As we are all moving into the racing season, I am pained to report the status of racing television coverage in America. Unless you are looking forward to NASCAR racing from Rockingham or Bristol, NASTRUCKS from Tucson, or Saturday Night Thunder from Indianapolis Raceway Park, things are bleak at best. Let's look at the facts:

(1) ABC made some attempt to televise the Miami Grand Prix with the traditional Paul Page-Bobby Unser-Sam Posey lineup in the booth. Unfortunately, racefans were treated to a never-ending string of commercials during brief periods of green-flag racing. Paul Page was forced to begin every segment with "While we were away, ..." Come on Paul, while we were away, the entire race was run. I still have not warmed-up to the insights of Bobby Unser, and Sam Posey is not likely to be a part of my raceteam either. Key interviews were missing, and despite all the technology introduced by ABC, we rarely watched the action from the in-car cameras. And just when you have thought it could not get worse, ABC ran a piece on the "festival" atmosphere of Miami. On second thought, it could be worse--just watch upcoming formula one coverage.

(2) This hurts. Rumor has it that ESPN will treat us to "same day" F1 coverage that will continue to feature the comments of Varsha and Daley who will be in Connecticut during the races. Under the circumstances, Varsha does a credible job. But he is clearly struggling as he watches the feed and thinks of what on earth to say now. Look, if Varsha is serious about this, he should locate a sponsor that will at least get him on the F1 circut, and put him in a position to provide some real information for the racing consumers. While ESPN gladly accepts NASCAR telecasts that are live, ESPN has put F1 precariously low in their priorities.

So what is the solution? Easy, go to races whenever possible, and bombard ESPN with comments regarding their F1 coverage (their e-mail address is jjsy99a@prodigy.com). The upcoming season will be terrific, but American television will remain in the pits.