CART: Kenny Mayne, ESPN SportsCenter Anchor, to host CART Awards Banquet
12 October 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
DETROIT - ESPN SportsCenter anchor and 2-Minute Drill
host Kenny Mayne will be the host of the annual Championship Auto Racing
Teams Awards Banquet October 30 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
Mayne's interest in motorsports and CART Champ Car racing grew significantly when he served as the original host of ESPN2's RPM 2Day and RPM 2Night from 1995-1997. He will bring his offbeat style and dry but witty humor to the stage of the annual CART affair that honors the accomplishments of the Champ Car drivers of CART's FedEx Championship Series.
"My favorite element in the CART series is when a driver makes a wild pass that turns out to be successful, he is labeled 'daring,' while, when a driver makes a wild pass that is unsuccessful he is labeled an 'idiot,'" said Mayne. "Personally, I think all of the drivers are daring and wild and idiots to carry on as they do. But I'm glad they do it. It's rather entertaining.
"Honestly, I didn't know Jeff Gordon from Robby Gordon when they gave me the RPM2Night assignment," continued Mayne. "But I did know my uncle Gordy. Gordy's more into horses, so he was no help but I leaned on the guys who paid attention during auto shop in high school and picked up a few things. I quickly became a fan of motor racing and continue to be one. My wife and I even have our own cars that we drive to the store."
In addition to his SportsCenter anchor duties, Mayne is the host of the recently introduced 2-Minute Drill on ESPN. It's a sports trivia show developed by Michael Davies, whose credits include executive producer on ABC's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
"ESPN's 2 Minute Drill has been a nice departure from the norm," said Mayne. "It's sort of like how, as kids, we used to make up a game in the backyard, then get into it as though the game we'd just made up had a long and storied history. The competition has an intensity that feels like a real sporting event. Or, at least, a game made up in the backyard. Either way, no one's been fired yet and it's always fun to give away company money."
Mayne joined ESPN2 in May 1994 as a SportSmash anchor. Prior to joining ESPN, Mayne was a freelance reporter and field producer for the network from 1990-94. Before that, he worked in local television in his native Washington state. He was a college football quarterback and played for two seasons at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas where he earned a degree in broadcasting in 1982. That same year, he gave the NFL a try, signing a free agent contract with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.
Text Provided By Ron Richards
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