I owe a big thanks to Justin “jK” Kircher for getting me in touch with our interviewee, Jackson Gardner. I asked jK if he knew the V8Supercars producer, and he practically set up the interview for me. I can’t say enough about how awesome the SPEED crew is and how impressed I am with their eagerness to share with the world what they do!
TTA: First things first, tell me a bit about who you are and what you do.
JG: I’m one of the producers of the Rolex Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Series full time, I also do the 24 hours of Le Mans for SPEED and I did the Australian V8 Supercars last year, so my answers will be mostly geared towards those series. I’m 31 and I’ve been at SPEED for 5 years, and was at ESPN before that.
TTA: I’m loving watching the replays of BTCC, DTM, WTCC, and FIA-GT1 here in the off-season. Is there any chance that SPEED will show touring cars live at any time next year?
JG: There’s nothing like watching a live race, and as a producer there’s nothing like doing a live race. If it were up to me as a race fan every series we air would air live, and I can’t speak for our network on what will happen in the future but I will say as a producer there’s a lot of challenges that go into live coverage… both logistical and financial. I will say this- It looks very promising for DTM to come to America next year, and run companion weekend events with NASCAR and Grand-Am, and that would really be something special for not just DTM and touring car fans, but all race fans to be exposed to that kind of racing.
TTA: V8Supercars has the perfect blend of raw power and action that I assume the American audience would love. V8SC also has big changes this year, and is coming to Austin, TX in 2013. Do you forsee V8SC coverage expanding to live (or same day) and less condensed? Will we get at-the-track coverage in Austin?
JG: I love Australian V8 Supercars. It’s one of my favorite series in the world and I’m so excited for the Austin race. We did two live V8 races last fall, Bathurst and Gold Coast, both with Mike Joy and Darrell Waltrip in the booth along with SPEED’s outstanding Sports Car announcers Leigh Diffey and Calvin Fish. The goal was to expose American fans to that series and build excitement for it in the future and I think both were accomplished. The Bathurst race was incredible from start to finish [very much so!], and Craig Lowndes trying to chase down Garth Tander on the final few laps was racing history taking place live on SPEED. That might be the coolest race track on the planet. I can’t say for sure what the future holds for the V8 series and SPEED, but I would like to think (and hope) we would continue to expand coverage for that series, and that more fans would get involved because that series is really fantastic.
TTA: The Grand Am series is gaining quite a bit of popularity in part because of the great coverage. Could you describe what a day of Grand Am production is like?
JG: Thank you. First of all the coverage is good because the people are the best. We have a very strong crew who all have the same goal- To do our job and to constantly improve across the board. As for a day of production that’s tough to say, it’s almost easier to talk about race week since every day is different. Our team usually arrives several days before a race, and the on-air talent (Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, Dorsey Schroeder, Brian Till and Chris Neville) is in the paddock, the pits, and everywhere in between talking to drivers, crew chiefs, team executives, fans, and Grand-Am personnel to gather as much information as possible. These guys do an incredible amount of research and that’s the biggest reason the broadcast is good, and that goes for the talent that we’ve had fill in for our races- Jamie Howe, Justin Bell, Greg Creamer and Kelli Stavast. The production crew is hard at work weeks before a race editing elements for the show and preparing stats, graphics and anything else we might need once we arrive on site. Once we’re there we’re grinding non-stop, shooting stuff in the field, editing on site, our graphics team pretty much never leaves the TV truck. This is just a side note, but this group is like a family, constantly looking for out for each other. Fans love Dorsey Schroeder, and for good reason, but what people might not know is Dorsey usually drives his motorhome to the track, and will cook food all weekend, and our team has been fed at all hours on several occasions by the former road course ringer. Dorsey is just a good dude, and a great cook.
On race day ideally everything is finished or close to it, and the few hours before a race hopefully we’re just double checking things and making sure everyone is on the same page. Our Coordinating Producer Greg Oldham likes to say “when preparation meets execution you get excellence” and I feel like our entire team embodies that philosophy. The race itself probably seems like chaos to anyone who’s ever walked into our TV truck for the first time: people yelling, tons of people talking at once, but I like to think of it as controlled chaos, and I’m very proud of how our team reacts and responds- even when things go wrong. After the race it’s a lot like the end of the race for the drivers and teams on the track, with a lot of high fives and hugs assuming things go well, and a lot of yelling and middle fingers when they don’t. That’s mostly Chris Neville though.
TTA: Speaking of your production family, about how many people are working for one broadcast?
