Chat Transcript: Larry McReynolds

July 10, 2001
11:04 AM EDT (1504 GMT)

[Nascar_Host1] Welcome to NASCAR.com's chat with Larry McReynolds!

Larry McReynolds

[Larry_Mac] I think the biggest thing for me is that from being in this sport for 20 years, I didn't think I could enjoy any aspect of this sport other than being a crew chief. The opportunity I had with FOX, along with the tools and people they assembled, was great.

A lot of people were skeptical about us coming in after other networks did for 20 years. The first year has come to a close, and I will say it flew by in such a hurry that it is hard to believe it went by that fast. I had more fun than a person deserves to have and I felt that we set the bar very high and we took the fans to a higher place than they have been before.

NASCAR on TV  Video: McReynolds and Waltrip discuss their unique broadcast style.

We are a team at FOX. It isn't 9 or 10 of us in front of the camera, it is the 100s behind the camera. We didn't do it to a perfect-t, and there are ways we can improve, but like a team that can prepare after a winning season, we sat down after Sonoma to talk about what we can do better next year in February 2002. We want to take the fan to places that NASCAR broadcasts still haven't brought them.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [Noelle Dalejrfan] What was it like working with Jeff Hammond, Chris Myers, and Darrell Waltrip? You guys looked like you had a lot of fun! Thank you!

[Larry_Mac] Yes, we did have a lot of fun. FOX gave us a lot of guidelines to go by, but at the end of the day we just wanted to tell the story. You have to explain the story and explain WHY. You didn't want the fan to go away still asking questions like, "what did he mean?"

They wanted us to have fun. It wasn't a put-on fun. We have a passion for this sport, so it was easy to be excited and easy to be fun. Darrell, Mike and I became best friends. I do consider Darrell and Mike two of my best friends. If I had a personal problem, I would go to them. We had great chemistry and that is why I think everything flowed so well.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [nannydoz] Tell us what your most memorable moment was broadcasting this year and your most embarrassing one! Thanks!

[Larry_Mac] My most memorable isn't a good memory, but it is the Daytona 500. I have been part of broadcasts for 4-5 years part-time, but I had never done a Winston Cup event. For my first Winston Cup event, other than the Bud Shootout or qualifications, it to be the Daytona 500 (which is the Super Bowl of our sport to starts our season), and to have a great day like Mikey Waltrip winning the event, we were probably, unfortunately about 11 seconds away from the best Daytona 500 ever broadcast. It was a day that had so much good with it, but at the end had so much tragedy to it.

My most embarrassing memory was at Dover where we thought we had a 2 minute break (and this would go for all 3 of us), but it ended up being 30 seconds and all 3 of us had all our mouths full of ice cream when we got back on air! I don't think anyone knew it when we went back on air though.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [beaglegirl] Hi, Larry. What will your role be at Petty Enterprises? Will you be staying? PE fans are very excited about this union!

[Larry_Mac] I am going to be a consultant to hopefully all three teams and they have a lot of work to do. They have gotten behind over there, there is no question. To have a new make of car, Dodge, and a new engine, they have a lot of work to do.

I am going to be working with #44 Georgia Pacific Buckshot Jones team. I love the sport and I like being there every week. I am smart enough, and Jeff Hammond will say the same thing, that one of the main things about our broadcast was that all of us just stepped out of the garage area in November and we could explain so many things.

If you are in our sport every day, you still can't keep up with it. With me joining them, I hope to stay on top of things going on for when we come back in February 2002, but I also don't want to ride a team's coattail. I want to help them.

I want to help them have all three teams make all the races, and then I want them to finish in the top-20 each week. I want to get them in the top-30 in points at the end of the year. I know those are tough goals with where they are at right now. I know we have a lot of work to do.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [pblue4ever] What do you see as your greatest asset in helping a team like Petty Enterprises? Do you have a feel for what areas you will look into first?

[Larry_Mac] One of the things I have focused on was aerodynamics. When I was a crew chief, we formed an alliance with Andy Petree and RCR, and we called it RAD. It was an aerodynamic alliance.

With this Dodge, I want to go in and see where they are missing with some aero stuff. We relate to the Chevys, so hopefully with that knowledge I can go in there and help them where they may be weak on aero. I hope I can add in a lot of areas, but that is an area I am ready to get into.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [mom64] We would like to see more pit stops covered on TV. Is there a reason why you guys can't take turns and show all of them?

[Larry_Mac] We would love to show all 43 teams, and again, these are some of the things we talked about after Sonoma, but at the end of the day we cant show all 43 pit stops. We couldn't show any of the race!

The most important pit stops are from the teams leading the races. Under green when they are pitting over a large window of laps, I think we showed as many as we could. We cant take away from the race doing it that way and the most important ones to show are from the teams that have an impact on the race.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [spider] Larry, what is your opinion of the Tony Stewart incident? Was he forced down?

[Larry_Mac] I definitely believe he was forced down. It was a ball and strike call. There was no question in my mind that Tony maybe could have backed out, but that could have been just as bad. I did not see him improve his position by doing what he did. I feel like NASCAR should have done a better job of analyzing that tape, but in my mind he went there to avoid a very large accident.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [karthead] Hi Larry! What do you think of the young drivers on the circuit and who do you consider to be the most promising?

[Larry_Mac] It depends on what level you are looking at, but when you look at young drivers, the one that pops up is Kevin Harvick. When you see what he has been put into, you can see his talent. I think he may be the best young talent that has ever come along.

If you look at his first year and the competition he is around, you can see he is great. Kurt Busch is also part of the future of this sport. If you look down in the truck series, Scott Riggs has a bright future in our sport. I am sure someone will be all over him and have him in a Cup car before too many years go by.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [team yates] Larry, what do you think of Liz Allison becoming a pit reporter for TNT? Do you guys keep in touch? You were great on FOX!

