ViodiTV


Talking Racing Culture & More with Dave DeSpain #TIS17

“Stick and ball sports – football, baseball and basketball – are essentially subsidized at every level, starting with schools”, says Dave DeSpain, host of The Dave DeSpain Show on MAVTV. In this interview, filmed on the exhibit floor of the 2017 Independent Show (TIS17), he contrasts those sports with auto racing, which requires not only a commitment to the sport, but a significant financial commitment and fundamentally about family as well.

What he likes about the sport is the grassroots nature of the sport. In his TIS keynote luncheon comments, DeSpain explained how these roots go back to the post-World War II era, and how it was driven by the return of the Greatest Generation. He suggests that today there are a million drivers at various levels who are involved in racing that create a unique and tightly knit, family-like, sub-culture.

He talks about the technology aspect of racing and how it is evolving from the internal combustion engine to something else, which at the fringe, is even starting to include electric-power. Technological changes, such as the smartphone and the potential decline of individual driving, are affecting the audience as well. DeSpain suggests that the sport will continue to evolve to meet the audience.

[special thanks to Mark Warmouth for the use of the image of Homegrown (the Olds 442)]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.