Chris Economaki, who would become the Dean of American motorsports journalists, interviews Ronnie Rall after a flat track race sometime in the 1960s. Many people think that motorcycle racing on TV was something that didn’t come along until recently, but the truth is motorcycle racing has been a part of TV since its inception. ABC’s Wide World of Sports used to regularly cover four or five motorcycle races per year and not all of them were nationals. Sometimes the race simply needed to be relatively close to New York City and on an open weekend when ABC needed something to shoot and, just like that, your race was televised nationally on Wide World of Sports back during a time when most cities only had three or four television stations.

ABC’s Wide World of Sports motorsports announcer Chris Economaki interviews Ronnie Rall after a flat track race sometime in the 1960s.