Wind Tunnel - Chris Economaki (2006)

it was only 10 when the roar of racing engines lured him to the track he needed a way in this newspaper was his pit pass 1934 72 years ago the depression shaped the sport the newsboy took it all in he met the stars wrote their stories took their pictures worked on their cars he thumbed his way to far-flung speedway's learning new skills new ways to communicate his passion for racing as he made friends and influence people his face became familiar far beyond his beloved paper racing was going places and press economy key was there every step of the way I witnessed to American Racing history tonight he'll tell his story this special edition of wind tunnel with Dave Despain is presented by Park West hi I'm Dave Despain welcome to a special edition of wind tunnel presented by car quest now there aren't many people in this racing world to whom we would dedicate an entire hour Chris economy is one of those few think about it for anybody to have worked a job for 72 years is pretty amazing when that job is covering racing covering it in print and the pages of national speed sport news calling the action for the grandstand crowds as one of the most colorful track announcers ever or analyzing it on the tube since the earliest days of televised racing well suffice to say that anybody who's done all that is pretty special in our opinion but I don't expect you to take my word for that Chris economy he wrote the book on what we do he could take the average Fairgrounds in America and turn it into a place of magic for two or three hours there's still some reporters who last the tough questions but but Chris had a way of doing it that he did it with style it became sort of his trademark Chris is a really interesting character he is a genuine certified personality in a world where so many people seem to be made of jell-o he's made of really interesting material he says interesting things he has lived an extraordinary life even a guy who's won 50 next up uh prices sort of looks at Chris and says man that guy's done a lot it's fascinating to me that I'll bring up a topic to Chris and he'll tell me all about it because he was there there's probably no human being in the United States that has a passion for Motorsports like Chris does is a true true icon in the sport of motor racing not to be ever ever be emulated high praise for a man I've wanted to interview for a long time tonight I get the chance I'm fired up how about Chris have you ever tried to get ready are you prepared I am always prepared I don't waste any time getting ready I stay ready when we return a delightful trip through seven decades of racing history and surely at least one economy impression Windtunnel with Dave Despain is presented by the 3400 CARQUEST Auto Parts stories across North America Park West the professional choice and brought to you in part by Edelbrock proven performance get it at edelbrock.com Chris economy a ten-year-old New Jersey kid heard the engines and ho-ho cos Speedway and ran down to check it out they wouldn't let him in three years later at age 13 he made his first money from the sport and he's been covering it ever since how did you get interested in race what what lit you up about racing you kid well of course see the basic precepts of racing danger and speed and so forth those are the things that attracted everybody in the early days and to this day a number of people as well and of course both of those factors are being minimized in the NASCAR keeps talked about safer barriers and safer walls and I said to myself well that's fine if they should shut up about it because it takes away the allure of the sport danger is part of what people buy a ticket to see or to experience no question about it here drivers facing death at every turn at the fair race is necessary to come buy a ticket sure that's that was that test I'll stick it's just part of the sport its inherent to this boy the politically correct would say oh that's the old days we've all grown past that now we don't think that way don't we don't go to see people get hurt well I don't know how many people are politically correct these days people don't come to the races to see people get hurt they come to the races to be excited and to see people he escaped injury in spectacular Caracas that's my fee on no change from the way it was when you started when you were a well the change of course ISM is the product you know faster faster speed more speed the loudest applause I ever heard was in Indianapolis during practice when table Carnegie would say and it's a new track record [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and the roofer come off the grandstand couldn't tell how fast the car was going nobody knows but they were present when a speed record was set talk about it at dinner and so forth because we never hear that again we will never ever in an auto race here that's a new track record the worst thing that's happened to American auto race worldwide auto racing has been this influx of high technology because what that did in addition to making the cars too fast has made them too expensive for the sport to sustain and out of the reach of the average guy with the toolbox you