– The American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence (AMMAOE) and award sponsor Goodyear Racing are proud to announce the recipient of the 2024 honor – long-time journalist and television personality Dave Despain.

Dave began his broadcasting career calling high school football games in his native Iowa in the early 1960s. He later combined his love for motorcycle racing with his burgeoning career and landed a job on ABC’s Wide World of Sports coverage of the Daytona 200 in 1975. From there, Dave went on to work with Motor Racing Network and CBS, which led to him being selected to host the first weekly television show devoted exclusively to racing highlights, “Motorweek Illustrated.” Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, Dave was seen by millions of race fans on ESPN’s “Thursday Night Thunder” and NASCAR pre-race show, as well as Speedvision’s “NASCAR Today.” He followed that up with a successful, 11-year run on Speed’s “Wind Tunnel,” before concluding his broadcasting career on MAVTV in 2017. All totaled, Dave informed and entertained race fans of all genres for 42 amazing years. He is the 44th media member honored with the AMMAOE.

First awarded
to longtime
Associated
Press motorsports writer Bloys Britt in 1969, the AMMAOE is administered and voted on by fellow motorsports journalists, all of whom are previous AMMAOE recipients. In recent years the award has gone to print, broadcast and photojournalists representing varying disciplines of motorsports across the United States.

Originally, the award was named for the late Henry T. McLemore, one of the first journalists to cover motorsports. He had a long career as a sports columnist for United Press International and was a syndicated columnist for Hearst newspapers. He became acquainted with NASCAR and Bill France Sr., who encouraged him to first attend, then cover the growing sport of stock car racing. The membership voted in 2020 to rename the award the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence to more clearly identify itself as a national journalism organization focused on all forms of motorsports.

Two award boards displaying plaques with etched representations of each winner are on permanent display inside the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at Daytona International Speedway.

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LIST OF AMMAOE RECIPIENTS

1969 Bloys Britt Associated Press

1970 Bob Myers Charlotte News/Circle Track

1971 Ray Marquette Indianapolis Star

1973 Chris Economaki National Speed Sport News/CBS/ABC

1974 Joe Dowdall Detroit News

1975 Ken Squier CBS-TV

1977 Shav Glick Los Angeles Times

1978 Benny Phillips High Point Enterprise

1980 Tom Higgins Charlotte Observer

1981 Barney Hall Motor Racing Network

1982 Dick Berggren Stock Car Racing Magazine

1984 George Cunningham Atlanta Journal

1985 Mike Harris Associated Press

1986 Randy Hallman The Richmond News Leader

1987 Dick Mittman Indianapolis Star

1989 Steve Waid Roanoke Times/NASCAR Scene

1992 Deb Williams UPI/NASCAR Scene

1993 Eli Gold Motor Racing Network/TNN

1994 Godwin Kelly Daytona Beach News-Journal

1998 Gerald Martin Raleigh News & Observer

1999 Ned Jarrett Motor Racing Network/CBS

2001 Bob Jenkins ESPN

2002 Sandy McKee Baltimore Sun

2003 Al Pearce Daily Press/Auto Week

2004 Larry Woody Nashville Tennessean

2005 T. Taylor Warren NASCAR Photographer

2007 Mike Hembree NASCAR Scene

2010 Ken Willis Daytona Beach News-Journal

2011 Mike Joy MRN/CBS/TNN/TBS/FOX

2012 Kenny Bruce NASCAR Scene

2013 Thomas Pope Fayetteville Observer

2014 David Poole Charlotte Observer

2015 Lenny Sammons Area Auto Racing News

2016 Pat Singer Area Auto Racing News/Philadelphia Journal

2017 Holly Cain NASCAR.com/TampaTribune

2018 Robin Miller RACER Magazine/NBCSN

2019 Sam Posey Auto Week/ABC

2020 Bob Pockrass FOX Sports

2021 Bones Bourcier Freelance

Pete Lyons Photographer

2022 Bob Varsha ESPN

Jonathan Ingram Freelance

2023 Benny Kahn Daytona Beach News Journal

2024 Dave Despain ABC/CBS/NBC/ESPN/MAVTV/Speed/TNN/TBS

Goodyear Racing PR