Back in the mid-90s, when motorsports fans craved a dedicated presence on TV, Speedvision entered into TV market on December 31, 1995. It quickly became NASCAR’s go-to home channel, where races, tech breakdowns, and behind-the-scenes videos hooked a new wave of viewers. In 2008, it drew over 73 million households and sparked a fresh enthusiasm for stock car racing during NASCAR’s peak years. But there was a series of mistakes that led this channel to fail.

As Fox took full control in 2001 and rebranded it to ‘Speed’ in 2002, the channel leaned harder into NASCAR and sidelined other motorsports like F1. Fans enjoyed the in-depth stories that made NASCAR feel closer to their hearts, but there were problems with all the extra time NASCAR enjoyed. Those shifts set the stage for tough choices ahead.

The NASCAR overload that sealed Speed’s fate

Speed started strong as a broad motorsports hub, covering everything from Formula 1 to boating under its original Speedvision name. But after Fox’s 1998 stake and full buyout by 2001, the 2002 rebranded ‘Speed’ gave most airtime to NASCAR, where it showed practices, qualifiers, and shows like Totally NASCAR.

This made it the ultimate stock car destination, reviving fan interest during the sport’s peak phase with stars like Jeff Gordon drawing massive crowds. By 2003, it got full Truck Series rights, which not only boosted viewership but also cemented Speed as NASCAR’s home channel.

That heavy tilt towards NASCAR left very little airtime for other motorsports. Popular host Dave Despain noted on Wind Tunnel how there was “too much NASCAR,” echoing viewer complaints as European series faded. A fan captured it best: “Too bad the Speed Channel became the NASCAR Channel showing less and less European and other world motorsports and increasingly more NASCAR, which is as sophisticated as 18-year-olds racing away from taverns at closing,” wrote M. Towey in a 2013 Stay Tuned reflection.

This came amid losing F1 rights in 2012 after 17 years, as Fox’s strategy fell short on viewership math. F1 drew just 500,000 U.S. fans per race versus NASCAR’s millions. Background: Speed’s F1 team, led by voices like Will Buxton, built a loyal fan base since the mid-90s, but the channel’s NASCAR-centric mindset frustrated those F1 fans, and finally, it lost the rights to screen Formula 1 in America.

In a statement to the Associated Press, a Fox Sports Media Group spokesman (who owns Speed TV) said, “It’s disappointing to learn that F1 has elected to move forward with a different media partner. Speed has been the U.S. voice of F1 since the mid-’90s, and it is a passion for many people at the network.”

The doom hit in March 2013 when Fox replaced Speed with Fox Sports 1, ending broadcasts on August 17 with Mike Joy’s farewell. NASCAR content migrated to FS1. Speed’s death hurt short-term, dispersing coverage and confusing fans during NASCAR’s contract shift to Fox through 2022.

Long-term, it exposed how over-reliance on one channel did not let NASCAR prepare for these types of unknown setbacks; without Speed’s echo chamber, series like ALMS found new homes, paving diverse paths. As Daily Downforce put it: “SPEED Channel was the one-stop shop for NASCAR in the 2000s. If you wanted racing, racing news, archived films, or anything else motorsports, you could turn to channel 70… and get your fill.”

This one-stop convenience revived racing’s TV presence in the 2000s, but its NASCAR-tight grip on fans during its peak time left other motorsports vulnerable. But what if losing Speed opened doors in a way that no fans ever saw coming?

Speed’s end and a reset for racing’s TV future

When Speed signed off, it felt like the end of racing TV. But that void forced a shake-up, which resulted in spreading content across networks with a balanced airtime. FS1 kept NASCAR’s core, adding endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while CBSSN stepped up for global races like DTM and V8 Supercars. This spreading of all the racing content after Speed’s end felt very messy and confusing in the initial phase, but later on, there was stability with multi-year deals.

NBCSN led the charge, grabbing F1, IndyCar, and even NASCAR practices for a mix that ‘Speed’ never matched. “NBCSN has gone all-in with motor racing and is winning the war with diversity and its volume of programming. Even its recent acquisition and airing of NASCAR content has been welcome; with the other series it covers, NBCSN now provides the kind of balanced approach to motorsports that SPEED lacked,” noted Road & Track in 2015.

The backstory here is that post-2013, NBC’s $100 million F1 deal drew 1.5 million viewers by 2017. Fans stopped watching Speed’s recorded broadcasts because they preferred to watch the live rallycross streams. The sport’s coverage changed to live broadcasts (blending with rallycross for timely streams), which appealed more to fans than waiting for the previous, delayed format. Digital apps from IMSA and WEC were also introduced, which offered on-demand races that reached younger eyes.

The payoff? More volume, less bias. “It took a while for everything to settle out, but now it can all be found here and on some other channels. It was a bit shaky after SPEED ended, but I’d say the sport is in a really good place today on cable,” said Leigh Diffey, who leads most of NBCSN’s racing coverage. That NASCAR-centric vibe of Speed became the main reason for its downfall and also the reason for a more balanced and less biased TV coverage phase.