See main article: NASCAR on television and radio. One of the earliest telecasts of a NASCAR race was the 1960 Daytona 500, parts of which was presented as part of CBS Sports Spectacular, with announcer Bud Palmer.[1]
In the ensuing years, but before 1979, there were three main sources of NASCAR telecasts:
In February 1960, CBS sent a "skeleton" production crew to Daytona Beach, Florida and the Daytona International Speedway to cover the Daytona 500's Twin 100 (now the Bluegreen Vacations Duel) qualifying races on February 12, 1960.[3] The production crew also stayed to broadcast portions of the Daytona 500 itself, two days later. The event was hosted by John S. Palmer. CBS would continue to broadcast portions of races for the next 18 years, along with ABC and NBC.[4]
| Date | Event | Network | Lap-by-lap | Color commentator(s) | Reporters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/18 | ABC[7] | Jim McKay[8] | Stirling Moss | Chris Economaki | |
| 7/4 | Firecracker 250 (Daytona) | ABC[9] | Bill Flemming | Chris Economaki | |
| 9/3 | Southern 500 (Darlington) | Jim McKay | Chris Economaki | ||
From 1962 to 1978, the Daytona 500 was shown on ABC's Wide World of Sports. During the 1960s and early 1970s, the race was filmed and an edited highlight package aired the following weekend. In 1974, ABC began the first semi-live coverage (joined-in-progress) of the Daytona 500. Coverage was normally timed to begin when the race was halfway over. Brief taped highlights of the start and early segments were shown, then ABC joined the race live already in progress, picking up approximately the last 90 minutes of the race. This format continued through 1978.
| Date | Event | Track | Network | Lap-by-lap | Color commentator(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/24 | Daytona | ABC[10] [11] [12] | Bill Flemming[13] | Chris Economaki | ||
| 7/4 | Firecracker 400 | Daytona | ABC[14] | Bill Flemming | Chris Economaki |
| Date | Event | Network | Lap-by-lap | Color commentator(s) | Reporters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/23 | ABC[15] | Bill Flemming[16] | Stirling Moss | Chris Economaki | |
| 4/5 | CBS[17] | ||||
| 5/24 | NBC | ||||
| 10/18 | National 400 (Charlotte) | Jim McKay | Chris Economaki | ||
| Date | Event | Network | Lap-by-lap | Color commentator(s) | Reporters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/14 | ABC[18] [19] | Bill Flemming | |||
| 5/8 | Rebel 300 (Darlington) | Jim McKay | Chris Economaki | ||
| 7/4 | Firecracker 400 (Daytona) | Bill Flemming | Chris Economaki | ||
| 9/6 | Southern 500 (Darlington) | ABC[20] | Jim McKay | Rodger Ward | Chris Economaki |
| 10/17 | National 400 (Charlotte) | Bill Flemming | Rodger Ward | ||
| Date | Event | Network | Lap-by-lap | Color commentator(s) | Reporters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/27 | ABC[21] | Curt Gowdy | Rodger Ward | ||
| 4/30 | Rebel 400 (Darlington) | Jim McKay | Bill France[22] | ||
| 7/4 | Firecracker 400 (Daytona) | Jim McKay | Rodger Ward | Chris Economaki | |
| 9/5 | Southern 500 (Darlington) | Bill Flemming | Rodger Ward | Chris Economaki | |
| 10/16 | National 500 (Charlotte) | Jim McKay | Rodger Ward | Chris Economaki | |