NSSN - Rest in Peace

J

John Galt

Guest
I was tempted to put this in the Checkered Flag Forum. Fir winds and following seas to a classic publication that some of us grew up with. From jayski.com:

•National Speed Sport News to cease publication: All good things come to an end. And so is the case for America's Motorsports Authority, National Speed Sport News. After more than 76 years, the publication, which was first published as National Auto Racing News on Aug. 16, 1934, has printed its last issue, dated - March 23, 2011. While hundreds of other newspapers came and went during the past three-quarters of a century, NSSN continued to ride the support of its readers and advertisers in producing the most thorough weekly racing publication on the market. But economic times have been tight and the newspaper business has suffered at the hands of high production costs and modern technology, which provides information to readers instantly.
"This is one of the saddest days of my life," said National Speed Sport News Publisher Corinne Economaki. "The sluggish economy has made it too difficult to continue publication and no matter how I try to make the numbers work - and believe me I have tried - it is just not feasible to keep the business going. For 76 years, since August 1934 when my father Chris sold copies of the first issue at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway in northern New Jersey, to today, as I oversee the very last copy printed, this paper has been an integral part of my family," Corinne Economaki said.
Through the years National Speed Sport News was the industry leader in covering motorsports, much of it thanks to [hero of Jayski] Chris Economaki, 90, who sold the first issue of NSSN at Ho-Ho-Kus Speedway in New Jersey, and began writing for the publication soon after that and became editor in 1950. Economaki saw the publication through its glory days, launching a career on television and taking his newspaper into thousands of homes across America. In a time when there was no Internet and very little racing was on television or radio, National Speed Sport News thrived.
When National Speed Sport News began its run, there were no seat belts, drivers wore leather helmets and the flathead Ford V8 was one of the most common racing engines. Today, safety is the utmost concern and HANS and other safety devices are all the rage. Fuel-injected engines are everywhere. (Reader's note: Except in NA__AR) Not only has technology changed what fans see at the race track, it changed how NSSN gathered the news. In the early years most news arrived at the NSSN office by mail or telephone. Later the telecopier and the fax machine played key roles. Both were replaced by the computer modem and later by e-mail. NSSN was printed by linotype, but later changed to phototypesetting and finally went completely digital in 2002. But after enduring all these changes, a familiar friend will no longer appear at the mailboxes of its loyal readers. NationalSpeedSportNews.com, the online version of the newspaper, will continue to be updated with daily news, giving Internet savvy readers the opportunity to keep up with some of the same news they enjoyed every week. But as far as the newspaper goes, it's the end of an era.(National Speed Sport News)(3-23-2011)

 
Another sign of the times. Everybody wants their information immediately, not wait a day or a week to get it.
 
I put this in the chit chat forum yesterday. Sad day. I loved getting my paper on Thursdays and reading through it. Especially loved the columns from the editor, from Dave Argabright, London. Hell, all of them.

I'll miss it.
 
Sorry, I didn't know that there was another thread. My bad. Mea cupla, mea culpa.
 
A very sad story. I remember years ago watching the mailbox for delivery so I could read the racing news from the past weekend.

RIP
 
sign of the times. in 10 years most paper news/magazines will be gone. why pay when you can get much more free anytime you want? you won't even need a (traditional) computer. how many of the younger generation do you see reading paper news, magazines? it's all online through a computer or the ever present phone.
 
sign of the times. in 10 years most paper news/magazines will be gone. why pay when you can get much more free anytime you want? you won't even need a (traditional) computer. how many of the younger generation do you see reading paper news, magazines? it's all online through a computer or the ever present phone.

I collect newspapers myself. I have the assassination of JFK, 9/11 pre-Attack, 9-11 late edition, Iraq, Libya, Japan, Katrina, Iraq war, Saddam captured, and more. Mostly the NYT or Washington Post. Just a little hobby of mine, something to show the grandkids one day.
 
sad news, The Scene went the same way. I subscribed to this when I was young, when you never get racing news otherwise.
 
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