If you’re a NASCAR fan and have some spare time this weekend, go down a rabbit hole and check out the newly launched NASCAR Classics site.
NASCAR Classics is NASCAR’s home for high-quality footage of over 1,100 NASCAR Cup Series races. From a Daytona Beach race from 1951 to last month’s race at Richmond, all races on the site are ad-free and accessible without requiring a subscription.
Among the 1,100 or so races on the site are dozens of ABC’s Wide World of Sports broadcasts from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. And on some of those broadcasts is a young Al Michaels.
Michaels might’ve been more known for the “Miracle on Ice” or calling baseball back in the day, and we may know him now as the legendary voice of so many Super Bowls, but when Michaels joined ABC in 1977, he did his share of motorsports on Wide World of Sports.
There’s possibly more, but Al Michaels is doing play-by-play on at least six races from 1978 to 1982 that are available on classics.nascar.com. Michaels worked on the 1978 and 1979 Gabriel 400 from Michigan, the 1980 Atlanta 500 and 1982 Coca-Cola 500 in Atlanta, and the 1981 and 1982 Rebel 500 from Darlington.
There are plenty of great gems already uploaded throughout the years. Most Daytona 500s and other memorable races are on the site. Go to the 1961 Firecracker 250 and see NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. on the broadcast. A rare find is Curt Gowdy on the call for the 1966 Daytona 500, in addition to hearing Keith Jackson and Jim McKay doing a bunch of NASCAR races in those years.
With over 40% of the total Cup races already available on NASCAR Classics, it’s a great start to, what is hopefully, a growing streaming service.
