FloRacing has tapped veteran sportscaster Ralph Sheheen, Funny Car world champion \u201cFast Jack\u201d Beckman, seasoned motorsports reporter Jamie Howe and FloRacing Drag Racing Content Creator Courtney Enders as broadcast talent for the inaugural SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage, Feb. 8-10, at Bradenton Motorsports Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sheheen, Beckman, Howe, and Enders via FloRacing, the official livestream partner, will provide an all-encompassing exposure for fans at the event and the ultimate experience for those unable to attend the race. Fans can catch all of the heart-pounding action from drag racing stars, like three-time Funny Car world champion Ron Capps, Top Fuel\u2019s reigning champion Doug Kalitta and legendary Pro Stock driver Jeg Coughlin Jr., and more.<\/p>\n
Sheheen, who will be on the play-by-play call, took an interest in drag racing at a young age and now has years of experience behind the microphone, from working at TNN to covering the NHRA, IHRA, and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime you can bring the biggest names in the sport together and put a massive purse on the line to get everybody throwing everything they have at it to get it, it just makes for great racing for the fans, and it should be spectacular,\u201d said Sheheen. \u201cI think every play-by-play guy has a different thing that they bring to the event. Some guys are known for their knowledge of the history of the sport. Some guys might be known for more of a human interest side of it, but I\u2019ve always been somebody who brings the enthusiasm as a fan to the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a driving career that spanned 14 years, Beckman will be sitting alongside Sheheen to fill the color commentary role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to take a few days off and go back to the races in a participatory role,\u201d said Beckman. \u201cI\u2019m also a hardcore drag race historian and an event like this is unprecedented. There have been many events that have tried to break the mold, specifically on the payoffs for drag races where they\u2019re just going throw a ton of money out there and try to attract the biggest names in the sport. I have been racking my brain, and I can\u2019t remember one that took place in the pre-season. I\u2019m really interested to see how the crew chiefs approach this. Do they take what worked last year and apply it to a track that they only go to once a year at the most in conditions that they rarely see? Or do they get there early with their tune-up changes and hammer the heck out of the racetrack and try to get up to speed as quickly as possible?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be great sitting next side to old \u2018Fast Jack,’\u201d added Sheheen. \u201cWhen you do something like this, it\u2019s a real treat as a play-by-play guy because you get to have one of the best seats in the venue, and hopefully, you\u2019re sitting next to one of your good buddies who has great insight as to what you\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howe, whose career has spanned across several motorsports genres, explains how unique the PRO Superstar Shootout will be and what she\u2019s looking forward to as a pit reporter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first covered drag racing, I had no idea what I was getting into or who I would meet along the way,\u201d said Howe. \u201cI have now been far enough removed from my 11 seasons of nitro that the thing I am most looking forward to is going back to cover the sport as a fan. I have covered some of the biggest motorsports events in the world, and I\u2019m looking at the PRO Superstar Shootout as just that \u2013 a huge event for the competitors and fans alike. There is life-changing money on the line for these teams, and with that comes a level of commitment and competition that I can\u2019t wait to dive into in the pits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rounding out the broadcast team is FloRacing\u2019s Courtney Enders, who will also be roaming the pits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so proud to be one of the voices and faces that get to help tell the story of this historic event and bring light to the stars of our sport,\u201d said Enders. \u201cThe talents on and off track involved with this race are people I\u2019ve looked up to and respected my whole life. I look forward to showing the entire world why drag racing is the greatest sport with the best people on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than $1.3 million in prize money will be up for grabs at the PRO Superstar Shootout, which includes $250,000-to-win Top Fuel, $250,000-to-win Funny Car and $125,000-to-win Pro Stock.<\/p>\n
Beckman knows what it\u2019s like firsthand to experience a monumental event and shared his thoughts from a driver\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the money is going to be as big an incentive once the helmet\u2019s on. I think the money is the incentive to get the teams there and get their tune-ups dialed in,\u201d said Beckman. \u201cBut when you\u2019re a driver, I think that once the cars are started, it\u2019s business as usual. However, when you\u2019re outside of that car, trust me, nobody has lost the fact that they are racing for a quarter million dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether the teams are preparing to tow to the line or thrashing in their pits after an explosion, FloRacing will provide in-pit cameras to catch every minute of the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also a chance to paint a picture to the people that aren\u2019t there,\u201d continued Beckman. \u201cThe weather, the track conditions, things that television might not quite capture, I can fill in the blanks on that for the viewer watching on their device. For the people that are in the stands, I can give them another dimension of what the drivers are thinking, what\u2019s going on at that point with the crew chief, what\u2019s going on with each crew member, the roles that are taking place in real-time, things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope to bring through to get people excited to watch, build up the intensity of each round and each pass as we go through the event because that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to be feeling,\u201d said Sheheen. \u201cThe one thing I can tell you for me as a broadcaster is that every call I make is really what I\u2019m feeling at the time. I\u2019m not faking my way through anything. It\u2019s really what you get. To me, racing is as exciting a sport as you\u2019re going to find anywhere, no matter what genre you\u2019re watching, and I like to bring that through. I\u2019m really, really excited about getting a chance to go back and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the professional categories, the PRO Superstar Shootout will include FTI Performance Top Sportsman, Stock, and Super Stock.<\/p>\n
Lastly, Enders is looking forward to combining her role at FloRacing with the sport she has dedicated her life to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t dream up a bigger opportunity than this,\u201d said Enders. \u201cTo be a part of this from the start with the group of people involved in the conception of this race is the biggest honor I\u2019ve had in my lifelong career in drag racing. This is worlds colliding for me with this event being streamed on FloRacing and being asked to be a part of the on-air talent team. In my almost two years at Flo, we\u2019ve taken drag racing to another level, but this is a different ballgame.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fans can also watch the entire race live through FloRacing at\u00a0https:\/\/flosports.link\/3KQGS4I<\/a> and keep up with their favorite drivers through the \u201cRoad to Bradenton\u201d video series by visiting https:\/\/flosports.link\/48zbPEw<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tickets are on sale for the Scag Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by JHG at\u00a0https:\/\/bit.ly\/scagpro<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post FloRacing Announces Broadcast Talent for PRO Superstar Shootout<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FloRacing has tapped veteran sportscaster Ralph Sheheen, Funny Car world champion \u201cFast Jack\u201d Beckman, seasoned motorsports reporter Jamie Howe and FloRacing Drag Racing Content Creator Courtney Enders as broadcast talent for the inaugural SCAG Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout presented by Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage, Feb. 8-10, at Bradenton Motorsports Park.\u00a0 Sheheen, Beckman, Howe, and Enders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}