Mike Joy
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Mike Joy | |
|---|---|
Play-by-play | |
| Sport | NASCAR |
| Employer | CBS (1983–2000) FOX (1998–present) |
Michael Kinsey Joy is an American TV sports announcer and businessman who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analysts are Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. Counting 2024, Joy has been part of the live broadcast of 45 Daytona 500s (7 for the Motor Racing Network, 17 for CBS and 21 for FOX). He also serves as expert analyst for A&E Networks History Channel and FYI live TV coverage of collector car auctions.
Early life, Education and Career Beginnings
Michael Kinsey Joy was born in
CBS Sports and The Nashville Network (1983–2000)
In June 1983, Joy became a pit reporter for CBS' coverage, working with Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett.[1] Since CBS didn't broadcast many races, he also continued to broadcast for MRN radio.[1]
Joy also launched The Nashville Network's NASCAR coverage in 1991, as lap-by-lap announcer,[1] continuing through 1995, and also participated in live NASCAR coverage on TBS. When NASCAR went to Indy, Joy anchored the IMS Radio Network live coverage from the first Brickyard 400 in 1994 through 1998.
Joy was one of the first announcers to embrace the Internet. In 1997, he encouraged Usenet and
In 1998, after 15 years on pit road, CBS Sports made Joy their lap-by-lap announcer with Ken Squier becoming the studio host, where the pair worked until the end of 2000, when CBS lost the rights to televise NASCAR racing.
Joy's CBS career included most major forms of American motorsports for television:
.Fox Sports (1998–present)
Joy joined
For the 2001 season, he moved full-time to
Joy, Waltrip, and McReynolds completed 15 years together in 2015, the longest tenure of any three-man announcing booth in US network sports television history. Four-time NASCAR champion
Fox broadcasts the Daytona 500 and the first 16 NASCAR Cup races each season, plus two all-star events. Joy also anchors NASCAR Cup coverage on Fox-owned cable network
Four weeks every year, Joy brings his extensive knowledge of collector cars to the Barrett-Jackson auction block as lead analyst for the live TV auction coverage. His unscripted commentary mixes detailed knowledge of the cars and their specs with first-hand recall of how cars of the 1950s to 1970s were viewed back in their day. When the TV rights moved to Velocity/Discovery beginning in 2015, Joy was the first talent Discovery hired to lead their broadcast team in the same role on loan from
In September 2008,
Social media
Joy is very active on social media. He engages in many automotive web forums, from El Caminos to MGs, 240Z to Ford GTs, usually using screen name "200mph".
Mike and his son Scott launched the "Joy Riding" YouTube channel in Fall 2023. The Joys cover a wide variety of collector cars and auto racing... sometimes agreeing to disagree with their experiences and perspectives being 50 years apart.
Honors
Joy is a charter member of the prestigious NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, and in December 2013, was named sole media representative to the Hall's exclusive nominating process.
In 2000, Joy was inducted into the Riverside Park Speedway Hall of Fame.
In March 2014, a
Joy was voted the 2011 recipient of the Henry T. McLemore Award, (now the "American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence"). Presented since 1969, this award celebrates career excellence in motorsports journalism and is voted on solely by past winners. The Motorsports Hall of Fame at Daytona International Speedway displays a wall of plaques honoring the winners, with smaller displays in several track media centers.[5]
In 2019, he was named to the voting panel for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, and on November 10 of that year, he was inducted in the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame.
He is a member, and past vice-president, of the National Motorsports Press Association.
In January 2023, Joy was inducted in the Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.
Terminology
Silly Season: Joy brought the term to NASCAR during his MRN radio days. "Henry N. Manney used the term frequently in Road & Track to describe the early fall, when there is rampant rumor and speculation about driver/team pairings for the following Formula 1 season. I borrowed it for our broadcasts," Joy said. As the radio feed was carried in each track's press box, writers quickly adopted the term.
Vortex Theory: Joy's unproven theory whereby a large group of high-powered race cars circulating an oval track create a rising column of hot air, which repels rain-producing cloud formations. Though debunked repeatedly by meteorologists and scientists, anecdotal evidence abounds where rain would begin just after a race ended or was slowed by a caution flag. Joy first promoted this "theory" on race telecasts in the 1990s. When he aired it on FOX in 2001, broadcast partner Darrell Waltrip championed its cause. Waltrip popularized Vortex Theory on air to the extent that many drivers and fans think DW invented it. Though still scientifically unproven, evidence to support it continues to build.
Personal life
Joy resides near Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his wife Gaye. They have a son and daughter in college. He restores vintage MGs, and retains his New England roots as CEO and equity partner in New England Racing Fuel Inc., distributor of Sunoco Race Fuels.
Joy is an accomplished sports car racer, winning races at Lime Rock, Pocono, Watkins Glen, and New Hampshire, and has competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, America's premier endurance race. Joy is well known as TV host of the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. In August 2012, his drive in Historic Trans-Am at Laguna Seca was awarded the Bonham's Cup, and in September 2013, he won an Historic Trans-Am race at Lime Rock.
He previously developed special events advertising for GM's Pontiac Motor Division, including auto racing and a Hall & Oates rock tour, and managed and promoted a major auto racing facility, Lime Rock Park.
Joy was elected to four two-year terms on the Windsor, Connecticut town council, where his committee was responsible for health, public safety and environmental issues for Windsor's 28,000 residents.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Lauer, Cheryl (February 16, 2007). "Behind the Microphone with Mike Joy, NASCAR on Fox". Speed Couch. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
- YouTube
- ^ FOXSports PR
- ^ "NASCAR's best and worst TV announcers". Sporting News. March 21, 2014. Archived from the original on July 19, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
- ^ "Joy to receive McLemore Award for 2011". www.thatsracin.com. April 14, 2011. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2015.