A consumer's guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it's in play here.

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

By SHAV GLICK

Feb. 11, 1997 12 AM PT

What: National Speed Sport News.

Price: $2 weekly.

It calls itself “The Bible of Auto Racing,” but a more appropriate title might be “The Hollywood Reporter of Auto Racing.” It’s reason for existence is back on Page 4, Chris Economaki’s column, From the Editor’s Notebook. The other pages offer mostly results, advance stories and items ground out by promoters or public relations staffers around the country. “If you don’t read Chris’ column, or at least scan it, you’re not in touch with what’s going on,” said one prominent team manager. “Everything’s in there--somewhere.” The column is not like anything you’ve seen before. It is a stream of consciousness that runs about 50 to 60 inches--usually without a single paragraph. A sentence or two about something as important as a proposed Formula One race in Florida, or Robby Gordon jumping from CART to NASCAR might be sandwiched between such juicy plums as, “Roger Bailey, the El Exigence of the [Indy lights] series, now looks like an El Exigence, having spent the holidays on the beach in Aruba with his nifty wife and kids,” or “Public relations giant Ruder & Finn snapped up Jackie Lapin, formerly of her own PR shop, and named her a senior VP at its Los Angeles office. Go get ‘em, Jackie.” Economaki, 76, has been grinding out such tidbits on typewriters at tracks around the world for more than 50 years. Only recently has he passed the publisher’s mantle to his daughter, Corinne, but there’s no one who can write as much in so short a time without a paragraph as he can.The column is a name-dropper’s delight--last week he had something to note about 69 people in racing. National Speed Sport News, which traces its roots to the 1934 editions of National Auto Racing News, is the only weekly motorsports publication on Library of Congress microfilm. If you wonder how From the Editor’s Notebook looks in print, this long paragraph would only be the beginning.