Vault Productions Returns to Seekonk
Tom ‘Sid’ DiMaggio and the Vault Productions crew will film their first Sid’s View webisode since taking a hiatus from Waterford Speedbowl on July 5. “(I) never thought I’d be leaving the bowl, but we’re excited to visit new places,” DiMaggio said.
Sid’s View Executive Producer Sid DiMaggio and Co-Producer Jesse Gleason were in attendance at Seekonk Speedway on Saturday night, preparing for the Open Wheel Wednesday $10,000 to win Modified race. DiMaggio said, “We wanna come back with a bang.” Vault Productions filmed the $5,000 to win SK Modified race at Seekonk that Matt Hirschman won in 2013.
“When you have an event with names like (Doug) Coby, (Bobby) Santos, (Ryan) Preece and (Matt) Hirschman on it, I mean, that’s the best of the best in modified country,” DiMaggio said. “The opportunity to capture an event with such well-known names participating has the potential for large view counts, and view counts for us is like currency, so we’d be foolish not to jump at the opportunity to film it as part of our series.”
“Seekonk is smaller than Waterford so we have to adjust in a different way,” DiMaggio said. “We plan to really have a camera in each turn plus our main camera from the start/finish line. That coverage along with what we hope to be close to 20 in-car cameras should ensure we get all the action. Form what we saw yesterday, there’s definitely a lot of action that can happen quick so the more cams the better.”
DiMaggio said that track announcer Kevin Boucher has been helpful. Seekonk has been “pretty active” in getting them to attend and they may attend a few weekly events later this season. Due to income, Waterford is the only track that he would consider covering weekly.
DiMaggio said that they have not contacted other tracks yet, but have discussed going to some new tracks. They are focusing on the quality and preproduction rather than quantity. He would not make a proposal to another track without having all of the details worked out first. The crew is an all volunteer force and the sponsors would need to be consulted to see if they want to continue at a new facility.
Vault Productions expanded to cover the seven event oval track schedule at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this season.
“Thompson is a real challenge because of its size,” DiMaggio said. “Not just the bigger track, but it’s just a huge facility in general, so the logistics behind the scenes during an event managing 25+ cameras can be challenging. But we’ve talked with TSMP and they’ve worked with us to make some adjustments that should help us accomplish more in the remaining events this season. Each track we’ve filmed at is unique in its own way, Thompson is no exception so we’re excited to return there after a two month hiatus.”
DiMaggio’s in-depth involvement dates back to 2003, writing race reviews on JeffPearl.com. He has worked on the tracks’ statistical history since 2005. A Speedbowl Story, a documentary on Waterford is due in 2014.. Sid’s View began with a one camera shoot with his wife, edited with basic software. Today, DiMaggio is working with an average of 25 cameras and advanced equipment.
“We are thrilled to continually get emails from all over the country, but monetarily we still struggle,” DiMaggio said. “With all our great sponsors, and some apparel sales and YouTube/Google ad stuff, we really only cover about 20% of what the actual cost to produce the series is. So it is still a labor of love more than anything else. That is part of the reason why we’ve taken a step back recently from the weekly grind.”
DiMaggio did entertain a question about the status of Sid’s View coverage at Waterford. “There are issues to still be resolved,” DiMaggio said. “We don’t feel the door is closed completely there, but we have no plans to return as of now. But we miss our extended family there for sure.”
For more information on the team, visit http://sidsview.com. For more information on the 10th annual Open Wheel Wednesday, visit SeekonkSpeedway.com.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com