know he the American Racing car historically was homemade the car owners investment in his car was time an effort and a few bucks for some parts Johnny Gerber came East with two cars and in the mid thoroughly 30s he had made a silver head himself for the Chevrolet he's a farmer from Iowa and he didn't like it so he he was a single overhead cam head he made it double overhead cam himself in his barn in Iowa and it blew everybody off he it had huge valves I remember it was to me was intriguing and then technology arrives in this part that he used to make he can't make him he has to buy and from whom does he buy it some aerospace company this used to dealing with the government carbon fiber Kevlar space-age materials and the cost is exorbitant it's an incredible transition in the sport we're in economies opinions are grounded in history and experience and that has a lot to do with a happy Geographic coincidence for that story we visit the Patterson Museum in New Jersey Chris if I say Gasoline Alley to most people they're gonna think Indianapolis Motor Speedway that's what I say ghastly now and you you say oh no Paterson New Jersey all right he helped me about this here's part of it there's drugs you see near the western end of the original gasoline alienation this is Ted horn and he is off on Hauser is in car boy was a big name in American racing before the war what a lot of races and get Patterson a lot of publicity for being headquartered here and he was killed in 1948 though a Californian he's buried that close by here in Patterson that his adopted hometown how did Patterson come to have a gasoline out thank you well when the Pharisee in the advocaat repression started well there was a lot of racism drivers would come with their cars from all over the country needed to place the headquarter Patterson was centrally located and racing oriented had one more happy coincidence Chris's immediate neighborhood was also home to the newspaper now synonymous with his name it's interesting to me that your life and the life of national speed sport news RSS first time you've mentioned it thank you you're welcome ahead I'm surprised you let me go this long without it they're essentially one or at least parallel and sold the first copy of the paper is that accurate the first stand-alone issue in August of 1934 I sold yes as a newsboy standalone issue meaning that there had been some form of that paper the first the first indication of the newspaper was it appeared as a back page feature on a small-town weekly newspaper in East Paterson New Jersey called the Bergen Herald and had this auto racing page why because of all the cars that were garage here during the fair season in the neighborhood and people these visitors from the Midwest and the south and who belonged to the race crews we're living in furnished rooms in in East Paterson and one of the mechanical mechanics into the paper why don't you publish racing news all these people who here renting rooms from your homes and they might like to see what's going on and that was the beginning of the racing section as it was called then as it blossomed and grew and encroached upon the school board news and what the mayor was doing in East Patterson the residents complained so they separated the racing section out into a tabloid the form that it enjoys today called national speeds board exactly welcome loud and clear and it was printed in Ridgewood New Jersey where I grew up but I happened to walk by the Ridgewood news which had a very large picture window you could see the press there and on the press about to be printed was the first tabloid issue of national speed sport news which was August 16th 1934 and I went in and got 200 copies which I sold that the race is that weekend for five cents a piece and made a penny and I had made $2 in August of 1934 which was the Depression was still very much in effect and it was a significant sum of money particularly for a thirteen-year-old over time that entrepreneurial kid had the opportunity to invest in his beloved paper today he and his family owned it and so for more than three generations national speed sport news has delivered to the fans and to the movers and shakers of the sport economy's perspective his passion his opinions and his weekly coffee as the young driver I always felt that unless the Christa kind of Mackey noticed you you weren't going to go anywhere the editors notebook I mean it's just required reading for if you're involved in motorsport and it was just phenomenal the amount of information that he would have about all forms of sport and the industry and it it's you know people would clamor to get their names mention in there but the thing that the Chris Akana Mackey even to this day with his column of national speed sport news has an incredible ability to do is to get inside the sport and whether you're an insider or just a casual observer give you a tidbit for you to munch on and intend enjoy this is columns aren't about motors and parts sway bars and track bars it's about people it's about the people who make the sport Chris is a storyteller this is a legend maker I still read his column weekly and religiously because I always learned something and that's