Amanda Dianne Busick is an American sports reporter who works as the
National Hot Rod Association's (NHRA) multi-media reporter on behalf of
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
. Her career began interning at her local news television station in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
and later
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. Busick's first on-camera was as a sideline reporter for
Time Warner Cable Sports at the
North Carolina High School Athletic Association
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) is the governing organization of high school athletics in North Carolina, United States. The association maintains the official rule books and governs the officiating standards across ...
in 2014. She began working for the NHRA in 2016 and was the
Formula E
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, w ...
pit lane reporter at the
New York City ePrix in
2018 and
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
.
Biography
Early life and education
Busick was raised in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
.
She is the daughter of Donna Lusk Busick and Reuben Wayne Busick, and has one brother, Matthew. She attended sporting events during her childhood, including
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
drag racing,
and
dirt track racing.
Busick was first educated at Northeast Middle School,
before moving to
Northeast Guilford High School.
In her school years, she held a strong interest in journalism and writing by watching a local news bulletin.
Busick graduated from Northeast Guilford High School earlier than the rest of her class in December 2004, and enrolled at
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universi ...
in 2005. In December 2008, she graduated
cum laude with a
bachelor of science degree in business administration and a concentration in entrepreneurship.
Career
The
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
created less of an opportunity for employment as an entrepreneur who specialized in online education to students in high school,
and thus Busick began her career interning at her county's local news television station.
In 2010, she relocated from North Carolina to New York City with the ambition of obtaining employment as a sports reporter.
During the daytime, Busick worked as an intern and took employment as a waitress at a restaurant during the night hours.
She was able to convince a
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
-based digital sports college company called Campus Insiders to employ her as a production assistant in 2012.
To help her become financially stable, Busick took a second job at a restaurant.
In late 2014, she had her first on-camera role as a sideline reporter for
Time Warner Cable Sports covering the
North Carolina High School Athletic Association
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) is the governing organization of high school athletics in North Carolina, United States. The association maintains the official rule books and governs the officiating standards across ...
. Soon after Busick signed a contract with an agent to advance her career.
She later took up employment as a stage manager for
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%). The ...
.
In early 2015, Busick found employment as a meat salesperson and a bartender in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
after her family had a major financial difficulty that required them to reside with each other.
She received a telephone call from
National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) vice-president and chief content officer Ken Adelson in July 2015 about a job in the series. Busick had little knowledge of drag racing and spent the next three months researching the sport, and took up lessons at
Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School to better acquaint herself with drag racing.
In October 2015, she attended her first NHRA National event in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, writing two reports for the series by interviewing multiple drivers.
After the weekend, the NHRA invited her to report on its
red carpet ceremony prior to its official banquet in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
.
Busick was subsequently offered the position of a multi-media reporter for the NHRA on November 16, 2015.
She took up the position with the series' official broadcaster
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
at the start of the
2016 season.
From February to November each year,
Busick covers NHRA events, works as a co-host for the Fox Sports 1 pre-race program ''Sunday Nitro Live''.
She reports on a reoccurring broadcast feature concerning the personality of drivers called ''Walk 1,000 Feet''.
In 2018, Busick was the pit lane reporter for the all-electric
Formula E
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, w ...
racing series race, the
2018 New York City ePrix double header,
and performed the same role again at the
2019 edition.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Busick, Amanda
1986 births
Living people
People from Greensboro, North Carolina
North Carolina State University alumni
20th-century American women
21st-century American women
Women sports announcers
American women television presenters
Formula E people
20th-century American people