CAN NASCAR BE MUST-SEE TV?

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

The quickest way to get Darrell Waltrip riled?

Run the idea past him that despite all the Foxified hype, NASCAR continues to be a) only a regional sport that has yet to catch on in Southern California, b) a TV attraction only when there are crashes, and c) boring, especially when they're on the superspeedways such as last week in Talladega, Ala.

It's like telling a hockey fanatic in Canada that the sport only attracts those who want to see fights.

``You just sound like another critic, bud,'' the Fox NASCAR analyst muttered the other day when presented with that scenario.

Start with some facts: There is only one Southern California stop on the 36 weekends of Winston Cup NASCAR racing - that's this weekend at California Speedway in Fontana. You've got a pretty good idea by now where the rest of 'em are.

``No, it's not like we're saturating the West Coast - that's not our bread and butter,'' admitted Waltrip, who lives in Franklin, Tenn. ``There's probably more room to add, but how? There's a beautiful track in Kentucky that hasn't had a NASCAR race. There are new tracks in Chicago and Kansas City getting their first race. NASCAR is trying to figure out how to deal with this popularity.''

And by TV measures, that popularity continues to grow. The 6.4 rating and 17 share nationally from Talladega was the highest-rated sporting event of last weekend, crushing the NBA playoffs (3.2). The season average of 6.8 is a 39-percent improvement over last year.

But it's only doing a 3.2 in L.A., up just a hair over last year. And guess what folks out here were setting aside time to watch certain programming last Sunday?

``I haven't heard anyone call NASCAR a regional sport in 15 years,'' said Waltrip. ``I'm not familiar with ratings, so maybe things could be big there some day. I just judge it by the amount of interest. Maybe we just don't come out there enough.''

As for Talladega, it's not that we actually got up early enough to make it a Lakers pregame event. From the sports-talk show reports we stumbled onto this week, there was enough complaining from callers about the lack of excitement that came from a no-caution-flag race because of the restrictions put on the cars.

``You must be listening to the wrong radio stations,'' Waltrip said. ``People will watch even if there aren't crashes, which are as much a part of our sport as a quarterback sack. It's something we have to deal with.''

So maybe there's some truth that Dale Earnhardt's fatal accident in the first week of the season at Daytona actually boosted interest in TV viewership?

``We don't make this stuff up, bud,'' continued Waltrip, a three-time NASCAR series champion during his 28-year driving career who retired to the broadcast booth this season. ``We just lost one of our greatest drivers. There's a danger element. We'll never eliminate that.''

So if we're making another attempt to get NASCAR fever, and driving out to Fontana on Sunday morning in a motor home isn't on the itinerary, what's the Hollywood-type hook for this weekend for TV folk?

Maybe Shawna Robinson will become the first female Winston Cup driver to race in 12 years if she qualifies today (carried on tape by FX at 7 p.m.).

``She's maybe the best woman driver I've seen in years, maybe ever,'' Waltrip said, ``but she's just like everyone else, she's got to qualify.''

Man, there's no catching a break with this guy, is there?

--Backlot buzz: Stuff you probably missed in the promotion of the Billy Crystal co-produced and directed tear-jerker titled ``61*,'' about Roger Maris' and Mickey Mantle's pursuit of the single-season home run record, which lives up to all the glowing reviews as it debuts on HBO Sunday at 9 p.m.:

Although the closing credits show that the old Tiger Stadium stars as Yankee Stadium, it's the L.A. Coliseum that does a more impressive job in the role of Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, the place where Maris tried to pop No. 60 to tie Babe Ruth in the 154th game of the season.

During a week of filming at the site that once served as the Dodgers' home field when they first moved from Brooklyn, an infield was carved out of the grass and an outfield wall was dressed up to resemble the now- demolished stadium, with special effects taking care of the rest.

And make sure you note that's former Dodgers knuckleballer Tom Candiotti who comes out of the bullpen as Hoyt Wilhelm to pitch to Maris in the ninth inning to make things as authentic as possible.

Crystal's real-life daughter, Jennifer, plays Maris' wife, Pat - but only after Crystal persuaded her to audition. Although Crystal already had two finalists for the role, Jennifer, best known for her work in the TV series ``Once and Again,'' came in late and wowed actor Barry Pepper (who plays Maris) and the HBO executives without them knowing the family ties.

``That's the luxury of putting a project together at HBO and then finding the right people for the role,'' said executive co-producer Ross Greenberg. ``It goes for having Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane as Maris and Mantle. If it was a Hollywood production, you'd probably have Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, but would that necessarily make the movie better?''

As for believeablity, having Mantle's off-color language makes it immediately evident this isn't some kind of ``Brian's Song,'' made-for-TV treatment. And former Dodgers player and coach Reggie Smith was recruited to teach both actors about how to make their swings look authentic.

But can things get too real? One scene that actually was shot of Maris visiting a sick kid with leukemia was edited out of the final cut because, as Greenburg said, ``we didn't want to make it seem like we were going over the top. Even though it was a real event, it didn't sound real and viewers would have thought we made it up. There was enough drama in this story that we had to back off.''

--For openers: Cinemax's presentation of ``The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg'' documentary provides a perfect pregame warmup Sunday starting at 7:30 p.m.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--The Dodgers have set aside ceremonial time just before Sunday afternoon's game to celebrate Ross Porter's 25th season as a team broadcaster. ``That's very nice of them,'' said Porter, who left his position as a sports anchor at KNBC-Channel 4 in April 1977, to join Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett, who to that point had been just a humble twosome. ``They hired me the week that they hired Tommy Lasorda as Walter Alston was going out as manager,'' remembered Porter, who lives in Woodland Hills. ``(Then-team owner) Walter O'Malley had a gathering in the stadium club for the announcement and said something like, 'Alston has been here 23 years, and if we come back in 23 years, Ross will probably still be here.' So I guess I beat it by two years.'' Porter's proclamation, which will include having his entire family out, comes a week after the team renamed the press box in Scully's honor and a few days after Rick Monday threw out the first pitch to mark the 25th anniversary of when he rescued the American flag in center field as a member of the Chicago Cubs. AM-1150 carries Sunday's festivities live and Porter will be a guest on the Fox Sports Net 2 pregame show with Jim Watson.

--Suzy Shuster's sit-down interview with Lakers coach Phil Jackson for Fox Sports Net's ``Southern California Sports Report'' this week. It provoked an interesting response to a question about whether Jackson was too busy lately to devote as much time he needed to his coaching responsibilities. ``Bull---,'' he said, ``that's just bull---.''

WHAT CHOKES

--ABC's worst-case NHL scenario came true with Detroit losing to the Kings in the first round. The L.A. market posted miserable ratings of 1.4 and 1.9 during the network's coverage of Games 2 and 5; Detroit was in the 14 range both airings. Even worse, network announcers take over for Bob Miller and Jim Fox the next two games. Gary Thorne, Bill Clement and Brian Engblom are on the call for ABC on Saturday at noon and for ESPN's exclusive telecast of Monday's Game 3 at 6:30 p.m.

--When did ABC replace John Davidson with Dennis Franz on its NHL studio show?

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