we don't have to do any research he does it and and again I just he he has to keep working forever otherwise we just can't deal with it when we come back economies view of the nationwide explosion in the 1930s bracing unequivocally the most important development in American motorsport without question nobody gets challenged that people oftentimes break history down by decade I suspect that's not a great way to break down the history of American auto racing it seems to me that perhaps there are Arrow's yes no the board Speedway era I think was an incredible error in American automobile racing the two guys are our Pillsbury and Jack Prince who designed and built the tracks not only did they build racetracks they had this survey the country four sections where they could get businessmen who wouldn't agree to pay for the track that's why the board speed ways are located in such disparate places because they found somebody there that was willing to pay to build a track the first board Speedway and this is very interesting it's built in 1910 in Playa del Rey California the guys with the car say you know folding the windshield back and taking off the spare tires not the way do we need a special car for this place so the first racing car was built thanks to the board Speedway the very first board Speedway so the board speed ways were really significant in the advancement of auto racing in this country significant but short-lived for tracks quickly gave way to a new phenomenon racing and that gives Priss I think I'm right that you've been quoted as saying that the was the most important you tell me what is the midgets place in auto racing unequivocally the most important development in American motorsport without question nobody get challenged that why well because the Auto rifle today think of midgets as these sort of odd little cars to grow that is right they're no longer the big thing they once were but in the stepladder to popularity order is the United States and said the number one thing an auto race track was always a half a mile or larger many more took a lot of ground a lot of property if they were out someplace and the order race required travel to get to and in many cases the man of the house and they get permission from the wife to go or take the family it wasn't quite an undertaking and expensive when the mission arrived overnight every quarter-mile track every high school stadium every athletic field sports grounds had the capability of becoming a racetrack and hundreds of them did now the man of the house could go to work come home have dinner go downtown to see the midgets and come home at a reasonable hour so what happened the midges brought racing to the people for the very first time the people didn't have to go to the races and that was a monumental step forward for the motorsport when we returned pinch lift stadium and a walk into history for the first time in 55 years Chris visits the former hotbed of New Jersey racing it was there that he Cana Mac he first met stock car visionary bill France senior I've got a job that changed his life in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson is listed as home to the New York black Yankees of baseball's Negro National League my high school sports stadium a boxing arena and a Auto racetrack when was the last time you walked through this gate nineteen fifty what I think yeah fifty five years ago they're about yeah you haven't been back since no I mean in fact the wall oh no there it is I thought it was gone it's still there yeah this was the racetrack right this was turn one of the racetrack here it was a lot smoother than ah what a de-stressing look this has got to be the graffiti capital of the eastern United States incredible seats ten thousand people and night after night was packed for racing Tuesday and Friday nights and great racing now what a de-stressing look this is now sad really sad and in 1950 I knelt down in this infield with Bill France I'd because started to become known as an announcer and Bill France wanted me to come to Daytona and we knelt down and let's clarify why you weren't kneeling at the feet of my friend didn't wanna have the instructor view of the people stand up people can't see three so we squatted down to give the people in the grass there's a chance to see the whole racetrack you and Bill France meeting for the first time right for what purpose he was gonna hire me to come today China be the track announcer at the beach and the beach road course what did you know about Bill France at that point well he was he gotten some publicity in the racing community because of his formation of NASCAR okay Nash I was two years old at the time two and a half years old at the time and he was trying to build it and he wanted somebody that knew how to sell a sport to the people in the grass dance so how much was Bill France gonna pay you to come down and do oh well that was a big part of the deal three days successive days of announcing at $50 a day that's one hundred and fifty dollars for the weekend and all I had to do was drive 1,300 miles each way pay the gas pay my meals and pay my motel room and you know what he's covered all across I came home with a few bucks thrilled