MIKE JOY - 11/25/1949
an American TV sports announcer, who currently (as of 2018) serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage. His color analysts are Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon. Joy has broadcast 34 Daytona 500's, NASCAR's biggest event. He also serves as FOX Sports' expert analyst for their coverage of collector car auctions and vintage auto racing events. Joy was raised in Windsor, Connecticut and began his public address work at Riverside Park Speedway in Massachusetts in 1970. In 1984, Joy became a pit reporter for CBS' TV coverage of the 1984 Daytona 500, working with Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett. Since CBS didn't broadcast many races, he continued to broadcast for MRN. Joy also launched The Nashville Network's NASCAR coverage in 1991, as lap-by-lap announcer, continuing through 1995, and also participated in NASCAR coverage on TBS. In 1998, CBS made Joy their lap-by-lap announcer with Ken Squier moving to studio host, where the pair worked until the end of 2000, when CBS
lost the rights to televise NASCAR racing. Joy's CBS career also included college football, Formula One, CART, IRL, as well as coverage of the Winter Olympics, as well as many other events. He joined Fox Sports for three years of Formula One coverage in 1998 with Derek Bell, and moved full-time to Fox with the NASCAR TV package starting the 2001 season. FOX broadcasts the Daytona 500 and the first 13 Sprint Cup races of each NASCAR season through 2013, starting 2015 FOX covered the first 16 races. Joy also anchors NASCAR coverage on FOX-owned cable networks FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2. Four weeks each year, Joy brings extensive knowledge of collector cars to the Barrett-Jackson auction block as lead analyst for Fox Sports's live auction coverage. His commentary mixes detailed knowledge of the cars and their specs with first-hand recall of how cars of the 50's-70's were viewed back in their day. Joy was voted the 2011 recipient of the Henry T McLemore Award. Presented since 1969, this award celebrates career excellence in motor sports journalism and is voted on by past winners. The International Motorsports Hall of Fame presents the Award at its annual induction ceremony, and the hall displays a wall of plaques honoring the winners. In March 2014, a Sporting News poll named Joy first among network television's 15 NASCAR announcers and analysts with a 93% approval rating. Joy, FOX Sports colleagues Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds earned three of the top four spots in the poll. In 2015, Joy, Waltrip and McReynolds completed 15 years together, the longest tenure of any three-man announcing booth in US network sports television history. Beginning 2016, four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon joined Joy and Waltrip in the FOX-TV booth, with McReynolds moving to a new role as race strategist and rules analyst. Joy resides on Lake Norman, in North Carolina with his wife Gaye and their two children, Scott and Kaitlyn. He restores vintage MG's, and retains his New England roots as CEO and equity partner in New England Racing Fuel, Inc., distributor of Sunoco Race Fuels. An avid SCCA amateur race driver, he has won events at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Pocono and New Hampshire, and raced professionally in IMSA, including the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1993.
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