busch Clash moved to a Saturday, and pole qualifying for the 500 took the Sunday slot instead. CBS asked for the change so that it had more time on Sunday for its coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics, and the network had aired the Busch Clash since its first running in 1979.
Pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 started on Sunday at 10:00 am, followed by the Daytona ARCA 200, and the Busch Clash began after that at 3:00 pm.
What did the 1998 Pikes Peak race do to the schedule?
In 1998 one CBS race, run at Pikes Peak in Fountain, Colorado, was set for 186 laps. It ran 12 extra laps, finishing at 198, because of several attempts to complete a green-white-checkered finish. The overrun meant the broadcast window stretched beyond its planned end.
A race that overran its scheduled length showed how much a network depended on a fixed window. Broadcasters had to plan around the length of each event, and a race that ran long pushed against whatever came next on the schedule.
When did SportsChannel America start covering NASCAR?
SportsChannel America began its NASCAR coverage in 1990, with broadcasts that included the Roses Stores 200 and the Chevy Dealers of New England 250. It added another outlet alongside ESPN, TNN and TBS during the decade. Its coverage ran alongside the broadcasts of ESPN, TNN and TBS.
Why did the 1999 change matter?
The centralised deal removed the patchwork. Before it, a track could sell its race to one network and a second network could cover the rest of the weekend, which left fans with different coverage from one event to the next.
Between 1991 and 2000 TNN and ESPN each carried their own windows of coverage, so a race could appear on different channels from one year to the next. That patchwork is the context for the decision to centralise the rights.
The 1999 agreement also shaped what came next. The networks that had carried races under track deals faced a new schedule, and by 2001 the centralised package was in place. The changes left the sport with fewer broadcasters and a clearer schedule for fans.
