He knew he’d won them over the moment he walked back through Gasoline Alley, a year ago this weekend. Hundreds of fans, calling his name.DOVER, Del. – Chris Economaki, a journalist regarded as the authoritative voice in motorsports for decades, died Friday. He was 91.
National Speed Sport News, where Economaki worked as an editor for more than 60 years, announced his death Friday. It did not release a cause of death.
Economaki was known as the “Dean of American Motorsports Journalism,” and worked in TV for more than 40 years with stints at ABC, CBS and ESPN. He was part of ABC’s first telecast from Daytona International Speedway in 1961.
His love of motorsports blossomed as a child and he sold copies of National Speed Sport News as a teenager.
NASCAR chairman Brian France said Economaki played a “huge role in growing NASCAR’s popularity.” France said Economaki was considered by many “the greatest motorsports journalist of all time.”