with a great day yeah it wasn't done for the money I had never been to Florida before I wanted to see the world how old were you then in 1950 I was thirty thirty years old and I traveled a lot and I knew the racing business pretty well one thing I'm going to have to study up on his the graffiti business I can't get over this place it's incredible so you came here as a spectator exactly and as a reporter for the newspaper national speed sport news these were important races these races here attractive drivers from all over the country Californians came here to read the great drivers from Chicago came here to race and it was great for publicity think I see will for Friday nights racist saw and so the champion from Kansas City is gonna join the field and that kind of stuff and it helped fill up the grandstand the stats support Chris's view of Racing's importance at the peak there were a thousand tracks nationwide and the biggest events Philadelphia Los Angeles Chicago grew more than thousand fans it was a phenomenal period in American racing but it didn't last long there was this incredible era as you described it perhaps the most important development in American auto racing I think you called it what happened where did it go every car was homemade and some guy that had a toolbox would go and look at and admire some of the craftsmanship this guy made this thing it's beautiful and then in the late forties curtis craft accompanied california started making production model midgets that were infinitely adjustable they were superb machines they were faster than the homemade midgets it's too fast in fact so fast that you couldn't pass anybody and secondly they all looked alike you cease before that curtis craft had a different look to it sometimes had a flared cowling some hazardous straight hood the curtis crests were all the same it's so the race racing became a high speed dress parade and the people stopped buying tickets really went away and replaced by stock cars over how long a span of time from now the introduction of the curtis at about three years real afford killed the killed mention racing yeah it was too bad beautiful machine but nobody wanted to watch it bravery was he passing and they wanted us to some of the cars it reflected some guys design thinking and all curtis's were the same with that a commercial break and then surprise answers to to must ask questions the best driver and most memorable race Chris economy has ever seen stay tuned for more on this special edition of Windtunnel presented by car quest [Music] at a time when the sport desperately needed characters he painted pictures of the people who drove the cars who prepared the cars who promoted the races and we got to meet some very fascinating people through Chris economies tails you have seen in action everybody every driver that any contemporary race fan could name and many many more and of those am I correct that you identify a racer as the best you ever saw yeah well of course he later I became a big car racer that's correct Bob Swanson from Los Angeles was the finest race driver I ever saw but in the crash helmet no question about that why well he understood the car here stood the track he understood the rivals he understood his tires he understood his engine he knew what he could do it anywhere he couldn't do when he did it well better than anybody who better than Floyd better than Andretti let me give you let me give you an example Bob Swanson's ability in 1936 he was an accomplished racing driver the variable Cup race was programmed that Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island was a zigzag a pretzel shaped Road course with too many turns the Europeans all came with their Alfa Romeos amezo rattie's and British II Ras and everything and a California car builder who was famous for his midgets named Danny Hogan built the car for that race and Swanson drove it well it couldn't match the straightaways we didn't have the right kind of transmission but in the turns he would pass that's your Nova Larry who won the race Lou glory and she Swanson Bob's Widow by cacio Nova Larry's out from you in the corners a Nuvolari would overtake Swanson and it would happen over and over again and when the race was over tatiana will re the famous italian who won the race saw touts watson to tell him he was the finest driver he had ever encountered on a racetrack in his career which is quite a testament I think just wants his greatness the u.s. visit to Monza Italy in 57 and 58 where I was the english-speaking announce it was an incredible day of motorsport both days you could see there watch the Europeans marvel at the American drivers competitiveness and so forth that sticks in my mind because there's a certain degree of patriotism involved there just because the Europeans up to that point it always looked out automatically in this code because it was oval tracks and you know that's not real racing road courses of the answer but when the Americans showed up in Monza and the Europeans couldn't hold a candle to their abilities with it made it a good race it really did and some of the things that happened there we're so memorable for example with Jim Rassman won the last race yeah