When the documents of the week of the race were the main source of new fans, a veteran pilot said he could play one of them a cover in 15 minutes ", but the speed of Sport. I can spend two hours with her, and yet not read everything that is interesting. "

There was so much substance in the National Speed ​​Sport News. Just had a wheel that turns on all the tracks of North America, or any other major event in the world without at least a few pieces of coverage in the sport of speed.

Today is Wednesday, a day for a week, many racing fans, going back almost 77 years. The latest edition of Speed ​​Sport is broken.

And 'the last.

Speed ​​Sport will print more. He died today, with the version dated March 23, 2011, after a long struggle with the changing times.

Born during the Great Depression, who survived numerous wars and recessions, but could not survive this economy and the slow death sentence of newspapers in general.

In his prime, he was not fancy, just authority. Indy for Monaco at Le Mans to Daytona for all channels Podunk America, dirt was amended by State of New York for the sprint cars in Southern California, you know where you can find coverage.

While The Sporting News "Baseball Bible", then the speed sports car racing was the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

It was Speed ​​Sport has won the country on a bull named young Texan AJ Foyt, he splashed on its cover in 1956, two years before his arrival in Indy.

Moderator Chris Economaki columnist has been a unique guide on everything from scraps of life riders for commercial projects looming in the sport. "From the Editor's Notebook" alone attracted its own audience, Economaki was by far the best known - and simply the best - Journalist of racing in the world.

He had traveled the world with the "Wide World of Sports" asking hard questions, face to face, Phil Hill, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Unser, the Andretti, Fred Lorenzen, Junior Johnson, Richard Petty. Then he went to CBS Sports for the first years of life, the flag of coverage to the flag in the Daytona 500.

In 1970, a 20-something magazine writer, wandering wide-eyed through the garage, Daytona, Sebring and the Indy, was walking in titanium Economaki, a legendary show.

But soon friendship with me, showed me the ropes, he became an instructor. His judgments are not always flattering, but it was always teaching. Above all, summed up the objective.

For all his decades of television sports car fame, wanted Economaki be introduced first and foremost as "the editor of National Speed ​​Sport News." It was his greatest pride.

Growing up, had he lived within earshot of a racetrack in New Jersey, and "the sound of racing cars has been a siren song to a boy," he once told me.

Of course, when some employers of what was the weekly travel section of Bergen (NJ) Herald will become a separate publication called National Auto Racing News, 14-year-old jumped at the opportunity Economaki paper Falcon Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway in New Jersey.

It 'was in August 1934 and a son yielded profits of $ 2 for its sale. Ahh, his life was set: There was a lot of money to be made out of his passion for racing cars.

In 1936 he gave his own column, and wrote three quarters of a century. In 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, publication name was changed to the National Assembly of Speed ​​News. In 1950, Economaki was editor in chief.

He issued a statement Tuesday calling this "one of the saddest days of my life." At 90, he does not get to race over and is not doing interviews, even with journalists are very grateful to his mentor - there are many of us there are not enough hours in that horrible day for us all to speak on the phone.

While other racing books have been bought by publishers large Economaki and saw her daughter, Corrin Economaki, Speed ​​Sport published independently.

In his speech, he cited the stagnation of the economy, but the public abandonment of printed paper, which was held in his hands, is what has brought advertisers away from the press in general.

He noted that "no matter how I try to get the numbers work - and believe me I tried -. It is simply not possible to maintain the current activity"

If Speed ​​Sport could not do it, then the death knell for newspapers across the world are increasingly high, deafening. For decades, Economaki presentations were as effective as they come. He received the news from correspondents who worked for little money and lots of love. Thus was frugal payments to some photographers have dubbed "Chris economy."

But that's how he was able to get all the news and keep his paper afloat.

Online version of the publication, NationalSpeedSportNews.com continue. But in the long run, it seems less certain.

The heartbreaking thing is that the printed copy each of us could buy and hold our hands to each track Podunk America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and we learn about the run from childhood, is no more.

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