Paul Page

Paul Page (born November 25, 1945) is an American motorsports broadcaster who was the lead announcer for ABC Sports' coverage of CART and the IRL from 1988 to 2004. He currently is the lead announcer for NHRA.

Biography

Early life and career

Page was born in Indiana but grew up in Stuttgart, Germany, as a military brat, and is married to fellow broadcaster Sally Larvick. He studied at the University of Tulsa. He served six years in the U.S. Army.

Page's broadcasting career began on WIBC in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1968. On December 1, 1977, while doing a helicopter traffic report, Page was nearly killed in an accident, as he crashed near a Speedway, Indiana, high school.

In the 1980s, Paul was also a commentator for the motorsports show American Sports Cavalcade on the cable network TNN, The Nashville Network. While working for TNN, he covered NHRA drag racing, World of Outlaws sprint car racing, AMA supercross, monster truck racing and truck and tractor pulling from TNT Motorsports, and swamp buggy racing, among others.

IndyCar Racing career

From 1974-1987, Page served on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. Page served as a pit reporter from 1974–1976, and as Chief Announcer from 1977–1987. Page served as anchor of auto racing telecasts on NBC from 1978–1987, covering both Indycar and the NHRA. He also worked on NBC's Sportsworld.

In 1988, Page switched to ABC Sports, and was their lead anchor for CART IndyCar racing, including the Indy 500. During that period, he also worked on NASCAR and IROC broadcasts. Parallel to his work at ABC, Page also worked at ESPN, primarily as the anchor for CART IndyCar telecasts. When the IRL was founded in 1996, he started covering those events as well.

Paul gave the opening introduction to Papyrus's IndyCar Racing & IndyCar Racing II video game, released in 1995. Page also was selected to be the short-phrase commentator for the Destruction Derby 2 wrecking/racing video game of 1996.

While working for ABC, he was also their lead AMA Supercross commentator when ABC would cover dirt bike racing.

His place on ABC's IRL coverage was taken by Todd Harris for the 2005 in a move that proved unpopular. Page was reassigned to cover other events for the ESPN family of networks, most notably the X Games, NHRA, and has quietly become a fixture calling the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. He called both IRL and Champ Car races. In 2006, Page split announcing duties with Marty Reid on ESPN's coverage of NHRA Drag Racing, sharing duties with Reid, when Reid was on assignment, ironically calling the Indy Racing League. Page became the full-time anchor in 2007.

In 2009, Page returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network coverage of the 2009 Indianapolis 500. It was Page's first Indy 500 race he covered since the 2004. He had also voiced the race between 1988 and 1998. He was back for the 2010 Indianapolis 500.

National Hot Rod Association

Page is currently the lead announcer for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series (formerly known as NHRA PowerAde Drag Racing Series) on ESPN and ESPN2.

Awards and honors

In 1989 and 1990, his work was awarded two Emmy's for the coverage of the Indianapolis 500. He also was host / play by play in shows or series that garnered 13 other Emmy's.

External links

• Paul Page's ESPN Bio

Preceded by Sid Collins	Radio voice of the Indianapolis 500 1977-1987	Succeeded by Lou Palmer
Preceded by Jim Lampley	Television voice of the Indianapolis 500 1988-1998	Succeeded by Bob Jenkins 1999-2001
Preceded by Bob Jenkins 1999-2001	Television voice of the Indianapolis 500 2002-2004	Succeeded by Todd Harris 2005