and Alla Coleman who was a see promoter at Sebring he was very internationally connected and he was involved in the officiating crew there for some unknown reason and he had a friend whose name was John bass other and obnoxious guy and he is standing down there on pit lane with a checkered flag and Rathmann wins the race and he's coasting towards Stanton cuz what nobody knows is he didn't have any brakes and so Bowser staring at the time to stop stop and weapons runs into him knocks an ass over teakettle down the track and he stretched Alison grassman gets out of the car rushes of not to miss rating with him about it you dumb son of a what do you stand in front of a racing car for that's no break he's lying on the track I'll never forget that episode but they was the closing episode of Rey American racing at Monza was the winner of the last race giving hell to some dumb executive we didn't know how to get out of the way and there are more great stories to come including my favorite about AJ and Akana Mackey's role as a pioneer in motor sports television stay tuned for more this special edition of wind tunnel presented by carb quest when he wants to talk to you about something you can hearing cuz it's like this and whatever the topic is and then and then if you keep if you keep him there five minutes and he gets into a story you're probably gonna be there thirty five minutes I remember being at Flemington and it was 72 degrees the barometric pressure was sixty three point seven and I was about a dollar fifty short at the pick gate of getting in somebody gave me a five dollar bill and two guys flipped over the guardrail one Burke cut off his little finger and he came back put a tie strap around it and finished the main event later that evening finish third and then that's the stories that he's got all day long so he's just he's just cool what do you think of Tony Stewart ah Tony Stewart to me is the ultimate professional driver he he grew up in open-wheel cars which is much more difficult to master than a stock car took that tell him to stop hurry he knows tracks he knows cars Stewart is the consummate American racing driver in my book to me the the underlying problems NASCAR facing now is the incredible cost of taking parts you the advent of technology has raised the cost of today's racing machine the astronomic levels your special racing car for this for that the next things many of NASCAR's top teams have 20 cars for each driver that's expensive it was 43 cars and the Nextel Cup race 43 cars each push each one of those cars needs several million dollars in sponsorship it's not out there that's the problem the cost of taking part in racing today is so high that you have to have sponsorship and what that tells you is that automobile racing in today's world is a colossal charity chase and there's not enough givers out there that's the problem when asked I began each team had one time I can remember the day that somebody brought two cars to attract it was the talk of the pit Mario Andretti AJ Foyt will always just stand out they're both great drivers and they both wanted to outdo the other guy and they didn't particularly care for one another they shake and say hi when they see one another but they don't go to dinner together which one is the better driver uh-huh that's it depends on the day and the track and the car really so that was they there wasn't much to choose between the two in terms of just ability to drive weight is one of the luckiest guys in motorsport and Mario unfortunately is one of the unluckiest guys in motorsport Mario when the world riving championship and AJ 41 the 24 Hours of Lamar and then somebody's gonna try to decide which of those two tryouts is paramount you know Mario Andretti cried until very recently to win it Lamar so he can claim superiority over AJ for you what does it take what will it take or can this happen to return the Indy 500 to its former yeah maybe you would argue that it's still there to its former greatness I think the prevalence of American drivers there - they're too few American drivers the Indy Racing League needs to mark on a diversity program to bring in more American drivers count on econo Mackey to bring a little perspective to the days racing issues will have a whole lot more of that kind of thing when Windtunnel presented by car quest continues this is long awaited autobiography is now available and I'm betting he'd like it if I told you you can order it through the pages of national speak sport news forget everything else this guy has done if you only consider Chris economy's television career he is one of the most influential people in the history of American motorsport not quite from the first racing telecast but very close Chris was there and for serious race fans the thing he brought to the table was credibility sure the other announcers had lots more TV experience but he caught a Mac he knew what he was talking about actually knew the racing game let's hear how that all began that was a racetrack announcer and I was a track announcer at the Daytona Speedway and in 1961 when Wide World of Sports was formed by ABC they wanted to do the July 4th firecracker 250 and the management the track was upset