Speaker 1: Arrow dot Net isn't just a podcast. It's twenty different
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Writing Instrument on arrow dot Net a r r oe
dot Net. Enjoy your exploration. Good morning, Preker. How are
you doing today?
Speaker 2: Morning? Bud? Doing well?
Speaker 1: Dude? I got to ask you the super question. I'm
here in Charlotte. You know we're surrounded by the Charlotte
Motor Speedway. We can run up there to Morrisville anytime
we want to. We are so spoiled in this section
of the world, and especially when it comes to the
toys of racing. When before you made that move to
the to the to the booth, did you do the
play by play inside your imagination? Because it seems like
every time I get into a legend, or if I
get into even just a go cart up around the
Morrisville area, I am doing play by play the second
I put my butt in that seat.
Speaker 2: That's actually hilarious you mentioned that, because I absolutely have
had times where I'm in the race and I'm making
a move and in my head, I'm like, this is
what the common tables are saying. And like when it
was when I was working NBC in the pits, i
would think about Rick Allen calling the move and it
was so funny because I'd be like, I know exactly
what he's saying right now. If they're watching me all
my time, I've definitely done that.
Speaker 1: And that walked through the pits. I wish the entire
world would take the time to walk through that, because
those are teams physically working. That is teamwork, that is actual,
and it's so inspiring to be a witness of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, the pit crews are insane athletes and just
a reason that you know, they're usually college football players,
baseball players, maybe occasionally some who have you know, tried
to get in the NFL or the MLB and they
want to keep that competitive juice is flowing and they
end up in the pit crew realm. And you know,
it's such an intense thing because they do this pit
stop which happens in you know, in the Cup Series
now ten seconds. That is incredibly you know, physically demanding.
But they're also jumping in front of a car that's
coming at them at sixty miles an hour or in
set of you know, twenty cars. And the crazy thing
I always say is like, imagine don't do this obviously,
but imagine on a highway just walking out in front
of everyone that's coming down that highway and thinking they're
gonna stop. I know they're gonna stop. So it's insane
what they do. And those guys, they're they're incredible athletes.
And you know, the reason the pit stops have gotten
to be twelve seconds in the Orailey Series and sub
ten seconds in the Cup Series is because of the
athleticism of the you know, the individuals are doing on
those pictures.
Speaker 1: Well see, that's the reason why I love what you
would sew as well as the NASCAR Exfinity Series is
giving to fans because if you can't get to Charlotte
or if you can't get to Talladega and you want
that pit row experience and you want to be on
that right there at surface level, you guys are there.
You totally freaking get it, Parker.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do and you know, we get those cameras
that are like right there in the pit box and
you can see them hop off the walls the car's
coming at them. And I think it does a good
job of explaining it. But to your point, until you
stood down there and seeing those seeing that in action,
there's nothing like it, and the sounds that are happening,
and just how loud it is, and the smoke and
the you know, sometimes the brakes are on fire and
sometimes the fuel light's on fire, and you know, you've
got the lug nuts flying off on the five lug cars.
It's it's insane and it looks you watch all happen
in ten seconds and your mind can't even fully conceptualize
what just happened. A car came in, four tires were changed,
it was fueled full of fuel, and it's gone, and
you're like, what the heck just happened. So it's I
do agree, it's one of the most insane visuals in sports.
But see, you really, you know, we do our best
to try and show it on the TV, but untie,
you've experienced it in person, it's hard to explain. Well.
Speaker 1: The thing is is that if you miss it within seconds,
you're gonna get a smell, and that's what you're gonna
have for the rest of your life, is the smell
of those tires.
Speaker 2: Man, I know, burnt rubber. It's an addicting thing. I've
been looking for a candle that could put that in
my house, but I've never been able to replicate it.
There's something about it. There's something about the you know,
the burnt fuel, the burnt rubber and everything that just
mixes together and doing intoxicating cocktails of smell that you're like, man,
this is you just immediately think, oh, yeah, this is racing.
Love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because the first thing you do is you start
looking for the screen to find out, Okay, what did
I just miss? And then and then to me, you're
living in your past, and it's like, that's why you've
got to pay attention. It's it's I think it is
the fastest sport on the planet. I know they're hockey fans,
but NASCAR Infinity is exactly the fastest sport on the planet.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I don't know many sports besides motorsports that
are going over two hundred miles an hour. So if
they are, I think they've they've probably got bigger issues
if they're going to nuber two hundred miles an hour.
