IMRRC receives National Speed Sport News archives WATKINS GLEN, Aug. 9 -- The archives of National Speed Sport News, the nation’s leading motorsports newspaper, have been donated to the International Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen.
The archives include bound volumes dating back to the publication’s earliest days and negatives taken by its legendary editor and publisher, Chris Economaki, recognized as the founding father of the American motorsports media.
The archives were officially given to the Racing Research Center on Tuesday by Economaki's daughter, Corinne Economaki, president and owner of National Speed Sport News, and the Dyson Foundation, represented by Foundation President Rob Dyson.
NSSN published its final print edition on March 23 after nearly 77 years. About a month later, motorsports memorabilia collected over the years and housed at National Speed Sport News were sold, along with the publication’s own accumulated materials.
Corinne, who succeeded Chris Economaki as owner and publisher, and Rob Dyson together determined that the NSSN archives should go to the Racing Research Center.
“It was not a difficult choice to pick the Research Center,” Corinne Economaki said.
The donation was made possible by funding from the Dyson Foundation.
“The archives have to be in the public realm. People have to have access to them, for whatever reason. The library was the only logical place,” Dyson said.
“This will be for the library the most comprehensive compendium of auto racing in the pre-Internet age,” he said.
Since opening in 1999, the Racing Research Center has operated with the mission to be the world-class leader in the collection of materials representing the documentary heritage of amateur and professional racing of all series and at all venues.
The core of the Center’s collection comprises more than 3,500 rare and reference books, as well as hundreds of films, race posters and programs, magazines, rare documents, club records and thousands of photographs. The Center is open to the public free of charge, and all materials are available to all visitors, from the serious researchers to the casual fan.
The NSSN archives will add to the Center’s collection 97 bound volumes of issues going back to the 1930s; 30 boxes of photographs back to the 1950s; and negatives of decades of racing photographs taken by Chris Economaki. Additionally, the NSSN archives include issues from the 1930s through the early 2000s on microfilm.
“The scope of the National Speed Sport News archives is spectacular. The Racing Research Center staff is extremely honored that Corinne Economaki and the Dyson Foundation have selected us to be the caretakers of these materials that truly tell the story of racing in America,” J.C. Argetsinger, president of the Racing Research Center, said.
“Their confidence in us is an affirmation of the valuable work the Center is doing to preserve the history of motorsports,” Argetsinger said.
Corinne Economaki said the newspaper’s archives have been used extensively over the years by a myriad of researchers, from authors to racers to fans.
“The Research Center is the right place now. I know the archives will be well cared for,” Economaki said.
The archives represent her father’s lifetime of work and “love affair with motorsports.”
Chris Economaki, who celebrated his 90th birthday last October, saw his first race in 1932, when he was 12 years old. Two years later, his daughter said, he was selling copies of National Auto Racing News, which would become National Speed Sport News.
At age 16, Chris had his first byline, launching his career in motorsports reporting. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he continued to be involved with racing and was hired full-time to write for NSSN.
Over the years, his commitment to the newspaper grew, and when publication ceased in March, it was wholly owned by the Economaki family, Corinne said.
National Speed Sport News has a continuing presence on-line.
Chris Economaki’s weekly column, “The Editor’s Notebook,” was a must-read in the newspaper, noteworthy as “a potpourri of inside information, editorial comment and the odd bit of gossip,” according to a fellow motorsports journalist. He started the column after being named NSSN editor and continued it for 60 years, through the end of 2010.
“Chris had contacts and sources second to none, and it made NSSN the most influential news source in American racing,” Rob Dyson said. “His column was a must-read for race drivers, owners, team managers and industry leaders and often it was the place they first learned of changes within their own organization.”
Dyson established Dyson Racing in 1974. Over the years, the team has competed in IMSA GTO and GTP, SCCA, Trans-Am, Grand-Am, CART and today, the American Le Mans Series.
Rob Dyson serves as president of the Dyson Foundation, founded in 1957 and based in Millbrook, NY, to work toward improving people's lives through grant funding, promoting philanthropy and strengthening the capacity of non-profit organizations.
For more information about the International Motor Racing Research Center, visit the website at www.racingarchives.org. For more information about the Dyson Foundation, visit the website at www.dysonfoundation.org.