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One of the last newspaper racing writers goes to the other side

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by playthrough, Oct 7, 2016.

  1. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    This is big news in my neck of the woods today. Curt Cavin of the Indy Star, the paper's senior sports reporter and the one of the few remaining newspaper racing beat guys, is leaving to be VP of Communications for the Verizon IndyCar Series, the series he covered for decades.

    http://www.indystar.com/story/sport...avin-leaves-indystar-after-30-years/91734090/
     
  2. murphyc

    murphyc Well-Known Member

    Wow. Huge loss for journalism, as his work was used widely by Gannett as well as Autoweek in addition to the Indy Star. On the other hand, a huge get for IndyCar. I'm happy for him, as he was always kind to me whenever I chatted with him.
     
  3. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Do you think the Star will replace him?
     
  4. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    You would think. It IS Indy, home of IndyCar and the speedway.
     
  5. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    As an IU alum I understand. But I don't think Indy staffs Purdue anymore so who knows what gets cut next.
     
  6. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    Open wheel is going the way of horse racing and boxing. Hard to employ someone for one race a year. Plenty of writers cover NASCAR and many of them cover other forms of racing.
     
  7. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    But open wheel teams headquarters tend to cluster around Indy. In Indiana I think there still be a lot of interest in open wheel and Gannett could use him basically as thier national writer. So I think it would make sense for Indy to cover it.

    What does Gannett do for NASCAR coverage? Are there still many writers on NASCAR? It seems to me those guys are going the way of golf writers.
     
  8. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    I can't picture it. Gannett/USA Today covers all racing extensively with Brant James, Jeff Gluck and others, so that was already rendering Cavin less relevant on the national IndyCar beat. Locally, he knew everything about IMS and I can't imagine the paper trying to replace that even if it was possible, instead they'll staff the Indy 500 and other races with just multiple young'uns (which they already did but Cavin was the leader).

    One dirty little secret about Gannett: IndyCar has a content agreement with USA Today, in other words paying to play. That's how every race gets covered. If you look at the amount of NHRA coverage in USA Today, one might wonder if a same agreement is in place.
     
  9. nickp

    nickp Active Member

    Wow! The Star takes a big hit on this one, but a massive gain for IndyCar
     
  10. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    Good guy, tough loss for the paper, though I'd bet management, at least at some higher level, is pretty happy.

    Hopefully his departure opens up a spot, or maybe saves someone else from the layoff axe.
     
  11. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    How much does Charlotte cover NASCAR anymore? I used to read thatsracin eons ago but haven't in forever. I think I just saw that Jim Utter left?
     
  12. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    One of their NFL guys joined us recently and was in the office last week. He told me they missed a race recently, the first time in decades they'd missed one.
     
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