Speed Sport,formerly theNational Speed Sport News(NSSN) is an American magazine and Web site covering national, local, and regional auto racing topics.Yahoo! Newscalled it "one of the most famous motorsports publications in the country" when it stopped publishing the traditional weekly print version in 2011.[1]TheNew York Timessaid it has "carried news and, when available, photos, from virtually any dirt track open on a Saturday night."[2]
| Publisher | East Paterson Herald Publishing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1934 |
| First issue | 1934 |
| Country | United States |
| Website | English |
National Speed Sport Newsbegan during theGreat Depressionas a weekly print newspaper.Chris Economakipublished the newspaper for forty years. It was published exclusively on the magazine's website for a year before being purchased by its current owners in 2012, with an accompanying monthly magazine, which became known asSpeed Sport.
History
editThe newspaper was first published by East Paterson Herald Publishing Co. on August 16, 1934 as theNational Auto Racing News.[3]Future editorChris Economakisold some of the first copies at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway.[3]He started writing a column in 1936.[3]It held the first national auto racing convention inNew Yorkin 1940.[3]It became known as theNational Speed Sport Newsin 1943 when the publisher William Kay formed The Kay Publishing Group.[3]Auto racing was banned in the United States duringWorld War IIand the newspaper had moved to monthly publication in 1944.[3]When the ban was lifted on August 16, 1945 and it switched to biweekly publications then back to weekly papers in 1947.[3]Kay died from a heart attack in 1950 and assistant editor Economaki took over as the lead publisher.[3]
A. J. Foytwas featured on a cover story on September 12, 1956, two years before he rose to prominence inIndy Car.[3]Microfilmversions of the magazine were added to theLibrary of Congressin 1983.[3]Corrine Economaki took over as publisher in 1990 from her father.[3]The magazine began publishing columns online in November 2001.[3]
The weekly magazine ceased print production on March 23, 2011.[3]ESPNcited the reason for its demise to the "economy and this slow death knell of newspapers in general."[3]NASCAR Scenehad stopped publishing in 2010.[1]AutoWeekassociate publisher Dutch Mandel, a competitor, reacted "there wasn't a time that I didn't pore over NSSN when I could get my hands on it."[4]
Turn 3 Media, a consortium of Curt Moon, Joseph B. Tripp,Ralph Sheheen,and Vernon Massey, purchasedNational Speed SportNews in 2012, launching theSpeed Sportmonthly magazine that March.[2]
The launch of the new magazine also allowed the new owners to rebrand the entire franchise. In May 2014, NSSN and MAVTV launched the television newsmagazine version of the show, also namedSpeed Sport Magazinewith a show carrying highlights of grass roots motorsports,Speed Sport.[5]By November 2016, the show's Web domain name and masthead on the Web site dropped the traditionalNational Speed Sport Newstitle in favour of the now familiarSpeed Sporttitle, with coverage including both domestic and international motorsport categories.
TheSpeed Sportfranchise expanded in 2017 when Turn 3 Media acquiredSprint Car & Midget Magazine.[6]In 2019, SpeedSport.TV, which will be renamed Speed Sport 1 in 2022, was unveiled. It allows grassroots circuits to stream broadcasts of local events on a subscription service similar to rivals Speed 51 (now Racing America, owned by the NASCAR Cup Series' Race Team Alliance), FloSports (NASCAR's partner for selected grassroots series), and DIRTVision (World Racing Group).[7]
https:// speedsport /more/turn-3-media-riivet-announce-speed-sport-1-network/
References
edit- ^abBromberg, Nick (March 23, 2011)."Farewell, National Speed Sport News".Yahoo! News.Archived fromthe originalon March 27, 2011.RetrievedDecember 20,2015.
- ^abCaldwell, Dave (February 6, 2012)."A Year After Folding, a Venerable Motor Sports Publication Readies Its Return".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 20,2015.
- ^abcdefghijklmnHinton, Ed (March 23, 2011)."National Speed Sport News was racing".ESPN.RetrievedDecember 5,2015.
- ^Mandel, Dutch (March 22, 2011)."Godspeed, National Speed Sport News".AutoWeek.RetrievedDecember 20,2015.
- ^"MAVTV & NSSN To Launch Two Shows".MAVTV.December 16, 2013.
- ^"Turn 3 Media Acquires Sprint Car & Midget Magazine".Speed Sport.September 20, 2017.Retrieved14 December2017.
- ^"Turn 3 Media, Riivet Announce" SPEED SPORT 1 "Network".10 December 2021.