[Larry_Mac] Thank you for the good comments. We know we are going to work to get better and bigger and take you to new places on FOX!

I talked to Liz at Milwaukee for the first time in many years. My wife and Liz stay in touch, but I know she is very excited about this job that she has with TNT and I think it is great.

She adds a view point that not many people could have. She is a widow of a Winston Cup driver and some of the interviews she did after the race were really good stories. I just need to find her and call her and tell her to lose the sunglasses! Haha

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [spider] Larry, in a post-race interview, Bobby Labonte was obviously frustrated. He said he only "raced" eight laps all night. What can be done to address the drivers concerns regarding restrictor-plate racing?

[Larry_Mac] I don't know if there is a good answer. I heard Benny come up with a solution several years ago, and that was to cut the banks down at Daytona and Talladega.

It is a necessary evil to have the plates because of the speeds we are running. When I look at the last two restrictor-plate races, other than the one wreck on Saturday coming on to pit road (which isn't totally related to plate racing) we have had two pretty good races that were accident free.

NASCAR never quits working on trying to make it better and trying to come up with a solution. They have not closed the book and decided they have the perfect world. It would be better to have the cars spread out a little bit, but I just don't know the answer.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [Jack63] I've heard that most people in the garage area are happy with the one-lap qualifying rule? Many times the second lap is faster. Why do they like the one lap better?

[Larry_Mac] I think at most places we go, the only thing a second lap would do would be to help you overcome your time if you really messing up the first lap.

They block them up for an aero and water temp package, so it is hard at bigger tracks. It is also from a time standpoint. It was almost redundant to have them out there for 2 laps. From a time standpoint it makes a lot more sense considering where we go a lot of times the first lap is the fastest. At Pocono, a lot of teams didn't even take a second lap.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [GordonFan] Hello, Larry. After covering the first half of the season, who do you consider to be the best contenders for the championship?

[Larry_Mac] I think it is speaking for itself. I said it was a two-man race a little bit ago and I should retract that. I said it was Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon. Now it is a 3-man race, with Ricky Rudd.

I am still not ready to count out Tony Stewart. Without Saturday night's problems, he would definitely be in the picture. I am saying it is a 3-to-4-man race at this point.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [debinski] Larry, how does the NASCAR community really feel about woman drivers entering a predominant male sport?

[Larry_Mac] I think everyone applauds it. I saw a lot of people be really happy about Shawna when she qualified. With the racing she has done already, she has earned a lot of respect.

I don't think it is anything about male or female. It is about earning the respect of the drivers around you. Many drivers show up today that you don't really want to race against because you don't know them.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [TrackScorcher24] What did you like best about being a commentator (other than the AC)? lol.

[Larry_Mac] Feeling like that as long as I dotted my Is and crossed the Ts, I felt like I was controlling most of my own destiny. I still loved being a crew chief till the last day I crawled down from the pit box, you only felt like you were controlling like 1% of your destiny. I depended on a lot of people at FOX, but I felt fulfilled every time I left that broadcast booth.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [jb10fan] Larry, in your opinion why have multi-car teams like Roush and Petty racing teams struggled so much this year?

[Larry_Mac] I think it has been the fact that it has had nothing to do with multi-car teams. I think that Gibbs and Roush have been successful in the last few years but they don't like to make changes.

The new tires that Goodyear brought this year meant that you had to make changes. That got teams behind and the tire was so different that many teams couldn't even work together.

Jimmy Makar, Bobby Labonte's crew chief, even told me that for the past two years Tony and Bobby liked the same thing, but with the new tire, they were both looking for a different feel. The older teams that have been around (like Hendricks, Yates, and RCR) felt like the sooner they were willing to make changes, the sooner they could adapt to this harder tire.

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [Eliz] Have you ever thought about writing a book about all of your time and trials in NASCAR?

[Larry_Mac] Without letting the cat out of the bag, we are flirting with that right now. It is looking more and more like it will be a reality and in a perfect world, we hope to introduce this book at Speedweeks next year.

It will be about my life as a broadcaster and reflecting back on the good and bad memories from all the venues. We feel like we are going to get this done, and we would like to introduce it at Daytona next year, so stand by I guess!

[Nascar_Host1] Question from: [Sven] Do you feel they're adding too many 1.5 mile tracks?

[Larry_Mac] Absolutely! I think they are adding too many 1.5, semi-banked, D-shaped racetracks. It is hard to have good races. I know it is about fan capacity, but the smallest track at Bristol is great. It takes up a lot less space, but they have a TON of seats.

We are saturating this side of our sport with too many of those ovals. I love 3/4-mile tracks, like Richmond. We have great racing there and they are still adding seats. I think it is safe to say that if it was done right, you could build a track like Richmond and put in 150,000 and 160,000 in there. I don't know why you would even want more than that! It takes half the night just to get out of there.

[Nascar_Host1] That's all the time Larry has for us this evening. Thanks Larry! What are your final thoughts?

[Larry_Mac] I would like to pick up on the opening remark. Ten months ago I shocked the racing world by putting down the wrench and picking up mic. I went to a new network in stock car racing in FOX. They could have taken the entire ESPN cast instead of some unknowns, but I feel so fortunate that we were given this opportunity.

It was the toughest decision I ever had to make in my life, but this opportunity was being offered and it may never have come along again. If I stay close to the sport, like I am with Petty, I can always go back and be a crew chief. Our rules change weekly unlike other sports, so people like Bill Parcells or Lou Holtz can go right back in to football.

I made the best decision for Larry and Larry's family and I hope the fans have enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did doing it. It will be better in February 2002 than it was in February 2001, so standby and hold on!