Bangor television stations WVII (Channel 7) and WFVX (Ch. 22) will put the sport of auto racing in the driver’s seat this weekend.

As part of WFVX’s Fox Network coverage of NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and its Sunday’s DHL 400 race at 1 p.m., WFVX and WVII both will air an auto racing special on a local track immediately after the DHL 400 coverage ends.

The half-hour special – DNK 250 Post-Race Show – will be the first of its kind for both stations. It will air at 5 p.m. Sunday on WVII and at the same time or at the end of the DHL 400 broadcast, whichever comes first, on WFVX.

“The station itself used to broadcast some races back along, but as far as I know, this is the first feature-type of locally produced auto racing special this station has done,” said WVII-WFVX production assistant Elgin Traylor.

The show will feature race highlights from the DNK 250 at Unity Raceway last weekend blended with features and interviews.

“It’s mostly stuff from the whole weekend. Most of it deals with the race, but we also did a story on twin brothers who work on the track at Unity and features on Andy Santerre of Cherryfield and Bill Penfold of Yarmouth, who each tried to make the race,” said Traylor, a Palmyra native. “We even got to talk to the drivers in their cars during the break between the two halves of the race. I felt like I was on the track on a NASCAR broadcast.”

This is the first project the graduate of both Nokomis High and the New England School of Communications in Bangor has headed up. He has been a regular contributor on the WVII-WFVX Speedzone and Speedzone Insider segments that air on the stations’ sportscasts weekly and bi-weekly, respectively.

“I haven’t done anything like this before, especially from a production and shooting standpoint,” he said. “I’ve been preparing for this for about a month and I would say a week of man hours went into it.”

WVII sports anchor Ted Lombardi, Tim Baier, and freelance employee Jason Gould contributed voiceovers for the special.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of good feedback. DNK Motors sponsored it and we’d like to perhaps do an end-of-the-year show,” Traylor said.

More makeover madness

Just when you thought every possible makeover angle had been exhausted by the television networks, along comes The Golf Channel with its Natural Golf Makeover Challenge.

TGC’s newest original series, set to premier at 10:30 p.m. Monday, will feature five “recreational” golfers from around the country (Winchester, Calif.; New York City; Austin, Texas; Hartford, Conn.; and Martinez, Calif.) who need help with their games.

What the network describes as a “grueling” eight-week makeover process is overseen by former Notre Dame and current University of South Carolina football coach Lou Holtz. A team of swing experts will provide instruction and strategies, “fitness guru” Kelly Blackburn will work the quintet into shape, and Golf Digest style writer Marty Hackel will rework their wardrobes.

The premier episode – the first of eight – will last an hour while each of the next seven will run 30 minutes.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at bangordailynews.net.