JG: We have an outstanding crew, and a big one. We’ll have roughly 75 people on site for a normal Rolex race, and in a way it’s similar to a big race team in that you need hotels and rental cars and hospitality for everyone. We’re usually only on site no more than 4-5 days, but it’s quite a production. Depending on the track we’ll have roughly 10 cameras around the track, 2 in the pits, and 5-10 in the cars as well. Besides the brains of the entire operation, our Coordinating Producer Greg Oldham, there’s myself, and our Director Billy McCoy is in the truck with us along with our Technical Director Lorne Zweig, and those guys really make it happen. Billy has been directing races for 30 years and has taught me so much, and Lorne is Canadian so you can never really trust him, but he’s still the best. Charles Dressing is our spotter, he’s our eye in the sky making sure we don’t miss anything on track, and Chuck is a walking encyclopedia of racing knowledge. Chuck has forgotten more about racing than I’ll ever hope to know. Scott Swim is our head graphics guy, and there just isn’t a better person in television at what he does. Rick Ratajczak is our stats guy, information guy, all around racing guy, and everything in between. He’s invaluable to our crew and also the Polish Prince of Twitter. We have a tape room in the truck devoted to replays and guys building packages for later in the show, and we’re lucky to have guys like Eric Faulkner, Jack Carbone, Charlie Farr, Mr. B Pat Bucoli, Greg Stephens and several other guys who aren’t with us all the time. Bubba Clark and Mark Hanft hold down the fort in the booth and make sure everything looks just right, and our audio guy Bill Bye is also one of the best in the business, he makes sure we have the appropriate balance of car sounds and announcers and music… without a good audio mix a show is shit. I have to mention our pit cameramen Tony Maiorana and Scott Shaule, those guys are running up and down pit lane the whole race chasing after Brian and Chris. In New Jersey last year we had temperatures in pitlane north of 110 degrees, and those guys never complain. Well, Tony complains, but nobody listens. I’d also just like to mention Marty Mabrey our Tech Manager, that guy is the glue that holds everything together- If there’s a problem he can solve it quick or get someone who can, and provide some comic relief while he does it. Jennifer Wells is the Production Manager and team mom, and without her nothing is possible. I’m sure this answer is much longer than you wanted but I’m still leaving so many people out…Josh, Crusty, Jeff, Alan. It really is an outstanding, hard working crew.
TTA: Speaking of your crew, about how many people do you have working with you?
JG: We have an outstanding crew, and a big one. We’ll have roughly 75 people on site for a normal Rolex race, and in a way it’s similar to a big race team in that you need hotels and rental cars and hospitality for everyone. We’re usually only on site no more than 4-5 days, but it’s quite a production. Depending on the track we’ll have roughly 10 cameras around the track, 2 in the pits, and 5-10 in the cars as well. Besides the brains of the entire operation, our Coordinating Producer Greg Oldham, there’s myself, and our Director Billy McCoy is in the truck with us along with our Technical Director Lorne Zweig, and those guys really make it happen. Billy has been directing races for 30 years and has taught me so much, and Lorne is Canadian so you can never really trust him, but he’s still the best. Charles Dressing is our spotter, he’s our eye in the sky making sure we don’t miss anything on track, and Chuck is a walking encyclopedia of racing knowledge. Chuck has forgotten more about racing than I’ll ever hope to know. Scott Swim is our head graphics guy, and there just isn’t a better person in television at what he does. Rick Ratajczak is our stats guy, information guy, all around racing guy, and everything in between. He’s invaluable to our crew and also the Polish Prince of Twitter. We have a tape room in the truck devoted to replays and guys building packages for later in the show, and we’re lucky to have guys like Eric Faulkner, Jack Carbone, Charlie Farr, Mr. B Pat Bucoli, Greg Stephens and several other guys who aren’t with us all the time. Bubba Clark and Mark Hanft hold down the fort in the booth and make sure everything looks just right, and our audio guy Bill Bye is also one of the best in the business, he makes sure we have the appropriate balance of car sounds and announcers and music… without a good audio mix a show is shit. I have to mention our pit cameramen Tony Maiorana and Scott Shaule, those guys are running up and down pit lane the whole race chasing after Brian and Chris. In New Jersey last year we had temperatures in pitlane north of 110 degrees, and those guys never complain. Well Tony complains but nobody listens. I’d also just like to mention Marty Mabrey our Tech Manager, that guy is the glue that holds everything together- If there’s a problem he can solve it quick or get someone who can, and provide some comic relief while he does it. Jennifer Wells is the Production Manager and team mom, and without her nothing is possible. I’m sure this answer is much longer than you wanted but I’m still leaving so many people out…Josh, Crusty, Jeff, Alan. It really is an outstanding, hard working crew.
