Familiar Face Returns

I woke up this morning to great news. This juicy nugget is just what the IRL needs to bolster the support and credibility of the series. Out with the new; in with the old.

A new and refreshing era is returning to IndyCar.

It is time to roll out the red carpet as Paul Page makes his long-awaited and much deserved return to the broadcast booth for Saturday night’s Firestone Indy 200 in Nashville.

Page was IndyCar’s lead television announcer from 1988 until 2004 when he was unjustly replaced by Todd Harris, whose thrill-level rivaled the hair on my big toe.

The reappearance of Page is fantastic news because it signals the end for current IndyCar lead announcer Marty Reid. Reid ranks second in my book in terms of IndyCar Martys (Yes, Roth trumps Reid).

Apparently the IRL did not mind the constant blunders, gaffes, and mistakes with Reid at the helm.

If you think I am being too ruthless then let me give you a direct quote from Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen.

“Mario Moraes with his best run going at NINTH, then there’s Graham Rahal in NINTH….”

Oh, it got even better. Just a few seconds later, Reid uttered the following:

“…Then Danica Patrick is 12th and RYAN Dixon is 13th and Ryan Briscoe is 14th.”

IndyCar is an unparalleled passion in my life and that is why I demand perfection. To call the reigning Indy 500 champion by the wrong name is intolerable and disrespectful.

Nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes, but if Reid exuded even a remote amount of enthusiasm during a broadcast then his shortcomings would be more tolerable. Listening to Reid’s habitual mistakes and mind-numbing explanations makes me want to find a 9-foot length of rope and jump off a bridge.

Reid is not the only IndyCar broadcaster heading for the unemployment office. Brianne Pedigo is out the door as well. Her immature and unprofessional reporting continued to throw IndyCar behind the 8-ball. Thankfully those days are past.

Dr. Jerry Punch – the best doctor in the business – is also making a long overdue return to IndyCar’s pit lane. He will be joined by Jon Beekhuis and Gary Gerald. They will be reunited with the always electrifying Jack Arute and the best pit reporters on the planet will be back in the saddle come Saturday night in Nashville.

The revival of Page & Co. means a superior class of broadcasting and first-class professionalism is on the horizon.

The year of unification has just begun, but there is one slight problem.

You know that feeling when you are lying in bed with a Playboy Playmate and are abruptly woken up and your heart sinks because you realize it was all a dream?