Speed Sport
National Speed Sport News (NSSN) is a national American newspaper. It covers local, regional, and national auto racing topics. Yahoo! News called it "one of the most famous motorsports publications in the country" when it stopped publishing a print version in 2011.[1] The New York Times said it has "carried news and, when available, photos, from virtually any dirt track open on a Saturday night."[2]
NSSN began during the Great Depression as a weekly print newspaper. Chris Economaki published the newspaper for forty years. It was published exclusively on the magazine's website for a year before being purchased by Turn 3 Media in 2012; they revived the print version.
History
The newspaper was first published by East Paterson Herald Publishing Co. on August 16, 1934 as the National Auto Racing News.[3] Future editor Chris Economaki sold 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 in New York in 1940.[3] It became known as the National Speed Sport News in 1943 when the publisher William Kay formed The Kay Publishing Group.[3] Auto racing was banned in the United States during World War II and the newspaper had moved to monthly publication in 1944.[3] When the ban was lifted in August 16, 1945 and it switched to biweekly publications then back to weekly papers in 1947.[3] Kay died from a heart attach in 1950 and assistant editor Economaki took over as the lead publisher.[3]
A.J. Foyt was featured on a cover story on September 12, 1956, two years before he rose to prominence in Indy Car.[3] Microfilm versions of the magazine were added to the Library of Congress in 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 magazine ceased print production on March 23, 2011.[3] ESPN cited the reason for its demise to the "economy and this slow death knell of newspapers in general."[3] NASCAR Scene had stopped publishing in 2010.[1] AutoWeek associate 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 purchased NSSN in 2012 and began publishing monthly print copies again in March 2012.[2]
References
- ^ a b Bromberg, Nick (March 23, 2011). "Farewell, National Speed Sport News". Yahoo! News. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
- ^ a b Caldwell, Dave (February 6, 2012). "A Year After Folding, a Venerable Motor Sports Publication Readies Its Return". New York Times. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hinton, Ed (March 23, 2011). "National Speed Sport News was racing". ESPN. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ Mandel, Dutch (March 22, 2011). "Godspeed, National Speed Sport News". AutoWeek. Retrieved December 20, 2015.