WhenESPN debuted in 1979, one of the first sporting events that they covered was auto racing. Initially the name of the show routinely changed to fit with the corresponding year at the time. Thus, when the program debuted, it was calledAuto Racing '79, and thenAuto Racing '80,Auto Racing '81 and so forth. This practice was dropped after 1986, when the name of the program was changed toSpeedWorld. The original commentators were primarilyBob Jenkins andLarry Nuber, who covered many diverse types of competition. Ultimately, by1987,SpeedWorld's coverage encompassed not onlyFormula One,IndyCar,NASCAR Winston Cup (and its feeder series such asBusch Grand National,ASA, andARCA), andIMSA Sportscar Racing, but also racing less familiar to the average person, such asNHRAdrag racing,USACsprints andmidgets,rallying,motorcycle racing,monster trucks and more. So many types of racing that were vastly different meant that specialization in broadcasting teams was necessary, so while Jenkins and Nuber continued with Winston Cup coverage, newer faces such asPaul Page andBob Varsha began to take their places for broadcasts of other racing.
After losing the rights to NASCAR Winston Cup (and Busch Series) broadcasts for the 2001 season (as well as Formula One toSpeedvision in1998, although for a while when Speedvision/Speed Channel aired Formula One, ABC were allowed to broadcast selected, mostly North American, Grands Prix), ESPN slowly began losing the remainder of their racing to other networks. Fortheir 2002 season,CART signed a TV contract withSpeed Channel andCBS, ending ESPN's partnership with CART that had begun 20 years before. NASCAR'sCraftsman Truck Series left ESPN, also for Speed Channel, in2003. For2004 theInternational Race of Champions likewise moved to the Speed Channel. Since ESPN's reporters were no longer allowed (by NASCAR) to report from within the racetrack for RPM 2Night segments (due to their contract withFox andNBC/TNT), the weeknight show eventually came to an end. However, ESPN was not completely without racing, asIndy Racing League, itsIndy Pro Series development championship, and theNHRA were still on ESPN's lineup.
TheSpeedWorld blanket title was discontinued in 2006; the final event aired under the branding was anNHRA championship event inPomona Raceway. Sister network ABC maintained a package of IndyCar events produced by ESPN (pay television rights are held byNBCSN). NASCAR events would return to ESPN and ABC from 2007 to 2014, holding rights to the NASCARSprint Cup andNationwide Series; these events were instead branded asNASCAR on ESPN. After the NHRA left ESPN for Fox after the2015 season and theIndyCar Series left after2018, the only motorsports coverage on the ESPN networks areFormula One races on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 (which is simulcast withComcast-owned British broadcasterSky Sports) and, for 2023, theSuperstar Racing Experience (SRX) series, which saw the revival of theThursday Night Thunder name.[2] Formula One's new broadcast contract withApple TV+ starting in 2026,[3] along with the collapse of SRX before the start of its 2024 season,[4] will mark the end of motorsports programming on ESPN.
