If you are a racing nut, especially someone who enjoys multiple forms of competition, you are probably a National Speed Sport News reader. It’s essentially the publication that launched the idea of covering motorsports in a regular news-like fashion.
One can also trace a line for stuff like this here high-tech blog to NSSN. Without its inception, growth, and popularity, we probably wouldn’t be here.
The man at the helm is a living legend. Chris Economaki has been reporting on racing in printed, video, and audio forms for decades and has been running NSSN for nearly 60 years now. During that time he gained national fame as a radio broadcaster and television announcer at events like the Indy 500 and various NASCAR events among a slew of others. His unique voice, which is high pitched and twangy, lent great intensity and enthusiasm to his calls of races.
Both he and the National Speed Sport News are legends. Learn more from the release below.
HARRISBURG, N.C. – As it celebrates its diamond anniversary in 2009, National
Speed Sport News, America’s Weekly Motorsports Authority®, continues to
set the standard for motorsports journalism.
National Speed Sport News’s origins start in 1930, as four pages of the Bergen Herald, a general interest newspaper serving the Paterson, N.J., area. In August of 1934, National Auto Racing News made its debut as a stand-alone weekly niche publication covering automobile racing. During World War II, the name changed to National Speed Sport News for business reasons.
In many ways, NSSN has become an old friend to thousands, and for those who have spent any time in the sport, either as a participant or as a fan, Chris Economaki, NSSN’s editor and publisher emeritus, has always been there. Indeed, they have grown up with him,
perhaps reading his columns or seeing him on television as early as 1961 when
he was selected by “Big Bill” France to work for ABC’s first broadcast of the Firecracker 250 in Daytona Beach as an announcer.
Economaki has spent most of his life at NSSN– starting at age 13, selling NSSN’s
forerunner, National Auto Racing News, at New Jersey’s Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway. He became a regular columnist while still in high school. Since 1950, when he took on the job as editor and publisher full-time – Economaki’s goals have always remained the same: shepherding the paper, insisting on editorial excellence and creating a dynamic advertising marketplace.
“In an ever-evolving sport, which typically never looks back, there have
been two constants: technological advances, and Chris and National Speed Sport News there to write about them,” said Corinne Economaki, Chris’ daughter, who has taken
over the publisher mantle. “For 59 years, Dad has worked every day to
maintain National Speed Sport News as the voice of motorsports, and it has been his leadership that has successfully positioned the paper as ‘The Bible’ of the industry, where it has, for 75 years, been read religiously by fans, drivers, crew members and the
sport’s business leaders.”
Through both his writing and his TV and radio announcing, Chris Economaki
became the voice of auto racing. His distinctive speaking style is
recognizable to this day, as he keeps a pace daunting for a man half his age.
More than anyone else, he has been credited for the burgeoning popularity of
racing in all its myriad forms.
“I think it’s fair to say that Chris has brought news and
understanding of racing to tens of millions of people,” Corinne Economaki
added, “and always with a certain flair and fairness, which both fans and
the people he has covered appreciate.”
NSSN moved to North Carolina in 1997, yet Chris Economaki
continues to write and work the phone from his Midland Park, N.J., office.
“Auto racing has exploded since those early years when Chris was a
teenager peddling papers at the track and writing his first columns,”
Corinne Economaki noted. “And with motorsports’ tremendous
growth, we’ve kept pace and have our advertisers and our loyal readership
to thank for that.”
