Liz Allison: My first race weekend
By Liz Allison, Turner Sports Interactive
July 13, 2001
10:43 AM EDT (1443 GMT)
Here I am back in Nashville after making my broadcasting debut for TNT at Watkins Glen. I have to say that it was a wonderful experience. I made some mistakes and tripped over my own words a few times -- but I still had fun.
The weekend started out for me at 5 a.m. on Friday morning. I was up and running around like a speed demon trying to get out of the door for my 7:45 a.m. flight to Pittsburgh. I kissed my children and told them goodbye, drove myself to the airport and scooted to my departure gate.
I settled in to my seat on the airplane and thought of my weekend ahead. I also set some personal goals for myself. One was to build a comfort level with my new position and the other was to have fun.
I started preparing myself for the weekend by catching up on all the latest NASCAR news. I had a beautiful flight in to Pittsburgh where I met my connecting flight that would take me in to Elmira, N.Y.
This is where I hooked up with my long time friend -- and an incredible reporter, I might add -- Ralph Sheheen. We drove to Watkins Glen together and did a little reminiscing about old times. I will have to say that it was nice to have an old friend sharing in my new adventure. The only problem was that Ralph was ultra-cool about the race on Sunday while I was jumping out of my skin from excitement!
Ralph and I checked in with our producer, Dave Barringer around 2 p.m. My crazy, busy, exhausting and totally exciting weekend was officially underway.
The announcers and crew had one meeting after another on Friday. I learned how everything would play out during the race telecast on Sunday. I could not believe how much went in to covering just one race. The most worrisome part of the day was when my fire suit that was being sent overnight from the manufacturer made a detour to another room in the hotel. I thought for a moment that I might get out of wearing it. Not a chance!
The final meeting of the day took place at 6 p.m. Jeremy Dale, whom I had the honor of working with over the weekend, offered to take a few of us around the racetrack in his car.
Afterwards, it was off to dinner with the announcers and crew, which included TNT's primary race announcer, Mike Hogewood. I was able to creep back in to my hotel room at 9:30 p.m. Whew…a long day. I managed a quick call home and goodnight world. It was lights out at 10:30.
SATURDAY
Saturday started with a wakeup call at 6 a.m. I caught up on the news, got a quick bite to eat and I was off to the track for an 8 a.m. meeting. This would turn out to be a very busy day.
I spent the majority of the day in the garage area talking to the drivers and catching up on the news and weekend events. I had fun catching up with many of my dear old friends.
I had the most fun watching the ARCA race that afternoon. This allowed all of the reporters and announcers a practice run for Sunday. I cannot believe how much I learned during that crucial time.
I had one more meeting that afternoon and then I was off to an impromptu dinner for the announcers to watch the Pepsi 400. I got back to the hotel in just enough time to watch the end of the race in my own room. It was good thing I was alone, because between jumping on the bed and crying, I'm sure that I would have made a fool of myself. After watching Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win (and getting my heart to slow a few paces!) I made a quick call home, and got the lights out at midnight.
SUNDAY
Sunday morning arrived way too early. The alarm was sounding at 6 a.m. -- I couldn't believe that the day I had been waiting for was finally here.
The first meeting of the morning at 8 a.m. was information-filled. I tried to take it all in, and then I was off to the garage in order to hear any last-minute news pieces that were flying around that I might have missed.
I jumped in to my fire suit at 11:30, and by noon, all of the announcers and crew were in place for the start of the TNT telecast at 1 p.m.
This was the most relaxed time that I had experienced since I had arrived at the track on Friday. Everything was done at this point. I could not help but be amazed at how everything just came together during the race. It went by so fast, and before I knew it, it was over. Other than burning up in the fire suit, I was not ready for the day to end.
I learned real fast that when the race is over, everybody heads to the airport as fast as they can. I barely said goodbye to the guys that had taken such good care of me over the weekend. I was so completely blown away by the professionals that I was honored to have worked with. We had already become good friends and I had just met them.
I caught a 6:55 p.m. flight back to Pittsburgh and after a long layover, I arrived back in Nashville at midnight. My precious family was there to meet me when I walked off of the airplane.
After looking back over the weekend, I realized that I met my personal goals for my first broadcast. I was much more comfortable now that the first one was behind me and most importantly, I had fun.
I will never forget my first broadcast with TNT and I will continue to laugh at my many mistakes. I most of all will remember how I felt when I saw so many race fans that were glad to see me back at the track. I missed all of you too -- It's great to be back!
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