History of F1 TV coverage in the US

When I started following F1 in the 70s, Monaco was the only thing covered in the US (on ABCs Wide World of Sports). I can't remember when ESPN (and good old John Bisigniano) started covering the races or when SPEEDVISION started (later to become SPEEDCHANNEL).

I searched on the internet, but didn't really find anything.

Anybody have that timeline?

Just my own faulty memory. I started watching in the late 80s when it was mostly on ESPN. However, I do still have my VHS recording of the 1988 US Grand Prix in Detroit. It was on CBS and was hosted by Chris Economaki.

I think Speedvision got it in the mid 90s. I remember there being a time when Speedvision wasn't available to me on my cable so I had to go without for a few years.

I remember the early 90's on ESPN with Varsha and Hobbs, then I think 97 it went to Speedvision.

I use to wake up at 4am with my dad to watch the races. Was/am still a Mansell fan, didn't like Senna, still don't like Senna.

"Speed partnered with F1 in 1996 in the network's first full season on the air. Speed moved to live coverage in 1997, and has expanded to live coverage of qualifying and practice sessions of the most popular motorsports series in the world."

There was precious little auto racing coverage on TV prior to the 80's, except taped and edited segments on the Wild World of Sports. Keep in mind that, pre-cable, many markets had only a handful of channels and many thought a full time sports channel (ESPN) was folly.

First flag to flag coverage of the Daytona 500 wasn't until 1979 (same year Cale and Donnie went after one another post-race).

It was tough for me when I moved here in 94. Having got used to the races being shown live on BBC2 (over the air), then a 30 min re-cap at 9:00pm, plus in later years Qualiyfing being shown live too, it was a real shock to find in America a) you needed cable and b) the cable I could get didn't have that network lead to me not seeing it for a few years.

I used to see it, and almost everything else on ESPN in the early 80s. My dad used to get a magazine called called Auto Racing Digest, and I would go through and see when races were being broadcast and set up the VCR timer. On day I have to see if any of those tapes are still in their basement. Before they were able to get many ball sports they showed ESPN would show NASCAR, F1 CART and the occasional rally. There weren't as many races on tv pas there are now but between ESPN, TNN, and the networks there were more types of racing on.

Wally wrote: I used to see it, and almost everything else on ESPN in the early 80s. My dad used to get a magazine called called Auto Racing Digest, and I would go through and see when races were being broadcast and set up the VCR timer. On day I have to see if any of those tapes are still in their basement. Before they were able to get many ball sports they showed ESPN would show NASCAR, F1 CART and the occasional rally. There weren't as many races on tv pas there are now but between ESPN, TNN, and the networks there were more types of racing on.

Hi Wally,

Sorry for the public comment but I seem to be unable to send a personal message.

In the History of F1 thread (http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/history-of-f1-tv-coverage-in-the-us/74097/page1/) you're mentioning you have recorded some races on tape - do you still have these? I've been collecting any kind of racing for some years, would you possibly be interested in exchanging some material? If they're still on tape and you have no ways of transferring them to DVD I have a reliable friend who is able to.

Yours, Mark

I have '79 French GP (The Pass)the whole race. Was on CBS, David Obbs commentating. The ads are great also.