CBS TV "effectively waved the green flag to restart the
Daytona 500 after a rain delay, ... threatening to pull the plug
and switch to basketball if the cars weren't running" by 3:45pm
EST, according to Frank Murray of the WASHINGTON TIMES. Trucks
equipped with jet-engine blowers had been drying the track for a
restart before the CBS ultimatum (WASHINGTON TIMES, 2/20). In
Baltimore, Milton Kent writes on CBS' FlyCam, a small camera
mounted on a radio-controlled helicopter. Kent said it "made an
interesting enough debut that it may actually command more time
in a number of CBS racing telecasts" (Baltimore SUN, 2/20). In
New York, Richard Sandomir praised CBS for its coverage during
the rain delay but said the FlyCam "made me a little dizzy" (N.Y.
TIMES, 2/21). Michael Hiestand on the FlyCam: "Credit CBS with
a willingness to experiment on its Daytona 500 coverage" (USA
TODAY, 2/20). In Tampa, columnist Tom Ford notes the success of
Sunday's Daytona 500: "Although Sterling Marlin's second
consecutive 500 victory did not rank among the Daytona classics,
200,000 people at the track and millions more watching CBS's
television coverage gained insight into a sport that is expanding
far beyond the Mason-Dixon line" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 2/20).
