Speed Channel's "PINKS: All Out"

By Evander Klum

There are various reasons why people get involved in drag racing. There are those who compete for the thrill of it while others join for glory and money. Speed Channel has provided a venue for those who crave for speed and they call it “PINKS: All Out” reality show which present a real-world drag racing in front of 15,000 fans which only makes it even more appealing and exciting.

Laura Bello of Bernville, Pa., commented, "Everyday people can become heroes for 15 minutes. There are no sponsors, just enthusiasts who come out and either watch or race."

Ms. Bello is a librarian and a grand mother. Amazingly she is also eyeing the $10,000 cash prize. She will be competing with her 2002 Pontiac Trans Am to Budds Creek. She didn’t reveal just how much she spent on her car or whether she has added some aftermarket performance parts like hooker headers for instance since she bought her car five years ago. But she said that if ever she won the prize most if not all will go straight to her husband as payback.

Bello together with Cox, and all the rest of the competing drag racers have started their engines to compete for the coveted $10,000 prize. The result of the preliminary rounds came to a close with only 16 cars remaining to continue to the final round.

However did you know that the 16 cars that made it to the final round doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the fastest 16 cars. As a matter of fact, most of the tome these cars were only able to run the quarter-mile in about 10.7 seconds while the fastest cars at the track was able to accomplish such in 7 seconds.

This is the catch, the producers chooses 16 cars that will be able to provide the best show for the viewers both at the track and at home. The Budds Creek episode will be aired on August 23, 2007.

According to Robert Ecker, the Speed Channel’s Vice-President of Programming, "I look at it from the perspective of, 'How can we make this the most entertaining TV show? hat's my primary objective. I'm in favor of anything that's going to shake things up, that makes sense that keeps us from a cookie-cutter format"

He also added, PINKS: All Out" is a spinoff of the original PINKS, in which drivers put their hot rods on the line in a best-of-five drag race series with the winner taking home the loser's car. At first, Ecker and other network executives had no idea if such a show would pan out. Three years and more than 50 episodes later, it is the network's second-highest rated show, behind only NASCAR events. All Out" was created, in part, to weed out the sandbaggers that had infiltrated the original show. Sandbaggers are entrants who race below top speed in the preliminaries but just fast enough to qualify for the final round. Drivers found guilty of sandbagging are disqualified in "All Out."