NHRA Revs Up for Championship Drama at In-N-Out Burger Finals From Pomona Dragstrip This Weekend The 1080p production will air on FS1 and FOX, stream on NHRA.tv By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Friday, November 15, 2024 - 3:15 pm
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The 2024 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season closes out this week with the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at the historic Pomona Dragstrip, the oldest continuously operating track on the NHRA circuit. And, for a potentially dramatic weekend that will decide the 2024 Pro Stock Championship, the NHRA production team has pulled out all the stops in its coverage.
As the sanctioning body for the sport, says Rob Hedrick, senior director, production, NHRA, we also produce all of the content. From the NHRA on FOX shows on FS1 and FOX to the in-venue presentation and the OTT product NHRA.tv, it's our responsibility to deliver and make sure that we're covering all the amazing storylines this sport has to offer.
Ultra-Busy Weekend Across Multiple Platforms The NHRA production team's packed three-day schedule begins with today's initial qualifying sessions, which are streaming on NHRA.tv with selected runs also available on NHRA social channels.
For the streamed qualifying sessions, NHRA on FOX play-by-play announcer Brian Lohnes will be in the PA booth, announcing with the in-venue group - a feature that has been a hit with fans. Brian Lohnes is one of the most knowledgeable people in motorsports and drag racing, Hedrick says. I always joke that there is no such thing as Wikipedia for drag racing; it's just Brian Lohnes.
On Sunday, the coverage shifts to FS1 with a qualifying recap show at 10 a.m. ET covering the other qualifying sessions. Hedrick and company will wrap with World Finals coverage while crowning World Champions during the Finals broadcast at 4 p.m. on Sunday, with a post-race show on FS1 celebrate the NHRA season champions and event winners.
Game Creek Video Serves NHRA Production Both Near and Far NHRA's production home throughout the season, Game Creek Video's Nitro A and B units are on hand in Pomona and will produce all broadcasts in 1080p, a practice that debuted this season.
To produce in 1080p, NHRA completely rewired its production truck that delivers the stream for NHRA.tv and upgraded terminal gear to handle the increased bandwidth required. In addition, streamlining fiber deployment with Fiber Ops Team Lead Steve Henry has reduced deployment times and increased reliability this season.
For the fastest motorsport in the world, says Hedrick, [moving to 1080p] was a significant change for viewers. It also allowed us to change the deliverable for our streaming product and has been a significant improvement over the 1080i that the NHRA on FOX started with.
The NHRA production team also continues to deploy Game Creek's GCV Anywhere platform, which allows up to six remotely located operators to work out of NHRA's Indianapolis office. This weekend, director Chris Meadows, AD Melissa Armstrong, pit producer Todd Veney, tape operator Josh Baker, and Feed AD Breanna Manley will be working from that office.
We have a great relationship with Game Creek and appreciate the top-notch support we get from their entire team, says Hedrick. Our EICs always make sure we have everything we need to deliver the show our fans expect.
Pulling Out the Big Production Guns for Finals Weekend The NHRA Finals production will feature 25 total cameras, including two jibs, three RF handhelds, and three super-slo-mo hard cameras. The NHRA will also add in-car cameras to the Champions Car, a Toyota truck that takes the world champions and event winners to the starting line to celebrate with fans. In terms of aerial coverage, NHRA deploys a full-time drone at all its events and will also send up the Goodyear Blimp this weekend in Pomona.
For the Finals, says Hedrick, we always throw everything we can at the production. [The Goodyear Blimp team] had so much fun with us in Norwalk, OH, earlier this year that they wanted to come cover the finals. We're always excited to have them. [And the drone] has been a huge addition to give fans a unique overhead perspective of the sport.
In addition, NHRA has been using wireless pit cams for the past four seasons, and they have been instrumental in adding off-the-track coverage. Every weekend, NHRA Field Operations Manager Mason Armstrong builds a wireless ISP at the tracks to cover pit row, and NHRA deploys PTZ cameras throughout the pits. We get great coverage of the pits, says Hedrick, from thrash to dejected teams coming back from losing a round of racing. We even get moments of levity when the team members dance, knowing the camera is recording.
NHRA has continued to enhance its in-car-camera packages with RF partner 3G, adding multiple cameras in the car and unique camera locations. Also new, NHRA has started experimenting with a cable camera that provides another unique perspective.
Two-way team radio coverage allows Lohnes and analyst Tony Pedregon in the booth to interact and chat with drivers as they come to the line and after they complete their run.
Always Evolving: 1080p, Dolby Atmos, Cloud-Based Production The NHRA on FOX show has been evolving technologically ever since NHRA took the production in-house in 2016; the move to 1080p this season is just the latest example. With the help of Dolby in 2018, the NHRA started producing its broadcasts in Dolby Atmos and recording all the camera iso shots in full Atmos. It's still one of the only sports leagues to do so.
When I started tech-managing in 2021, says Hedrick, we added the pit cams and rebuilt the engineering core to support multiple uploaders to make all the melt available to our cloud-based editing system faster. We are now abl
