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January 17, 2005
Martinsville Speedway Makes Appearance on 'The West Wing'
http://www.insiderracingnews.com
Martinsville Speedway has long been known for its on-track drama. Wednesday night it will be involved in a dramatic production.
Martinsville Speedway's victory lane will make a brief prime time appearance Wednesday night in NBC's award-winning drama, "The West Wing." The show airs at 9 p.m., eastern time.
In the midst of international and national crisis on the show, First Lady Abigail Bartlet, played by Stockard Channing, makes a foray into the world of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing with a visit to Martinsville Speedway. She shows up in victory lane to present the winner's trophy to Jamie McMurray, played by Jamie McMurray, and he winds up planting a big kiss on the First Lady.
"Jamie's a pretty excitable guy. We saw that when he won the truck race here last fall," said Mike Smith, Martinsville Speedway's director of public relations. "I could see him putting a big old kiss on the First Lady."
Actually neither McMurray nor Channing were anywhere near Martinsville Speedway for the filming of the segment. It was all done on a sound stage in California. But the show's crew did an amazing job of recreating Martinsville's victory lane and duplicating the feel of a victory lane celebration.
Writers for "The West Wing" begin planning the details of the show back in the early fall.
"I got a call from a writer back in September, I think. He knew absolutely nothing about racing, but we spent about 30 minutes talking about racing. He was asking questions about the mood of victory lane, the color, the sound, how fans reacted. He was trying to get a feel for the sport," said Smith.
That followed with another phone call a few days later requesting victory lane photos. Later, segments of the script involving the victory lane celebration showed up on the speedway's fax machine for review. After that "we sort of forgot about it," said Smith, until the track received notice about 10 days ago the episode would air this week.
The scene is a short one, but will keep popping up over the next few episodes.
"The speedway has been on national TV a lot over the years, but it's normally on the sports news," said Smith. "We think it's pretty cool to be included in a drama."
Martinsville Speedway's next "real" racing action is the Advance Auto Parts 500 weekend, set for April 8-10. Both the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series will qualify on April 8 while the Kroger 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race is on April 9. The Advance Auto Parts 500 is set for April 10.
Good seats remain for both events and may be purchased by calling 1.877.RACE.TIX or visiting (www.martinsvillespeedway.com).
Courtesy Martinsville Speedway PR
Posted by Jo at January 17, 2005 07:56 PM