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December 3, 2007

Your Grades Needed Too
Making the Grade-NASCAR Banquet 2007
By Dennis Michelsen (RaceTalkRadio.com)
Each season the NASCAR Cup banquet is the last chance for the fans to see their favorite drivers until Daytona. There have been quite a few memorable moments in the past. This year the production work and the banquet itself might have been the best ever. Unfortunately ESPN and NASCAR did a great job of hiding the banquet from the fans by placing it on ESPN Classic. Since I do not get that channel I was left to tune into the replay on ESPN2, which ESPN chose to run a half hour late! NASCAR Images showed why they are as good as any other production group out there with memorable images that helped the fans live their favorite 2007 moment one more time. The little video segments behind the scenes with each driver were also well produced. Each week "Making the Grade" has chosen only one person per letter grade but each and every speaker/performer deserves a mention to wrap up the season.

Your Grades Needed Too
Drop me a line at dennis@racetalkradio.com and let me know your grades and comments about the NASCAR Cup Banquet. The best comments will be included on our Monday night "Doin' Donuts" show starting at 8pm ET tonight on www.racetalkradio.com.

F for David Spade
The best that can be said about David Spade is that he wasn't insulting to anyone. The worst that can be said is that he simply was not funny. The NASCAR stars in attendance gave him polite applause and laughs but their faces said it all. "When will this train wreck end?" My advice to NASCAR is simply to hire someone funny or leave this off of future banquets. "Nestor the Clown" would have been more entertaining!

D for Brian France
Who dressed him? His tie was falling off and he missed an opportunity to give us more than just a bland introduction of the champion. Brian France seemed lost at his own banquet! We expect more from the leader of our sport on its night of celebration.

C for Kurt Busch
Kurt's behind the scenes video was downright weird. While he was smoother using the teleprompter than many of his competitors, his general delivery was too robotic. Overall his performance was the weakest of the top ten drivers.

B - for Rick Hendrick
His smooth delivery was over shadowed by a lack of emotion when he thanked his employees and NASCAR. The mention of the other champions was a classy move. His letter grade also improved based on his classy mention of those that were lost recently.

B - for Carl Edwards
Great choice of wardrobe leaving the camo shorts at home! His delivery was a little over the top with the "Aww Shucks" factor but he did a better than average job of reading from the teleprompter. Carl had one of the best lines of the night when he said, "The reason we have so many problems in the world is because the people that could solve them are too busy racing."

B - for Doctor Jerry Punch
Doc was very professional but never dared once to stray from the script. A good emcee plays off the comments of others before him but all we got was the script. Doc seemed to lack emotion as he talked about the season.

B for Kelly Clarkson
In the spirit of full disclosure I have never been much of a fan of Clarkson's music but her performance was better than average with the first video excellent. Trying to get a formal audience to clap along like a rock concert crowd showed poor judgment. She did a good job of lip-synching but a true live performance might have gotten more enthusiastic responses from the crowd.

B for Matt Kenseth
The video before his speech was the best part of this segment of the show. The friendship and partnership between Kenseth and Crew Chief Robbie Reiser was shown in a very natural way. Matt was better with his off the cuff comments than most, especially when he joked about his video. If he learns to speak slower his grade will improve.

B+ for Jimmie Johnson
The speech itself was better than last year by far but Jimmie Johnson still seems too uncomfortable after all these years of being in the limelight. Johnson did a great job mentioning the car owners that helped him get to NASCAR. He did better when he wasn't reading word by word from the teleprompter, which was best shown when he botched one of his sponsors. His stiff delivery also missed the mark on what would have been a funny joke about last year's golf cart incident.

B+ for Kevin Harvick
Harvick's content was good but his delivery was uncharacteristically stiff at times. His off the cuff comments were outstanding including the quip about having his off-season shortened for more testing! The video of Kevin and Delana was very touching.

A - for Tom Brokaw
When Brokaw walked on stage I had this feeling of why is this guy here? But the classy tribute to Bill France Junior from a friend outside of the industry was fantastic! Brokaw balanced the humor with the emotional remembrances but was just a slight bit stiff for a professional. Adding the mentions of the other people that we lost this season was great!

A - for Barney Hall
Choosing to honor Barney Hall was long past overdue. His classy coverage of NASCAR racing has been one constant for older fans of the sport. After so many years you can still hear Barney is so excited to do his job of bringing NASCAR races alive for his radio audience. His speech showed he was clearly humbled to be honored.

A for Jeff Gordon
There would be something wrong with this guy if he didn't show so much emotion when he talked about the past year! We are seeing a big change in Jeff Gordon over the past few years. He still might not be the smoothest public speaker but he speaks from the heart.

A for Tony Stewart
Smoke's speech was definitely one of the most interesting and should make everyone wonder if he will stay with Chevy in the off-season blockbuster move of all time! Tony's joke about Zippy being the stand in on his video because he doesn't have a wife was hilarious. If Stewart leaves Gibbs that will make their move to Toyota one of the worst moves in NASCAR history!

A for NASCAR Images
Looking back at the year that was in the stylized way that NASCAR Images presents it to us is always one of the highlights of the NASCAR Banquet. The combination of great editing and slow motion clips really captures the excitement of racing! Adding the personalized videos for the top ten drivers was great too.

A for Jeff Burton
JB had one of the best off the cuff lines of the night commenting about what was said during his video. Jeff Burton might be the classiest guy in the sport right now and maybe of all time! His speech shows what happens when you leave the clichés behind and just speak from the heart. "Best days are ahead for NASCAR not behind it," said Burton.

A for Clint Bowyer
It is fitting for Clint to follow Jeff Burton in this article. There is a lot of Jeff Burton in Clint Bowyer and that might be the best compliment this youngster from Kansas could get from anyone! The video of Clint with his parents was fantastic and showed that sometimes guys in it for the love of racing can make it to the top!

A+ for Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch made the biggest improvement from last year versus anyone else in the banquet! His mix of humor and speaking from the heart was great. Kyle also did a great job of poking fun at himself about last year's flub calling his girl friend by his sister in law's name. The cold reception that he got from Rick Hendrick showed there is a lot of stuff that happened behind the scenes to allow Hendrick to give up on this talented youngster.