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TechniqueBV BLOYS BRITT AP Anto Racing WriterDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)' - The men behind the cameras say a new chapter in tel vising auto racing will begin Feb. 14 when the Daytona 500 classic is carried to theaters across the country.“We run into problems that the people who televise football wouldn’t believe,” says Jay Merkle, whose Teleprompter Corp. will produce the race for the filth straight year.“We find that auto racing is the most challenging sport we’ve ever covered,” Merkle said. “The sport, especially stock car racing, has more variables and more continuous action .than most other athletic events put together.“As an example, you could put a footballV “ftJAuto4aV.field on the grassy apron at Daytona International Speedway and three goodcamera man could cover it. Our concern is that we have to cover. 2.5 miles of1 * a *speedway, with 40 cars tearing around it at breakneck speed. Yet if we miss a wreck or a spinout, we haven’t done our job.Merkle, who has been in this resort city two weeks preparing for the telecast that will be seen on wide screens in 40 heaters and auditoriums, plus points elsewhere on the globe, says the real, goal is “to give the closed circuit viewer morethan he would see if here at the track.”* » .Teletrompter will use at least 12 color cameras in positions around the track—from one on top of the main grandstand to one positioned under the feet of the flagman who will wave the closely-bunched field on its way.Under the new technique developed by Merkle and his engineers, an “overlapping effect” will have two cameras. on any given car at all tfmesi 1 Some of the innovations for this year’s race include slow motion isolated cameras,a split-screen machine that can display four separate pictures, sirtiultanedusly, and two special long-range cameras with lenses that cost in the neighborhood of $25,000 each. iRacing is relatively new for, television and the networks and closed circuit groups have found the sport the most difficult—and most costly—of all. to capture because of the speed and noise that generate .theexcitement for a stock car audinece.research this year we found thatif.* u’ » -Vcaught by a camera,k nr« • * .. a is-iw.i S.And of course the draft down that long; V • ?! r-*’.••. J *• i .J; . f.i'.j t: • • • w * - • M •' -la,’ •' ’ ■ - :maneuver by a car to gam the lead haveraces here on the final.\K' /i.r:i- ;i:..• - :T-v-
Newspaper Details
Wichita Falls Times
Wichita Falls, Texas, US
Sun, Feb 07, 1971
Page 12
Full Page
Clipped by
St J.
IN, USA 16 Apr 2020
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