Jack Arute | |
|---|---|
 Arute at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway in 2009 | |
| Born | (1950-09-28)September 28, 1950 (age 74) New Britain, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Vermont |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
Jack Arute III (/əˈruːt/ə-ROOT; born September 28, 1950) is an American former sportscaster for theNFL and college sports forSirius XM Radio. He was formerly anauto racing pit reporter andcollege football sideline reporter forESPN andABC, and covered the Izod IndyCar Series and theNASCAR Whelen Modified Tour onVersus.
Arute was born inNew Britain, Connecticut, the son of Jack Arute Jr. and grandson of Jack Arute Sr., owners of a prominent construction company in the state.Arute Field, a football stadium in New Britain, is named for the family. Arute is a graduate of theUniversity of Vermont.[1]
Arute began his work withABC Sports and ESPN in 1984, after serving as a radio commentator for theMotor Racing Network from 1972 to 1980, where he was known as "Jackie Arute" as to distinguish him from his father. He then served as Vice President ofCharlotte Motor Speedway in 1980. In recent years, he has served as president of the family-ownedStafford Motor Speedway, a regionalNASCAR track inStafford Springs, Connecticut, a track that the family has owned since 1970. His brother Mark is the CEO of the track.
Arute was one of the track announcers during the 1970s, establishing the circuit as a top race track in the Northeast, establishing a strong link of announcers, which also includedMike Joy.
Arute worked as a pit reporter onCART,Indy Racing League (IRL), and NASCAR telecasts on ESPN and ABC from 1984 to 1998 and 2000 to 2009. In 1999, he covered the IRL forFox Sports Net andSpeedvision. In some instances, namely in 2004, Arute served as a booth announcer. During the same time period at ESPN and ABC, during the off-season of auto racing, Arute served as a sideline reporter for college football and during at least one NFL playoff game.
In 2009, Arute joined theVersus television on-air crew for the 2009 IndyCar season, serving on both the Versus and ABC telecasts. In August 2009,Indianapolis Star reporter Curt Cavin said that Arute would be leaving ESPN at the end of 2009 in favor of Versus full-time. He was fired from Versus due to cost-cutting moves after theacquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast. He was replaced by Kevin Lee, who is also a pit reporter for theIndianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.
Currently, Arute does radio work with Sirius XM's Channel 90 with Trading Paint withChocolate Myers on Thursdays and Fridays. Arute lives inHampden, Massachusetts.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)