So I think to your point, it is, and that's
why I love motorsports. So I think it's one of
the most unique sports in the world. I think it's
one of the most beautiful sports in the world. When
you think about this man in machine, this inanimate object
that you're asking to do things it absolutely doesn't want
to do, to try, and you know, go up against
thirty eight or thirty nine competitors who want you to
lose as desperately as they want to win, right, and
so they're gonna only be one winner every weekend. And
so I think it's just it's such a incredible sport
in that sense. And that's what you know, drew me
to it. It's why I love it. It's why I've
spent my whole life in it, and it's something that
you know, I intend to be a part of my
entire life because I love it so much and I
think it's so cool, and it's just got so many
unique factors and features that you can't find anywhere outside motorsports.
Speaker 1: And what you guys do with NASCAR's expanity on CW
is the fact that you understand that there is a
storyline there, and I say, I would love to be
in a board meeting where you go, this is what
we need to put our focus on, because if we
don't keep that story alive and keep it moving forward,
they're going to drop off. I don't want them to
drop off.
Speaker 2: I knew.
Speaker 1: Actually, I think you guys have mastered the cliffhanger. You know,
how to keep us there and make sure that we
don't check out during those commercials.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well we try, you know, and I think for
a lot of that is of course we you know,
we have ideas as to what the storylines and that
weekend are going to be. But the great part about
live sports you can do all the preparation of the
world and think you know how it's going to work,
and then it, you know, flips it on the head, right,
and you've got to be prepared to tell that next
set of stories or how that happened or why that happened.
And I think that's something that you know, it's consistent
across all sports broadcasting. For NASCAR, you know what's unique
for us as all the teams play at the same
time on the same field. Right, And so you've got
to find the balance of trying to tell the most
important stories on that day, maybe the stories of the
season that are occurring that might not be as obvious,
and so, you know, there's always a balance there. We
try our best to strike it. I think, you know,
last year we did a really really good job of that,
and you can always get better and take it the
next level. And so yeah, I think that's that's that's
sports broadcasting in a nutshell. But it's for this sport.
It's it's it takes a very dedicated group of people
that we have on the CW that love the sport.
They you know, built their lives around it. They would
be watching if they weren't working in it. And because
of that, they're passionate about it and it comes out
in the broadcast and we're very lucky to have it.
Speaker 1: Man, you've got to take me inside that helmet that
you're wearing, the or your IFB. And the reason why
is because the seed double you is so quick to
go from seeing to scene to scene to corner, corner, corner, corner.
Now let's go to the pits. I would love to
know what it's like to have that if beyond when
you're sitting there listening to everybody else, Okay, you're up
boom and they're on, and then when they finish, now
you're on and here you go, Parker, and then you
pass it on. I mean it's like it's like holding
on to an NFL football and you've you're going to
take that ball across the line. It's just going to
take a lot of players to get there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a ballot, it's a ballet in some respects.
You know, that's our director, that's our director Roger Vincent,
our producer Kill Combs, who are making these decisions, uh,
in sync with what we're saying and seeing. And you know,
it's it's always the whole team working in sync is
the biggest thing. And you know when those moments happen
where we're seeing something and as before we leave and
get to saying it, they've moved the camera to that
exact same because they're seeing the same thing we're seeing.
And so it's yeah, it's just a you're always looking
for that balance and we you know, quickly had it
with everyone at CW, which was a very really rare thing,
and we've been able to build on that it's it's
just such a fun thing when it all works out
and the right you know, the right pictures are on
the screen with what we're saying, and when those two
gel and match up, it's a wonderful viewing experience. And
you know, it's something we really pride ourselves on.
Speaker 1: Would you ever get into that production team in the
way that getting better control of those cameras because those
things right now are identifying like an array of roses.
The coloring is unbelievable, The up above shots are just spectacular.
You're creating such an oh wow on the CW.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think I'm gonna leave that to professionals.