with television had been there a year before for a day of racing it tailored for TV and the reviews were miserable and so the first response to to ABC we should walk back in New York you messed things up here last year maybe she's no no that was another network were ABC said you guys knew your code all the same don't bother me but they persisted and I try to manage but would have been mr. friends yeah mr. Frane and the other network would have been CBS that's correct who sent some lightweight named Walter Cronkite I think good the greatest criticism I've ever heard of an announcer was what Bill Fred said about the about the analysis on that CBS show in the middle Sunday of 1960 speed weeks they asked him what was wrong with the show and he said the announcers did not then which way the cars went touch was an incredible put-down anyway I suspect maybe ABC raised the price a little bit and so they said we'll what can what can we do to make you agree to let us televise this events when you get an announcer that knows which way the stars go and so that was me and I got pushed down to in DC and then my first telecast was on July 4th 1961 at the flack record 250 race in Daytona and that began a-- a career that lasted for 34 years on television big day for me your early television career produced what I think is one of the funniest interview stories ever your interview with AJ Foyt at Sacramento in 1964 yes 1964 yeah tell me the short version the producer was new and the Roone Arledge had told him not to come back from Sacramento without an AJ for an interview this is late in the season for I did one in Indianapolis and almost every other race for he was virtually unbeatable and anyway you finally get to the track and forth there and the guy says I'm watching interview 40 right away I said no no no I see he got just go around the track a little bit get an idea of what does what the circumstances are like that Chris you know well you say so but we've got to have this interview said okay and so forth goes out in this car it was back in and I'll over to my sitting you're busy known so I said I got four years all this okay Chris's got point let's say camera get standby and I said AJ yeah it's a boy one mile dirt track I said unless you walked around the track before you got in your car what do you learn by walking around the track he said well course is I can't take it in the morning I'll have had a good long walk so the producer but died when he heard that cuz that was gonna be the 40 interviews he brought back then I took a beat you can tell you that I was something a little bit more palatable tell me about the time that you took your your broadcast colleague if I'm not mistaken at the time Jackie Stewart to the sprint car race over in California had a throw race at Riverside and that's on Saturday night Jackie had was wondering about these races he heard about at Ascot Park unless so I took him over there and we walked through the pits and he's looking at these sprint cars he kept shaking his head in the negative he couldn't understand why guys would drive these dangerous things and we walked past a J Watson spittin okay AJ says hey Jackie I got an open-cockpit here you want to drive and Jackie says in his Scottish brogue is ah I left me helmet in Riverside he says oh we got accomplished I left me balls there too [Laughter] okay let's be fair Jackie you got a Kris story the best one was when he was demonstrating the difference between alcohol and gasoline at Indianapolis and he had a little a little a both products and he said late to them you could see the flame in the gasoline but you couldn't see the flame and alcohol they put them out they thought they had but the alcohol fire stayed on and Chris walked into it with his double neck polyester pants on and of course he was jumping around like a man wild all those people watching didn't know I knew what had happened and he was in fire I grabbed an old racing suit wrapped around his legs I'm done in front of him on my knees putting the fire out nobody knew and then he started to undo his belt and I thought oh my god wait till somebody gets this picture I'd pay for a copy of that picture alright ikana Mackey you told a lot of stories you've worn a lot of hats you played a lot of roles of all the things you've done what's your favorite Wow a guy I'm a food and wine guy so I enjoyed doing the Formula One series all over the world first-class restaurants the deals always made with television included the eating and drinking and so I'm in France and Italy and Japan and Australia I was aghast at Oriel delight for me Gus tutorial delight indeed words matter to those of us who make our living with them and chris has always been fond of the big ones when we come back with this special edition of wind tunnel presented by car quest my favorite example of how ikana maki can take Racing's big picture and boil it down to a few well-chosen words a wind tunnel would date to Spain is presented by the 3400 CARQUEST Auto Parts stores across North America car quest the professional choice brought to you in part by Suzuki introducing the new Grand Vitara the authentic SUV and by Denso iridium power spark plugs for improved horsepower