SPEED, the motor-sports authority, is set to air the final episode of its drag-racing reality show, PINKS All Out, tonight at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Held at Firebird International Raceway just outside Phoenix, host Rich Christensen and the on-air team arm dropped more than 400 grassroots racers in one of the most competitive events of the season.
Started back in 2006 at the Texas Motorplex on Labor Day weekend and premiering to a record Thanksgiving-night audience later that year, PINKS All Out went on to become one of the network's most popular original series for four seasons. Produced by Pullin Television of Los Angeles, that first episode not only saw record ratings but the show's first victor, Fort Worth, Texas, resident Chris Cruce, was the first female racer to take home the $10,000 winning prize.
Christensen, who performed more than 30,000 arm drops during the series, and the on-air technical crew (which included Clay Millican, Kenneth Herring, Willie B, Brian Bossone, Kale Christensen, Nate Pritchett, Adam Pritchett, Gavin Jerome and Charles Hendrickson throughout the years) together hosted more than 10,000 grassroots drag racers from throughout North America as the show visited 31 different quarter-mile tracks from West Palm Beach, Fla., to just outside Seattle, Wash.
Started back in 2006 at the Texas Motorplex on Labor Day weekend and premiering to a record Thanksgiving-night audience later that year, PINKS All Out went on to become one of the network's most popular original series for four seasons. Produced by Pullin Television of Los Angeles, that first episode not only saw record ratings but the show's first victor, Fort Worth, Texas, resident Chris Cruce, was the first female racer to take home the $10,000 winning prize.
Christensen, who performed more than 30,000 arm drops during the series, and the on-air technical crew (which included Clay Millican, Kenneth Herring, Willie B, Brian Bossone, Kale Christensen, Nate Pritchett, Adam Pritchett, Gavin Jerome and Charles Hendrickson throughout the years) together hosted more than 10,000 grassroots drag racers from throughout North America as the show visited 31 different quarter-mile tracks from West Palm Beach, Fla., to just outside Seattle, Wash.
"PINKS All Out has definitely left a strong legacy within the sport of drag racing," said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. "When we produced that first show back in 2006, none of us were sure exactly where this was headed, although we did know that there was a passionate group of people that really cared about grassroots drag racing, as the original PINKS television show had already demonstrated.
"Then 25,000 people joined us while we shot our third episode at Palm Beach International Raceway in early 2007 on one of the coldest days in recent South Florida history," Nickell added. "We knew we had something special with this show.'"
One of the show's high points came two years later at owner Bruton Smith's newly constructed zMAX Dragway, known as the "Bellagio of Drag Racing." A sell-out crowd of more than 33,000 people stood in unison as PINKS All Out held the first-ever nationally televised "four-wide" drag-racing competition. The event, which also marked the first drag race captured on the "Flycam," a suspended cable camera system that spanned the full quarter-mile and reached speeds of 107 mph while soaring above the action, has also become a signature moment for the facility.
"Of the many highlights we experienced over the course of the 43 episodes we produced, the inaugural zMAX event remains the absolute pinnacle," said Robert Ecker, SPEED VP of programming and PINKS All Out executive producer. "The four-wide competition was absolutely electric; you could literally feel the energy in the air. It's an experience none of us will ever forget."
As announced last November, the PINKS property has been put on hiatus for 2011 as the network continues to evaluate a new direction for the series.
Full episodes of PINKS and PINKS All Out are available at SPEED.com, Hulu.com and iTunes.
"Then 25,000 people joined us while we shot our third episode at Palm Beach International Raceway in early 2007 on one of the coldest days in recent South Florida history," Nickell added. "We knew we had something special with this show.'"
One of the show's high points came two years later at owner Bruton Smith's newly constructed zMAX Dragway, known as the "Bellagio of Drag Racing." A sell-out crowd of more than 33,000 people stood in unison as PINKS All Out held the first-ever nationally televised "four-wide" drag-racing competition. The event, which also marked the first drag race captured on the "Flycam," a suspended cable camera system that spanned the full quarter-mile and reached speeds of 107 mph while soaring above the action, has also become a signature moment for the facility.
"Of the many highlights we experienced over the course of the 43 episodes we produced, the inaugural zMAX event remains the absolute pinnacle," said Robert Ecker, SPEED VP of programming and PINKS All Out executive producer. "The four-wide competition was absolutely electric; you could literally feel the energy in the air. It's an experience none of us will ever forget."
As announced last November, the PINKS property has been put on hiatus for 2011 as the network continues to evaluate a new direction for the series.
Full episodes of PINKS and PINKS All Out are available at SPEED.com, Hulu.com and iTunes.
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