Despain, Varsha and Jensen Offer Perspective

SPEED will open fan voting on SPEEDtv.com for the inaugural SPEED Performance Awards on Monday, rolling out the first three categories - Best Rivalry, Biggest Hit and Biggest Upset. The categories are the first of nine that will have nominees unveiled over the next four weeks, with results being part of the first SPEED Performance Awards television program scheduled to debut Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. ET.

SPEED on-air personalities Dave Despain and Bob Varsha and SPEEDtv.com writer Tom Jensen weigh in with their thoughts on criteria for fans to consider:

1) What makes for a good motor sports rivalry?

Despain: Colorful personalities. If Vern Vanilla and Bill Bland have a big rivalry, who cares? If a couple of drivers who already fire up the fans in their own right in turn fire up each other, and a rivalry ensues, that's what we who cover the sport dream about.

Varsha: A while back, Robin Miller wrote a piece on SPEEDtv.com lamenting the lack of good old fashioned hatred in racing these days. And he's right. You don't get very far in this sport without believing that you're better than the next guy; otherwise, you're beaten before you start. That doesn't mean you need to hate the other guy to make it a good rivalry, but it takes both "black hats" and "white hats" for the fans to take sides. And when they do that, you've got a rivalry.

Jensen: Two guys with comparable talent and equipment who absolutely loathe each other, who would rather crash both of them out of the race than win themselves. The closer the performance levels and the more profound the mutual hatred, the better the rivalry.

2) What defines a major upset in racing?

Despain: When someone who has never done anything before, and has never given us good reason to expect them to do something, suddenly does something.

Varsha: We are all equal under the law, but when the green flag drops, all bets are off. Marketing can muddy the waters, but the fact is that race after race, there are guys who are contenders and guys who are pretenders due to such things as talent, resources and even luck. A pretender beating a contender is an upset any way you look at it.

Jensen: Major upsets in racing so rarely happen these days, because of the massive concentration of funding among top teams in any series or form of racing. A major upset is a guy winning a race with a fraction of the resources that a top team in the same series has.

3) Would racing have the same appeal without the occasional spectacular crash?

Despain: Crashes are as much a part of the appeal of racing as hard hits are to football. The more spectacular the better. We who actually care about the sport always want to see the driver walk away. Those outside the sport probably don't care.

Varsha: Would racing have the same appeal without the occasional spectacular crash? I think it was Fangio who said the idea behind racing is to win at the slowest possible speed. But at the same time, I honestly don't think the sport would be the same without the occasional crash to remind us of how difficult racing really is, and what is at stake. I don't hope for crashes, but when talented racers are really trying hard, you expect them. That's why I think there's an important distinction between making race cars safer and making them slower.

Jensen: No, the occasional hair-raising moment is great fodder for bench racing. Fortunately, racing is much safer than it used to be.

4) Is there humor in motor sports?

Despain: Beyond Robin Miller?

Varsha: Not as much as there could be. I think that too often commercialism and "PC-ness" tends to suck the humor and spontaneity out of the sport. I'm not saying racers should be outrageous in a constant quest to be funny, but there are some very entertaining personalities out there. Racers should feel free to be funny, just as they should feel free to be angry. Plus, it makes for better television.

Jensen: Oh, yeah, there's still plenty of humor in motor sports, but the average fan never gets to see most of it.

5) How can you tell when you are getting a unique interview?

Despain: Three questions in, you haven't heard a single sponsor stroke.

Varsha: There's a time-honored trial lawyers' maxim that commands "NEVER ask a question you don't already know the answer to," the idea being you don't want surprises in the courtroom. To me, a great interview works in reverse: if I'm learning something I didn't know about the interviewee, then I'm probably on to something that others don't know, either.

Jensen: HINT: When your standing behind a driver's hauler with 50 other reporters, you are NOT getting a unique interview. A unique interview occurs when you're in a one-on-one situation, you've done your homework and you ask great questions. The better the questions, the better the interview.

6) What makes for a fantastic finish?

Despain: Margin of victory, the fan appeal of the participants and the number of times they touch on the last lap without wrecking each other.

Varsha: Great finishes are the result of evenly-matched rivals racing without regard to the next lap, or even the next corner. When guys are racing hard, you can see it in their reactions after the race is over. They wanted it to go on forever. And we wanted it to.

Jensen: Two guys going down to the wire, in equal equipment, with equal talent and the outcome completely in doubt.

7) Do champions make for poor losers?

Despain: Losers are poor by definition.

Varsha: Not a chance. A champion realizes through experience that you can't win them all; that in fact a winning percentage above baseball's famous Mendoza Line, meaning one race in five, is exceptional in a truly competitive series. And so when a champion wins, he appreciates it. If he is smart, he also let's his team and fans share that joy, as Michael Schumacher did without fail.

Jensen: I've never met a great racer who was a good loser. You don't get to the pinnacle of any form of racing by being circumspect, polite or reflective. You get there by dropping the hammer and going W.F.O - "W" being wide, "O" being open - 24/7. Any racer worth his or her salt wants it all, all the time: The best car, the best crew, the most victories. It's their nature.

8) Victory celebrations, what makes them unique?

Despain: Snow angels are proof that a unique victory celebration is not necessarily desirable. A celebration that combines the emotional high of victory, a certain amount of dignity, a little humility (though not too much) and a good bit of humor sends the rest of us home happy. The winner is already happy, no matter how the rest of us feel.

Varsha: A unique celebration, like a great drive, draws us in and makes us realize we've witnessed something special. Dan Gurney inventing the champagne spray at Le Mans, Carl Edwards and his famous backflip, Fernando Alonso's goofy poses, and Alex Zanardi's doughnuts are all examples. They create an air of expectation after the checkered flag, waiting for the answer to the question "Now what's he going to do?" Like a musical encore, it's a parting gift to the fans.

Jensen: As underdogs win less and less often, the celebrations are less and less unique. Let some guy who's 40th in points win a Nextel Cup race and I guaran-damn-tee you the party afterwards will be worth going to. Jimmie Johnson, not so much.

9) Talent is getting younger and younger, is it good for motor sports?

Despain: Jeff Gordon is pretty good evidence that driving a sprint car before you're old enough to drive a street car can be good for you. It isn't NECESSARILY good for you, but it can be.

Varsha: I think talent has little to do with age, and the trend toward younger drivers is motivated more by economic imperatives: a younger driver works cheaper, and his productive years are more numerous, all things being equal. To me the greater danger to the sport is the fact that fewer talented drivers are crossing over from formula to formula, open wheel to stock car to sports car, and so on, the way the greats of the past did.

Jensen: It's good for motor sports, but it's terrible for the talent. There are guys in NASCAR right now who are washed up at 21, which when you think about it is absurd. But that's the reality. Guys get chances earlier now, but they get a much smaller window of opportunity to make something happen.

SPEED, celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2006, is the nation's first and foremost cable network dedicated to motor sports and the passion for everything automotive. From racing to restoration, motorcycles to movies, SPEED delivers quality programming from the track to the garage. Now available in more than 73 million homes in North America, SPEED is among the fastest growing sports cable networks in the country and an industry leader in interactive TV, video on-demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services.