TTA: A while back, SPEED launched an online channel (SPEED2) that aired more racing. Do you produce shows for that also? If so, how is the process different?
JG: I don’t produce any shows specifically for SPEED2, but we did part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans coverage live on SPEED2, and I do the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series that we stream live on SPEED2, and then the race airs on TV a week later. I don’t approach it any different but what I like about it is that fans watching live on SPEED2 get to hear some of the ‘behind the scenes’ type stuff, like conversations the guys in the booth have during breaks. I really think the future of broadcasting is the internet and our crew loves being a part of that.
TTA: When taking into account the experience of spectating a race, the sounds of the cars (especially at the starts) is a big part of the excitement. How challenging is it to capture and then transmit that excitement to the TV audience?
JG: It’s always a challenge. Nothing beats the experience of being at a race track and hearing the cars in person, but we do the best we can to get that experience to cross over to television. Broadcasting in 5.1 surround sound helps, and as the technology of the stationary track cameras, on board cameras, and all the audio equipment we use improves, so does the experience for the race fan. One of my favorite things from Le Mans last year was when we did a full lap on board with one of Corvette Racing’s C6 ZR1’s in the middle of the night. No announcers- just the sound of the engine flying through France in the middle of the night. It was spectacular.
(It was something like this!)
TTA: I know with the F1 broadcast, Speed is basically given the footage and speed only adds the announcers. I assume many of the European productions are similar. Could you talk a bit about who produces the footages, how it’s delivered, and what Speed does with it from there for a few race series?
JG: Both Grand-Am series, Rolex and Continental Tire, are done completely by SPEED. It varies for every other series though. F1 is done like the 24 hours of Le Mans, coming in on a world feed, but we add our announce teams, graphics, replays, and pit lane cameras and pit reporters. Some other series are done overseas and only air on SPEED; some have our announcers or our graphics, it varies series to series. It also depends on individual races, for example the Australian V8 Supercars races we did last fall were different from any other V8 race that we’ve aired.
TTA: What’s your favorite sounding car?
JG: This is a really tough question. I grew up a big Porsche fan, because my dad was a Porsche fan, and had a ’66 911. It wasn’t a world beater, more of a restored stock classic, but when I was 10 that was the fastest car in the world as far as I was concerned, and I used to love standing next to that car when he fired it up. During the high school/college years, like most American teenagers, I loved muscle cars, and I still love the rumble of GTO’s, Camaros, and Chevelle’s. The Audi LMP is an incredible machine to listen to, and even the R8 they had at Rolex testing in early January sounded great, but I’m not sure anything beats the unique sound of a Ferrari 458.
TTA: What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you during a broadcast? The scariest?
JG: All the biggest moments come from the biggest race- Le Mans. The funniest moment was from a few years ago when we sent Justin Bell wandering around a fan viewing area at like 3 in the morning just to see who was up there. I think he interviewed a… ‘working girl’ is the term I’ll use. She was drunk, smoking a cigarette and hitting on Justin I believe. As a producer I was cringing at what might happen next, but it was incredibly funny. We’ve had several good moments in the fan zones at Le Mans with Justin, and he’s excellent at going right up to the point where the FCC might need to be involved but not crossing the line. The scariest moment was from that same race, Jamie Howe was doing a pit report on the Audi team and as she was calling a pit stop our cameraman stepped out into pit lane and got hit by the sister Audi who was coming in right behind the car Jamie was covering. The guy survived but was hurt pretty bad. The Allan McNish and Mike Rockenfeller wrecks from last year’s Le Mans were incredibly scary as well. Luckily Allan got out of the car right away, but with Rocky it took some time to get confirmation he was okay… that was a nightmare but we saw both guys in Daytona this year and it’s a testament to how safe those cars are that both guys were alright. Gunter Schaldach’s Camaro flying over the fence after colliding with Joe Foster’s RX8 at Road America in the Rolex race was pretty scary too.
TTA: And finally, where should I direct readers who want to get in touch with you?
JG: Twitter @Jax_gardner or come find me at the track!
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed talking with Jackson as much as I have. If you liked this interview please be sure to read my interview with Justin Kircher regarding Formula 1 on SPEED!
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