and better fuel economy on any vehicle Street District he's an icon that's what I think he's in his own way in this sport Chris Akana Mackay is truly an icon he's in the league by himself always was he's the one that wrote the style book that to this day we should aspire to him there are a few people in motorsports that I respect more than Chris I respect him for his dedication to the game I respect him for the contribution that he makes and more than that for being a friend if there's ever a guy who lived it all the way to the end I'm pretty sure that's going to be Chris account of Mackay and with that time for one last passage from our long conversation with Chris and I chose this one because it typifies not only his depth of knowledge but also his profound understanding of the history of racing in America after all he was there not just observing but taking part auto racing from the early 1920s through the mid early to mid 50s was the salvation of the Agricultural Fair in this country to County Fair the State Fair the regional Fair all had an auto race day which was always the biggest day of the fair and the money the auto race they made these fears allowed them to start the following year again so the auto race was very important to the Agricultural Fair that's the connection there what was the importance of the Agricultural Fair to auto racing it was the place that go strut your stuff and make some money the Agricultural Fair was the highlight of the race car owner season he could race in March and April and for loan money or maybe not get paid at all but when the Pharisees began that's when the money started to roll in I have heard little birds have whispered in my ear that in the heyday of racing at the Agricultural Fair a guy named Chris economy he was the absolute best at convincing the people on the Midway that they should come in to the grandstand and buy a ticket is that true well I don't know how good I was but that was my job you know promotional work for promoter and you know the the race promoters financial returned was dependent on the deal he struck with the fair and a big fear with smart gadgets Apple never let the promoter on the front gate if you know what I'm talking about a manager of a small fear that there's not too much about business he did it as a part-time job he would give the promoter 50% of all the admissions that came on the grounds that day not out of the grandstand but never a sharp guy would say huh I'm not letting you on my front gate you can get 100% of the grandstand this is after the person has bought their ticket to get out of the grounds so in order for us to make any money people had to go to the grandstand and I did the Bally on that the Bally oh that's a credible term for ballyhoo the the chitchat on the Midway that gets people to go to the ticket window give me an example what are you talking about okay attention on the grounds ladies and gentlemen today the last day of this great agricultural exposition that is the Midland Park County Fair its auto race day Daredevils from coast to coast are here with their high speed machines facing death that every turn the box office is now open that noise you hear is practice it's just up get that driver out from under that burning car please excuse folk it's only practice get to the grandstand now the races begin in a half an hour that's Bally Bally courtesy of Chris okonomiyaki which reminds me that getting the public interested and involved in racing by whatever means is one of the keys to this man's impact on our sport think about his definition of the importance of the boom it brought racing to the people think about his approach to TV broadcasting always true to the die-hard fan but at the same time welcoming to the newcomer he is an expert who goes out of his way on behalf of the novice always searching for that spark that might ignite in someone else the same passion for racing that he has felt for more than seven decades I think Rowley humbling put it pretty well every single person involved in racing today owes something to ikana Mackay so on behalf of us all I'll say simply thanks Chris but don't for a minute think we've heard the last from this guy that he's headed out to pasture at the tender age of 85 as always we'll let Chris have the last word the very few of us in life get to make their living it's something that started as their hobby and that's been the case with me but as a consequence you give it more you throw much more into it because of those circumstances and that's been the case with me I just love what I do I'm prepared to work overtime at it are you seriously considering retirement at age 85 I'm trying to retire and it's very difficult I don't have the right years for retiring [Music] you

Channel: HODIUSDUDE

Views: 13,737

Rating: 4.9281435 out of 5

Keywords: Wind Tunnel, Dave Despain, Chris Economaki, National Speed Sport News, Dick Berggren, Mario Andretti, Tony Stewart, Jack Arute, Ken Squier, Jim Hunter, David Poole, Dave Argabright, Rollie Helming, Donald Davidson, Midget Racing, A.J. Foyt, Jackie Stewart, David Land, INDYCAR

Id: OucDTNqQTJU

Length: 44min 53sec (2693 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 24 2018