The Speed Channel to go HD in February
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Oct 1st 2007 10:31AM
posted Oct 1st 2007 10:31AM
One of the most technologically advanced sports is soon going to have an HD channel to match, as The Speed Channel is gearing up for HD. The week leading up to the Daytona 500 next year will be a week of speed and for the first time ever, the Speed Channel will cover the entire week in HD. As much as they'd like to produce all their programming in HD, as we know all too well it's almost impossible, especially with auto racing which uses as many camera as any sport and twice the fiber. They're not stopping with live events either, as Speed has already upgraded production of a few of their shows to HD, so they'll have some ready in time for February.
Oh come on... you can't say "technologically advanced" in the first sentence and then talk about NASCAR in the second. Forumla 1, sure. Stripped down Tauri with big engines? No way.
All the same, I hope E* responds to DirecTV's HD lineup soon and that Speed HD is on the slate.
Fantastic! Now if only F1 was in HD. Currently, it's 480p widescreen.
Screw NASCAR! I'm waiting for Formula 1.
While we're on the subject, isn't Speed carrying A1 Grand Prix this season?
Bleh. NASCAR sucks.
At least Formula 1 will be in Widescreen now, though cheapskate Bernie will probably get his eyes plucked out before shelling out for a worthwhile HD upgrade.
I'll say it, I love me some NASCAR. :)
But I wish speed would show rally racing. they did once long ago.
Great - the more HD the better.
Anyone have any idea why Speed does not show WRC or more European racing? Cost of programming vs. ratings? I can only watch so much Nascar...
The reason for the shift in programming is that FOX Sports now owns SPEED TV (hence, the name change made years ago.) When FOX Sports bought Speedvision, they partnered with NASCAR - who was about to create it's own channel - to fill up most of the schedule. Speedvision had commitments with various bodies and, over time, many of those have ended. They have chosen to maintain a few, but, by and large, it's NASCAR TV. And, for those of you who condemn it, do you ever actually watch NASCAR or even been to an event? It's far more exciting to watch than other series where the leader can be told to pull over and let the teammate driver win or, even worse, THERE'S NO PASSING AT ALL.
Nice. BTW, seriously Engadget, NASCAR and Technology should not be mentioned in the same sentence. NASCAR "race cars" use 1970s powertrain "technologies." They also just now discovered this weird thing called a rear wing that every other civilized racing series in the world has been using since the end of the 1970s.
dude they basically put those cars on auto pilot any profesional can drive one ask juan pablo or hornish jr., f1 guys are better off dancing with the stars
I understand when all you guys say NASCAR car's aren't terribly high tech but the testing and work they do to get their cars to that level is very high tech. They have multi-axis testing, server and data warehouses for computer based simulations, full size wind tunnels.... I am a huge fan of Formula 1 and would totally agree that F1 cars are considerably more high tech than NASCAR but NASCAR has its place. The phrase 'rubbin is racin' is really only seen in NASCAR though. In F1 if cars have a glancing touch more often than not they are both broke and effectively out of the race. Watching the NASCAR BofA 500 at Lowes, towards the end of that race guys were driving with completely smashed in fenders and bumpers, whole sides of cars were scrapped up, and you gotta love those black donuts from tires on someones door panel. I also don't like the competitive behavior in F1, in NASCAR drivers are more friendly to each other, obviously not on the track ;), whereas F1 each driver hates the others guts and they don't even talk. I think that's why Lewis Hamilton is so popular in F1, he looks like a pleasant happy guy and he totally drives the crap out of his car except when he gets stuck in rocks :(.
But I'm glad Speed will finally be in HD. The two most watched channels for me, other than local and sports, are Speed and SciFi. Now if I could just get Cox to follow suit.
Anyway, go Raikkonnen or Hamilton NOT Alonso and go Tony Stewart. I would also like to see some WRC brought back to Speed, those guys are insane.