Camera operator Steve Heinz is able to capture footage at the starting line for the NHRA Winternationals at Pomona on Saturday. (Credit: Amanda Busick/NHRA)

Even with its stellar track record, television and technology has its limits when trying to play catch up to National Hot Rod Association.
“It’s a five-sense sport – so is there a way to convey the smell or even the taste of the burnt rubber that’s in your clothes?” asked Frank Wilson, Fox Sports’ vice president of production for motorsports.
Vibrating La-Z-Boy recliners with nitro-scented air fresheners? Crank the volume up to a hundred-and-eleven?
Give Fox and the NHRA enough time, money and creativity, and Pomona could be the gritty petri dish for some high-end sensory overload experimentation.
The weekend’s Winternationals at the Fairplex Auto Club Raceway, leading into a three-hour live presentation on Fox’s national network Sunday afternoon, re-calibrates the next set of milestones.
A sport that has traditionally seen its TV presentation of four-second bursts bundled into a tape-delayed, heavily edited production, often airing hours after the event ended and everyone took out their earplugs, is shifting gears and already seeing results.
More at this link …