PHOTO: NATE VAN WAGNEN
TODD VENEY
Some people might not know that you previously worked for National Dragster. How did
your experience there help you transition to
your new role at FOX?
National Dragster was a great job for a kid right
out of college, and I did it for almost 20-years
because I loved being at the races, right on the
guardrail, i n the pits, in the tower – right in the
middle of everything – getting to know all these
people I always looked up to. It kept me in the
sport for a long time, and I’d never have been
considered for this job if I hadn’t done it, but
this whole TV deal is completely different. It’s
just unbelievable – being in the production truck
with the producer, the director, all these people
and all this equipment. It all just kind of came
out of nowhere a couple days before the season
started. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know
the difference between a producer and a director.
Your official title is Pit Producer. What does
that entail? What does a usual week or weekend
look like for you?
You’re responsible for two or three cameras and
two or three pit reporters – two for most shows,
three when it’s live on FOX. Pit producers decide
where reporters and cameras go and are a liaison
between them and the production truck. You have
your idea of what stories to follow and they have
theirs, and you go with whatever’s best. A lot of
times it’ll be the same thing because they love it as
August 2016
much as you do and they’re following everything
just like you are. Sometimes, you tell a cameraman where to go next, and he’s already there.
You’re part of a team. There’s TV screens everywhere in the truck, nine voices in your headset at
different times, and you’re
right there when all these
decisions are being made
and even a part of some
of them. The amount of
effort and the number
of people required to get
one little piece on the air
is incredible. First day, I
thought, ‘This is just like
drag racing.’
After being involved
on the inside now, has
that changed the way
you view the shows
when they air?
Oh, hell yeah. Now
when I watch a show, I
notice all these things
that made it better and
know how hard that was to do and who made
each thing happen and it just makes you respect
them and the whole process even more. There’s
a lot of talented people on this crew, people
who’ve worked Super Bowls, the World Series,
the Olympics. They didn’t call me because of my
extensive knowledge of live sports TV production.
I’m here for what I know about the sport from
being around it all my life. Everything happens
at the same time – all these people doing all these
things all around the track.
When Tim Wilkerson hit
the wall three pairs into
live coverage of the Topeka race, I thought my
head was going to explode
because when everybody’s
talking at once, nobody
can hear anything. I had
no idea how we were going to fill all that time,
but everybody stepped
up, and when I got home
and watched it I thought
it was one of our better
shows. Live TV is as badass as any pit thrash I’ve
ever been a part of. What
you see on TV was not
necessarily produced in
that order. I was watching Doug Kalitta do a
burnout on one screen at Pomona and thought,
‘Didn’t he already run?’ About 10 seconds later,
I’m like, ‘He did, you dumbass. This is coming off
tape. Him coming down the return road on that
“LIVE TV IS AS
BADASS AS ANY
PIT THRASH
I’VE EVER BEEN
A PART OF.”
DragIllustrated.com
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