THEY SAID IT...

GREAT COMMENTS ABOUT ESPN/ESPN2 EARLY RACING COVERAGE

On: ESPN’s Impact on Racing--

• “What’s driven NASCAR is strong promotion of the sport.  ESPN has done a great job promoting NASCAR.” --Steve Grubbs of BBDO ad agency, in USA Today, August 10, 1999
  
   

• “In the early 1980s, ESPN’s emerging presence became a force in increasing interest in NASCAR.” --NASCAR Racing: The Ultimate Fan Guide by Bill Fleischman and Al Pearce
  
   

• “If it seems that we can now find racing almost anywhere on our television schedules, at any hour we may want to watch, we probably owe it all to ESPN.”--Racer Magazine, Nov. 1995, naming ESPN one of 10 “Centurions” – “pioneering forces that shaped American racing” in the sport’s first 100 years.
  
   

• “Much of the credit for racing’s growing audience and active involvement by big-name corporate sponsors must go to ESPN.  ‘It’s been great for us,’ says seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.  ‘The more television has covered our races, bringing in new sponsors with it, the more it has contributed to our growth.  It certainly has gotten our sport out to the fans.’”--Satellite Orbit, February 1995
  
   

• “I think ESPN has meant a lot to the sport over the last eight or 10 years; the sport has grown into what it’s become through the exposure we gained through ESPN.”--Kyle Petty, in National Speed Sport News, February 9, 1994
  
   

•  “Thank goodness for ESPN.  Television has turned some of these guys into world-wide heroes.”--Jo Irvan, mother of NASCAR racer Ernie Irvan and president of his fan club, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, August 9, 1992
  
   

• “The exposure on TV (ESPN) has made it easier for drivers and car owners to find sponsors.”--Bill Marvel, USAC vice president, in the Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1989

 

On: The ESPN and ESPN2 Commitment to Motorsports--

• “For those of us who truly love motorsports...ESPN has been a godsend...and now with its new brother, ESPN2...it has to take the first prize when it comes to the outstanding presentation of motorsports on television.”--Herb Anastor, Area Auto Racing News, February 20, 1996
  
   

• “ESPN2 is really tooting its horn and for good reason.  The Deuce covered last month’s Daytona Speedweeks like a glove..(with RPM 2Night) race fans are being bombarded with up-to-the-minute news.”--Lou Modestino, Speedway Scene, March 8, 1996
  
   

• “If it’s a big story in auto racing, ESPN2, in its effort to illustrate its unmatched commitment to auto racing, will be there.”--Brian Clark, Modesto (Calif.) Bee, September 29, 1995

 

On: ESPN’s Production Expertise--

• “ESPN is easily the leader in televising auto racing.”--Bob Markus, Chicago Tribune, September 26, 1993
  
   

• “Auto racing’s rise in popularity is due in great part to the technologies initiated by ESPN.”--Dennis Tuttle, Washington Post, July 26, 1998
  
   

• “We were favorably impressed by the superb ESPN direction and camera work.  When a close-up was needed...there it was, right away.”--Chris Economaki, National Speed Sport News, September 1, 1993
  
   

• “ESPN keeps coming up with innovative cameras to make its broadcasts more interesting and detailed.”--Mike Harris, Associated Press, August 1992
  
   

• “ESPN’s Emmy Award-winning telemetry graphics...were very interesting.  The technology gives further understanding to viewers about what makes a race car tick.”--Paul Schaeffer, NASCAR News, June 26, 1991
  
   

• “No network does racing like ESPN.  The longer I watched...the better job of coverage I thought it was.”--Gary McCredie, Winston Cup Scene, May 10, 1990
  
   

• “If you can’t make it to your favorite race in person, ESPN is the next best thing to being there.”   --Dan DiZinno, AutoWeek, March 6, 1989
  
   

• “ESPN, the coverage is excellent.  You’d be surprised at how much you can pick up.”--“Cole Trickle” (Tom Cruise) in the feature film Days of Thunder on where he learned to drive so well.

 

On: ESPN Helping the Drivers--

• “If I hadn’t stepped up through Saturday Night Thunder on ESPN with USAC, I don’t know if I could handle the attention as well as I can now.”--NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, Nov. 10, 1995
  
   

• “What happened to (Stewart) can be traced to one thing.  Television.  ‘It’s the exposure we’ve had on ESPN Thunder...without that exposure, nobody would know about me.”--Writer Dan Kolb/driver Tony Stewart, Evansville (Ind.) Courier, April 28, 1996
  
   

• “I can sit here in the motor coach and we have ESPN2 coverage keeping me up with what’s going on.  I can hear the drivers’ comments and what teams are doing to their cars.”--NASCAR star Darrell Waltrip, Toledo Blade, April 28, 1997