Chris Economaki is the world’s best-known reporter of the autoracing scene. He doesn’t consider himself controversial, but he’s usually around when a story breaks and he’s ready, willing and able to tell the truth—whether in a private conversation or on the air in front of millions of viewers.
Economaki has been deeply involved with auto racing most of his life.

He saw his first race when he was nine (at the Atlantic City board track) and was hooked for life. He saw every race he could and by the time he was 14 was a fixture in the racing world. He knew all the cars and drivers by sight and, while still in his teens, wrote a byline column for the National Auto Racing News, a precursor of National Speed Sport News.

Though a near-fanatic fan, the desire to drive competitively was not very strong. He once drove a midget car on a cinder track in Pennsylvania. “It wasn’t for me,” says Economaki. “It was a really frightening experience. That was the first and last time I drove in competition.”

When he took the helm 1950, National Speed Sport News was moribund. Before long, Economaki had raised its circulation and its influence in the racing world. Today it is the most influential weekly motorsports publication in the country. Still an important feature of the paper is Chris’s informative column, The Editor’s Notebook. In April of 2000, shortly before his 80th birthday, Economaki marked 50 years at the Editor’s desk.

As a track announcer at a number of major races in the late 1940s and 1950s, Economaki brought his own brand of infectious enthusiasm to the job. The fans loved his style.

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