I've been in the control room for a lot of
broadcasts and I can tell you it is complete and
utter chaos, but controlled chaos in some respects. And you know,
those those individuals who work in those control rooms are
very talented what they do, and they, you know, take
years to master it and understand exactly what they need
to be looking at. And for those direct I mean
they're looking at a wall of forty tiny ruttle streams
that are showing all the different camera angles, and they
are you know, calling out where to go and remembering
where those cameras are and what those screens are, and
it's just I mean, if you you get the chance
to be in a control room for a live sporting event,
especially NASCAR, I think it would blow a lot of
people's minds what they're dealing with and what they're you know,
the level they're operating at for such an extended period time.
But the amount of focus and concentration is you know,
rivals being in the actual race car in some respects,
and the adrenaline is high because when you're when you're alive,
it's you know, there is there is no takebacks, there's
no rewinds, it's what happens happens, and so you know,
you've just got to be working in sync and it's
incredible to watch.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Parker Kleiegerman coming
up next. CW's NASCAR Exfinity Series is back and we
are back with Parker Klegerman. How are you exercising your
skills as somebody who does the improv, because when you've
only got let's say a thirty five second or a
fifty second window, and you've got to be spot on
there are no scripts, and people need to understand that
there are no scripts. It's coming from your gut, yeah
it is.
Speaker 2: And you know, for me, I've been very fortunate to
work in TV since twenty fourteen, you know, an on
off capacity and the thing about you know, some people
are like, did you do media train all the stuff?
I didn't. But the big thing for me was that
I actually found racing on the TV when I was
nine years old. My family got cable and they had
the Speed Channel and I saw racing for the first time,
and I was like, I want to do that. But
it was my only connection to racing. My family wasn't
involved in or anything. So for many years, the only
you know, connection and way I could consume racing was
on the TV. And so when I got into TV,
I would just think to myself, with nine year old
Parker want to hear? What? What do you want to see?
And that guided me pretty well ever since. So, you know,
I think through osmosis in some respects I really picked
up on what they did all those years that got
me so infascuated with this sport and to fall in
love with it, and so I try to bring that
same energy in that same passion and thought process to
my own TV work. And I think the thing that's
been a common thread for me though throughout it always
is that I just love race cars. I love racing.
I love race cars, and I'll love it for as
long as I'm on this earth. And because of that,
you know, if I wasn't on the TV, I would
be watching. And so I make the joke sometimes, you know,
they're like, why did you go on the booth? I
was like, well, I'd already be watching the race. I
might as well get paid to do it. So, you know, like,
I'm just a big fan who happens to be one
of the first to get to respond to what happens
and to you know, to watch it with millions of
others at the same time.
Speaker 1: So now is that you're saying, Yes, I am a
armchair quarterback NASCAR fan, And yeah, they actually chose me
because they think I've got something to say. I mean
it's because I because I think you're a fan first.
That's what I feel first from you.
Speaker 2: Yes, I under said, now, that's absolutely me and really,
I mean I would be watching, So I think put it.
It's like if I wasn't there, I'm watching at home
or on my phone or whatever, because I you know,
I just love it, and so it's it's the only
sport I loved. I don't really like other sports. It's
not the only thing I watch and pay attention to.
And so it's it's something where I just happen to
be at the right place the right time to get
the opportunity to do it as a job as well.
And so it's it's a very rare, unique thing that
I'm very grateful to have, and you know, I just
I really just have a lot of fun with it,
and because I love it so much, and so I'm
very fortunate to be in a position a.
Speaker 1: Well, it's because of people like yourself there, Parker, that
it's not that sport where the people of the past
are long gone and forgotten. You get NASCAR or any
type of racing, people together and they're going to bring
their dad in, who race for this guy? Or was
the mechanic for that guy? And all of a sudden,
the stories and and all of the barbecue breakout.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I like to say when racers get together and
have a few drinks, they just talk about how awesome
they are. So I think that's a pretty consistant theme
in racing. I don't know why. Maybe it's in sports
in general, but I can tell you no matter who
in what forver racing or what they did in racing,
when they get together, they like to tell racing stories
and talk about how awesome they are. And yeah, that's
I don't we don't quite do that on the TV
as much, but we you know, we're we're watching in
the same way that in the way we broadcast. I
feel like in the booths with Adam Alexander and Jay
McMurray's we make this joke all the time. It's like
we would be saying the same things if we were
hanging out on the couch watching this at all. Right,
we just have to have michaelsphones in front of us,
so it's it's overall. That's why I think makes it
such a good time. Man.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I wish people around the world
could come to the Carolinas and just experience our back
roads because we all know what that connection to moonshine
and stuff like that. But until you get on those
back roads and those dirt roads, now you understand why
those early day drivers of NASCAR drove the way they did,
and how today's drivers are just as just oh my god,
they're just so into the game even more.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a great point. It really is.
