Leigh Diffey | |
|---|---|
 Diffey at the2018 ABC Supply 500 | |
| Born | (1971-03-03)3 March 1971 (age 54) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Citizenship | United States of America,Australia |
| Occupation | American sports commentator |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Employer | NBC |
Leigh Diffey (born 3 March 1971) is an Australian-Americanauto racing andtrack and field commentator. He is best known for being the lead play-by-play announcer for much ofNBC Sports' motorsports coverage, currently callingNASCAR Cup Series,IMSA sports car races for the network and AMA Supercross. Before this, he was the lead voice of NBC'sFormula One andIndyCar Series coverage. Diffey has also worked play-by-play for NBC's coverage of the Summer and WinterOlympic Games, most notably becoming the network's lead track and field sportscaster prior to the2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Diffey's broadcasting career began by calling motorcycle races in his home country. His career has included stints withNetwork Ten in Australia and theBBC in the United Kingdom covering various forms of motorsport. In the United States, Diffey joinedSpeed Channel in 2003 before moving to NBC when Formula One's US television rights were transferred to the network in 2013.
Diffey grew up inQueensland,Australia, where he briefly raced motorcycles with his friendDaryl Beattie, who eventually became a professional motorcycle racer.[1] Diffey worked as a physical education teacher[2] atIpswich Grammar School.[3] Meanwhile, he began working in motorsports broadcasting; his first job came in 1990 at the age of 19, calling Ipswich Motorcycle Club racing at Tivoli Raceway. In 1995 he left his teacher job to pursue a full-time career in sports television.[4]
After two years with theAustralian Super Touring Championship broadcasting team forNetwork Ten, Diffey became theV8 Supercars lead announcer in 1997, partnering withGreg Rust,[2]Barry Sheene,Bill Woods andMark Oastler.[5] He also covered the12 Hours of Sebring,[6] an event for he would call for a total of ten years.[7]
Diffey moved to theUnited Kingdom in 2000, where he worked as the lead commentator of theSuperbike World Championship and presented coverage of theWorld Rally Championship for theBBC,[8][9] working alongsideSteve Parrish andSuzi Perry.[10]
In 2001, Diffey moved to the US to cover the American-based open-wheel racingCART series,[4] while still working for the BBC.[11] Two years later in 2003, Diffey made a full-time move to the States when he was hired bySpeed Channel, which later simply became "Speed".[12] At Speed, Diffey was the play-by-play announcer for the network's coverage of theSpeed World Challenge, theAmerican Le Mans Series, theRolex Sports Car Series,[13] theRolex Grand-Am Cup,[13] the SCCATrans-Am Series, and a regular anchor ofThe Speed Report andSpeed Center.[13] Diffey occasionally filled in for Speed commentatorBob Varsha during the network'sFormula One broadcasts.[13] He also commentated selected rounds of the AMA Superbike andAMA Motocross Championships.[14]
Diffey worked with Speed to call several sports car races during his tenure with the network, including the24 Hours of Daytona[15] and the24 Hours of Le Mans.[9] During this time, Diffey also worked with Network Ten in Australia as a regular host for the network's nightly sports wrap,Sports Tonight.[12] He also covered other two other sports for the Australian network: sailing, hosting coverage of theSydney to Hobart Yacht Race,[16] and golf,[17] which he covered for five years.[18] In 2011 alone, he covered no fewer than sixteen individual divisions of motorsport on Speed.[12]
In November 2012,NBC Sports announced that Diffey would join its network to become the play-by-play announcer for its broadcasts of bothFormula One andIndyCar events starting in 2013.[13][19] Diffey called the day of the announcement "one of the best days of my life. People have been so complimentary."[4] The announcement namedDavid Hobbs andSteve Matchett as the analysts who would work alongside him for the Formula One broadcasts.[20] In December 2015, Diffey, Hobbs and Matchett were given an Honorable Mention in a list of Best Broadcast Teams of the year published on theSports Illustrated website SI.com.[21]
On two occasions, Diffey covered both series on the same day. On 23 August 2015, he called theBelgian Grand Prix from NBC's base in Stamford, Connecticut, before he and Matchett traveled toPocono Raceway for theABC Supply 500.[22] Likewise, on 3 September 2017, Diffey called theItalian Grand Prix in Connecticut and then traveled toWatkins Glen International for theIndyCar Grand Prix at The Glen.[23] Diffey's open-wheel focus shifted solely to IndyCar in 2018 when the US Formula One television rights were transferred toESPN and they chose to take commentary fromSky Sports insteading of making their own.[24]
