I'm following it again this season, probably only because I know 2 of the competitors. Kevin Dietz was with the season 1 Bridgestone team as Ron's crew chief (some may remember he raced in our Reno divisionals). Jr. (Mike 'Jr.' Johnson), who took over the Skechers car is also a national champion autorcrosser, he's one of the co-owners of Evolution Performance Driving School, and is one of those really fun people in-person - (he won the Roger Johnson Spirit of the Sport Award, given to the Soloist who promotes a sense of fun and tomfoolery - something like that).
When I saw in the first or second episode that one of the first eliminations, 'Stina', had barely any racing experience, I was rolling my eyes. Then she got blamed for setting the parking brake after coming in from the race, which 'probably caused' her co-driver to stall on the next race's start. Brother. Then that driver (Kaitlin) spun out on the oval track, was told to come in; and they ended up eliminating another dude (who also spun out twice, but stayed in the race until the end). Broth-----er.
I just wish they would actually give air time to the setup work and its effects on their races, instead of the contrived drama, the rules-by-the-seat-of-Scott's-pants, and the desire to film a great shot. Sigh. Next episode appears to have footage of one of the cars flipping. Tomorrow (Thursday) 5pm and again at 8pm on Speed.
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