And I think that's just the common thread of why
this all started and why it you know, continued to
grow and what it became is that people love fast cars. Yes, right,
they like the idea of driving fasts. Great roads are
great roads, and so you know, that's what built many
of the great grace tracks we have in America is
that you know, people probably were looking at roads that
they drove in their hometown and thought that that corner
was really good. What if I made that into a
corner on a racetrack. So it's like, yeah, that's a
great idea, let's do it. And so I think those
are some of the best racetracks there are is when
they're designed that way. And I I definitely see that,
you know, the the the knack for driving that you
know you have out of the Southeast, and what built
nascars is I think still there today because it's the history,
it's the legacy of the sport and it's kind of
the core thing that created what it is.
Speaker 1: Do you get the body jerks when you're studying one
of these games. I mean, when there's something going on.
Let's let's just say that we're down there, you know,
at the big, big track, and all of a sudden
you're doing play by play. Do you jerk your body
when you know somebody should have moved? Because I do.
I'll sit there and I'll go, oh my god, I
would have gone, I would have done right, And your
body was in it before your mind jumped in it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've done that for sure. I find Jamie McMurray
and I, you know, sit next to each other of
the booth. We we hate each other in the arm
often that's one of the non verbal communicate we have.
But hey, look at this, why are they doing that?
Or oh man, that was that was close? Or that
was a good move, and yeah, I think you actually
have those. And you know, one of the things that
I think Jamie and I have often is when you
see a really hard wreck, you know you having been
in those moments and felt that, we have such visceral
actions to it because we felt it before. And Adam
will look at us and be like, I don't know
if that looked that hard. We're like, oh, no, man,
trust me, trust me like that. That hurt a lot.
He'll be feeling that tomorrow. So it's like we just
had that experience that allows us to know what they're
going through, right, And I think that's something that in
all sports, when you have those former athletes in the booth,
you know, you can sense that because they go they
go to that place in their mind where they felt
that same thing or or you know, experience that same moment.
And that's such a powerful thing because you know they've
been there and felt that.
Speaker 1: You know, the world is getting ready for Daytona. But
I got to tell you something, and maybe it's just
a Carolina thing, but the fact that you guys were
in Winston Salem and you do North Wilkesboro and stuff
like that still charges up my battery because those tracks,
even though they're short tracks, My god, they bring that action.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's super cool. You know, Northwolksboro is awesome. The
history there is amazing. It's been really cool to see
that place resurrected and the way it has and to
know the O'Reilly series is going there, and I just
think the vibe up there is awesome, and you know,
the history is amazing and when you come upon that place,
you can't help it sense the history and so definitely
excited we're back there. You've got place that reminds you know,
that place reminds me a lot of Martinsville, which is
incredibly historic. So I love the short of tracks. I
think they're awesome. They put on great shows. You don't
need to eat a ton of speed to put on
a great show, right with race cars, but they're going
faster than anything else can go around there, which is
pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Now, I know I'm gonna traps into time here, but
the thing I just I have to ask you, with
a people going two hundred miles per hour, does life
move just as fast as it does for the rest
of us or is it in slow motion when you're
moving two hundred miles an hour?
Speaker 2: Well, I guess we'd have to get into the quantum
physics series there to understand exactly how that's working. But
I can tell you this. When you're at dates Hunter
Toadeyga and you've been in the pack for you know,
call it twenty laps, and you're racing at the front,
you have no idea you're going two hundred miles an
hour other than the idea that that you're you know,
the sounds and the wind and all that stuff. But
what's amazing is that when you go to pit and
you slow down, yeah, suddenly become very apparent that you're
going two hundred miles an hour. It's a very odd sensation.
Speaker 1: Man, Come back to this show any time in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Thank you, Bob, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: Will be brilliant today.
Speaker 2: Okay, sir, we'll do we'll do.