Diffey was one of several recurring co-hosts ofNASCAR America, a weekdayNBCSN program dedicated to NASCAR.[25] While he had covered NASCAR practice and qualifying sessions with Speed,[12] it was not until his tenure with NBC that he made his NASCAR debut as a play-by-play announcer for a race, covering theXfinity Series (NXS) atMid-Ohio Sports Car Course on 15 August 2015.[22][26] After calling the race, Diffey spoke of the experience as "a thrill...I've been a NASCAR fan and dabbled in it, and for that to be my first race was something else."[22] He also commentated the Richmond,[27] Dover,[28] and Kansas NXS races.[29]
Diffey made hisSprint Cup Series broadcasting debut alongsideDale Jarrett atHomestead-Miami Speedway in 2015, leading NBCSN's "Hot Pass" coverage of NASCAR's championship race, which focused solely on the four drivers still eligible for the series championship.[30] Diffey reprised this role withParker Kligerman in the 2016 Homestead race,[31] and again with Jarrett in 2017,[32] 2018,[33] and 2019.[34]
In August 2017, Diffey served as the lead announcer forNASCAR on NBC's primary coverage of the renamedMonster Energy Cup Series for two races (theI Love New York 355 at The Glen and thePure Michigan 400), filling in for regular announcerRick Allen who was working in London with NBC's coverage of the2017 IAAF World Championships.[35]
On 13 March 2024, it was reported that Diffey would replace Allen in NBC's NASCAR Cup Series booth shortly after the2024 Summer Olympics.[36]The Indianapolis Star reported on 8 August that Diffey's first race would be theCoke Zero Sugar 400 atDaytona International Speedway.[37] Diffey was officially confirmed by NBC on 20 August as the network's new play-by-play voice for the Cup Series.[38] Consequently, Kevin Lee filled in for him in the IndyCar booth for the rest of the year.[39]
Diffey returned to sports car racing in 2019 as the lead announcer for NBC Sports' coverage of IMSA'sWeatherTech SportsCar Championship, beginning with the2019 24 Hours of Daytona.[40]
Diffey began calling theAMA Supercross Championship in 2020, working play-by-play for NBC for the series along withRalph Sheheen.[41] Diffey took over the lead commentating role replacing Sheheen starting the 2021 season withRicky Carmichael, Daniel Blair, and Will Christien.He also served as a studio host for the network'sMotoGP and Moto2 coverage.[42]
Diffey served as lead announcer for several events of NBCSN's coverage ofRed Bull Global Rallycross beginning with the opening event from Fort Lauderdale in the2015 season.[43] He continued to cover the series for the network until the series folded, doing play-by-play for the final round of the2017 season from the Port of Los Angeles on 14 October.[44]
Diffey served as the US announcer for the daily world feed highlight broadcast of theDakar Rally on NBCSN.[45]
Diffey has worked on NBC's coverage of theOlympic Games, coveringluge,skeleton, andbobsled at the2014 Winter Games in Sochi.[46] NBC executive Sam Flood had expressed interest in having him serve as an announcer outside of motorsports while negotiating his contract with the network,[47] and he prepared Diffey for the Olympics by having him host thePenn Relays and theLuge World Cup.[47] Diffey remarked of serving in the Olympics: "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this is where my career would take me. Just working for NBC, that alone made my life. Now going to the Olympics for NBC? I just pinch myself as if to wonder is this really happening?"[47] He returned to the Olympics to coverrowing at the2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,[13] and also called the same events he had in Sochi at the2018 Winter Games in Pyongchang.[48][49]
Beyond the Olympics, Diffey has covered rugby, anchoring studio coverage ofPremiership Rugby and doing play-by-play for theCollegiate Rugby Championship.[50] He also covered thePrefontaine Classic in 2018,[51] as well as the2019 World Athletics Championships.[52]
In 2021, Diffey took over as the NBC track and field commentator, covering both the US Olympic trials[53] and the2020 Summer Olympics.[54]
At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Diffey botched the call of themen's 100 metre final, hastily declaring JamaicanKishane Thompson the winner in a photo finish which found American sprinterNoah Lyles officially winning the gold medal.[55] Diffey took responsibility for the mistake in a social media post the following day, saying, "My eyes [and] instinct told me Kishane Thompson won. Obviously, that wasn't the case. I shouldn't have been so bold to call it, but I genuinely thought he won. I got it wrong."[56]
Diffey obtained his United States citizenship in 2011,[4][57] explaining, "This country has given me so much, and I felt I needed to give back. That's why I accepted US citizenship. I'm Australian and I'm also American."[1] A former resident ofCharlotte, North Carolina,[9] he currently resides inConnecticut with his wife and two children.[58]
My services were requested upon the completion of play at the Channel 10 commentary box where host, Leigh Diffey, spent 15 minutes asking me all about my dramatic day.
| Preceded by | Television voice of the Indianapolis 500 2019–2024 | Succeeded by |