Final Take

Elliott Equipment builds broadcast truck for TNT and Nascar.com
The latest truck from Elliott Equipment definitely is not your average boom truck. The company that typically supplies utility companies can now add Turner Broadcasting and NASCAR.com to its list of customers.

Elliott, which touts customization as its specialty, built a state-of-the-art mobile production rig that serves as the stage for TNT’s pre-race shows and NASCAR.com’s new online series NASCAR 24/7 Live.

The truck encompasses a retractable platform stage that can rotate a full 360 degrees and be raised 7 feet off the base of the truck into the air, bringing the height of the rig to 26 feet. Inside, the truck houses a complete production center for NASCAR 24/7 Live. The exterior features changeable TNT and NASCAR.com logos and graphics designed to serve as a stage and backdrop for telecasts and webcasts.

“The new Turner Sports rig is a state-of-the-art set like no other as it gives us a completely mobile stage with the unique ability to interact with fans, both at the racetrack and at home,” says Lenny Daniels, senior vice president of production and new media for Turner Sports.

The truck was unveiled June 10 at Pocono. “We’re excited to continue to introduce fresh multiplatform innovations that give fans greater access to their favorite sport,” Daniels says.
– Lauren Barrera


Word Forward
“The group of Californians most adversely affected by dirty diesel are the people out there working on those jobsites. I would think a proposal like this would be met with open arms.”
– California state Senator Joe Simitian to the Los Angeles Times about contractors opposing a bill to require construction firms bidding for certain public contracts to retrofit diesel equipment. (See September 2007 issue of Equipment World for more on this legislation.)

“It’s been 40 years of playing ping-pong with this thing. But people better cinch up their belts and get ready. Traffic will go through the roof. You’ll need roadside psychiatrists.”
– Bob Clark, owner of Harbor View Inn in El Granada, California, to the Monterey County Herald about a long-planned tunnel project that will permanently secure a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway called Devil’s Slide.