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Christopher Constantine Economaki (October 15, 1920 – September 28, 2012) was a pioneering American motorsports journalist, publisher, reporter, and commentator known as "The Dean of American Motorsports Journalism." Working for, and later owning, National Speed Sport News, Economaki helped encourage the growth of American motorsports from a niche endeavor to a mainstream pursuit.
He would hang around and help out some of auto racing's most famous drivers at the famous "Gasoline Alley" at Paterson, New Jersey. He helped Duane Carter with the setup on his outboard midget car in 1938 as an unofficial pit stop.
His daughter, Corinne Economaki, took over as the publisher until the final issue of National Speed Sport News was published, on March 23, 2011. The National Speed Sport News website was sold in 2012 to Turn 3 Media, LLC (Ralph Sheheen, Curt Moon and Joe Tripp), with longtime colleague Mike Kerchner as current publisher, which includes the website and the expansion of the Speed Sport brand to a magazine and television show (MavTV).
He co-authored an autobiography called Let 'Em All Go: The Story of Auto Racing by the Man who was there.
In the inaugural World 600 in 1960, Don O'Dell's Pontiac smashed the driver's door of Lenny Page's Chevy. Lenny Page, who was lucky to even survive the crash due to the safety systems at that time, was near death afterwards, but Economaki rushed to the scene and aided Page until safety crews arrived. He was later credited with saving Lenny's life.
Later in life, Microsoft chose Economaki to author the auto racing history portion of its Encarta Encyclopedia. Biography at the National Speed Sport News
For several years during the 1960s, he contributed "Sport of Speed" segments twice each weekend to the NBC Radio Network program Monitor.
After 23 years he switched to CBS Sports. He covered International Race of Champions (IROC) events, Daytona 500s, and Formula One Grand Prix events.
He contributed to ESPN's SpeedWeek, and TBS' Motorweek Illustrated. Economaki also covered Formula One races on ESPN in alongside British race driver and commentator David Hobbs, before being replaced by the younger Bob Varsha from .
In February 1988 he was the expert pit reporter for Australian television station Seven Network for the first ever NASCAR race run outside of North America, the Goodyear NASCAR 500 at the Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne. Economaki had previously worked for Seven during the Bathurst 1000 telecasts of the late 1970s and early 1980s, mainly working as a pit reporter. He would later return to Australia to work as a pit reporter for Ch.7 during the telecast of the 1993 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst.
He covered several types of auto racing, including sprint cars, Championship Cars, stock cars, drag racing, and Can-Am cars.
From 1995 until 2008, Economaki was a part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network coverage of the Indianapolis 500, working as a color commentator.
Other awards bestowed upon Economaki included:
The Economaki Champion of Champions Award is named after him.
A day at the Dodge Charger 500 at the Darlington Raceway race weekend is named "Chris Economaki Day."
The press room at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was named the Economaki Press Conference Room in 2006.Kelly, Paul. Legendary Racing Journalist Economaki Honored By IMS , Indianapolis Motor Speedway PR, May 27, 2006 Pocono Raceway named its press box The Chris Economaki Press Box. New Jersey Motorsports Park's media center is named The Chris Economaki Media Center.
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