''Speed Center'' was a motor sports news program on

Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as aut ...

. Debuting on February 13, 2011, it was anchored by Adam Alexander with Jeff Hammond and

Sam Hornish Jr. Samuel Jon Hornish Jr. (born July 2, 1979) is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske in 2017. He began his top-tier raci ...

as analysts on Sunday episodes.

Ricky Rudd Richard Lee Rudd (born September 12, 1956), nicknamed "The Rooster", is an American former racing driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd. He retired in 2007 with 23 career wins. He was name ...

was the analyst for the first two races at Daytona and Phoenix.

History

''Speed Center'' and its predecessors were a staple of Speed Channel since the network opened as SpeedVision in 1996. Among the names were ''Speedvision News RaceWeek'' (1996 – February 2002), ''Speed News'' (February 2002 – July 30, 2006), and ''The Speed Report'' (August 6, 2006 – January 30, 2011). The show was first known as ''SpeedVision News Race Week'' featuring anchors such as

Dave Despain Dave Despain (born 20 May 1946) is an American motorsports journalist. He was the host of ''WindTunnel with Dave Despain'' on Speed Channel, and ''NASCAR Inside Nextel Cup'', until the former was cancelled during the demise of Speed and the latte ...

and

Bob Varsha Robert August "Bob" Varsha (born April 21, 1951) is an American broadcast journalist who specializes in covering motorsports. He is best known for being the lap-by-lap commentator for Formula 1 and CART series races for ESPN, ABC Sports, and Spee ...

. Prior to ''The Speed Report'' arriving in August 2006, the show was called ''Speed News'', with anchors including

, Ralph Sheheen,

Bob Jenkins Robert F. Jenkins (September 4, 1947 – August 9, 2021) was an American television and radio sports announcer, primarily calling Indy car and NASCAR telecasts for ESPN/ABC and later Versus/NBCSN. Jenkins was the radio "Voice of the Indianapoli ...

, Connie LeGrand, and

Krista Voda Krista Voda Kelley (born May 31, 1974) is an American sportscaster who covers auto racing as the play-by-play announcer for the ARCA Menards Series on MAVTV. She previously worked for ''NASCAR on Fox'' and '' NASCAR on Speed'' from 2003 to 2014 ...

. On January 23, 2008 it was announced that Manske was leaving Speed Channel to become the new host of ''

NASCAR Now ''NASCAR Now'' was a NASCAR news and analysis show that aired year round Tuesday through Saturday as a thirty-minute show at 2:00am ET on ESPN2. ''NASCAR Now'', that debuted on February 5, 2007, was broadcast in HD from Bristol, Connecticut and ...

'' on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. Drew Johnson also had his last day with Manske on January 27, 2008. For the 2008 season, the new hosts were

and on a part-time basis,

Leigh Diffey Leigh Diffey (born 3 March 1971) is an Australian American auto racing commentator. His career began calling motorcycle races in his home country before moving to the United Kingdom to cover other forms of motorsport. Diffey then moved to the ...

and

. In 2011, the program's name was changed to ''Speed Center''. The first episode took place on February 13, 2011 with Adam Alexander hosting. The final episode of ''Speed Center ''aired on August 11, 2013 as the show was canceled on June 25, 2013 due to the transition of Speed into

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

on August 17, 2013.

Former hosts

* Adam Alexander – Host (2011–2013) *

– Color Co-Host (2012–2013) * Ray Evernham – Color Co-Host (2011 only) *

* Drew Johnson * Connie LeGrand – 2002 to June 25, 2006 *

– March 2005 to May 200

*

Nicole Manske Nicole Briscoe ( Manske; born July 2, 1980) is an American sportscaster who is employed by ESPN. Originally focused on covering auto racing for the network, which included stints as the host of ''NASCAR Countdown'' and ''NASCAR Now'', Briscoe beca ...

– July 2, 2006 to January 27, 2008 * Ralph Sheheen – c. 2004 *

– Part-time when Alexander was hosting ''

NASCAR on TNT ''NASCAR on TNT'' was the tagname for any NASCAR series race that had been broadcast on TNT by Turner Sports between 2001 and 2014. The network continued Turner's longstanding relationship with NASCAR that dated back to its initial association with ...

'' *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speed Report 1990s American television news shows 2000s American television news shows 2010s American television news shows Automotive television series Speed (TV network) original programming NASCAR on television 1996 American television series debuts 2013 American television series endings