National Speed Sport Newspaper is dead

After 77 years, one of the longest publications in motorsports has printed its last issue. National Speed Sport News, the weekly racing magazine headed by legendary motorsports journalist and publisher emeritus Chris Economaki, will discontinue publication of their print edition immediately. Subscribers were informed of the announcement in a letter from publisher Corinne Economaki in the final issue dated March 23, 2011.

Like several of its contemporaries that folded in the past year, NSSN was finally done in by sagging advertising revenues as well as the changing landscape of journalism, which has seen a fundamental shift from traditional media to social networking and on-line coverage.

“This is one of the saddest days of my life," said National Speed Sport News Publisher Corinne Economaki. “The sluggish economy has made it too difficult to continue publication and no matter how I try to make the numbers work — and believe me I have tried — it is just not feasible to keep the business going."

First published in 1934, National Speed Sport News has been called "America’s Weekly Motorsports Authority", starting out covering midget racing in the Midwest and expanding to include all forms of auto racing including NASCAR, Indy Racing League, Formula 1 and all manner of sprint car racing.
Chris Economaki began selling copies of the paper – then called “National Auto Racing News" at short tracks in New Jersey at the age of 13 and wrote his first column for the paper a year later.

After 1950, Economaki became editor of the paper and later took over as owner and publisher, seeing the paper through the glory days of motorsports, including the rise and fall of superstar drivers and the emergence of auto racing from its grass-roots beginnings to a major player in the world of sports. He continued to write columns for the paper up until 2010.

NSSN will continue to post and update stories on their online site, www.nationalspeedsportnews.com.