SPEED will provide 39 total hours of live coverage in 2008, beginning Tuesday, January 15, and running through Thursday, January 17, at 7 p.m. EST. On Friday, January 18, and Saturday, January 19, 10 hours of live coverage begins at 2 p.m. EST, with another four hours of coverage slated for Sunday, January 20, at 2 p.m. EST.
Bob Varsha, the voice of Formula One on SPEED, will reprise his anchor role on the broadcast team, while Motor Trend magazine Executive Editor Matt Stone joins him in the booth. On the auction block, Mike Joy, the voice of NASCAR on Fox and an avid car collector, will again team with former HOT ROD magazine Technical Editor Steve Magnante. Long-time motorsports and Barrett-Jackson reporter Rick DeBruhl will again provide auction context from locations throughout the Scottsdale Westworld event grounds.
"Television loves a spectacle and a Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event is certainly that," Varsha said. "In the seven years I have been doing it, it's grown beyond anything you can find elsewhere in the hobby.
"It's a phenomenal number of hours to consider," described Varsha on what it's like to cover the event. "We've gotten to the point where we're doing almost three, 24-hour races back-to-back (Barrett-Jackson, Rolex 24 at Daytona, and Daytona NASCAR Speedweek). It's a fairly unique challenge in that it's almost a cross between a race and a stick-and-ball sport. The arena doesn't change, but the stage is always there and it's like opening new chapters in a long, yet fascinating book. Each chapter is new and different, and every year, you see a different kind of car. It's a pretty organic process and there's an evolution or a story arc that takes place over the course of six days."
Barrett-Jackson programming doesn't just end with the auction, as four new episodes of Barrett-Jackson: Life on the Block will also premiere in January. Heading into season three, the show illustrates some of the "behind the cameras" activities that went on during the 2006 Scottsdale and Palm Beach, Florida, auctions. The audience can log on to www.speedtv.com for another season of Fantasy Bidding, where viewers win prizes based upon estimating a selected car's auction price.
"There's so much to see and do at Barrett-Jackson—there is the merchandise area, the galas, the charity events they put on, and the sheer ability to go into the event with a low admission fee," Varsha noted. "Even without registering as a bidder, you can still come and look at all these fabulous cars, walk the tent aisles where the cars are stored, and really feel like you're a kid on Christmas morning. It really is the ultimate car show, as my old colleague Brock Yates once called it."
