by FOX Sports

Updated: February 13, 2007, 1:19 PM EST

add this RSS blog email print

Broadcasting veteran Mike Joy brings over 30 years of motorsports experience into the booth as the principal race announcer for NASCAR on FOX. Joy is teamed with legendary driver Darrell Waltrip and former crew chief Larry McReynolds to form the NASCAR on FOX broadcast team. In February of 2001, they joined to present the premiere season of NASCAR action on FOX and instantly became overwhelming favorites among fans and critics. NASCAR.com's 2006 Fans Voice Awards, in which 250,000 votes were cast, crowned Mike Joy as an overwhelming favorite among NASCAR's vast and loyal fan base. Joy captured 57% of the votes for Best Play-by-Play Announcer, prompting the report to note that he is "quickly becoming the voice of NASCAR."

Sign up now and create your free fantasy team and league. More NASCAR

Joy has broadcast most major forms of American motorsport for television and radio. Prior to joining FOX in 2001, Joy anchored the previous three 500s for CBS Sports after 15 years on pit road for the network. Prior to that, he called the Great American Race for Motor Racing Network radio. A former vice president of the National Motorsports Press Association, Joy joined Chris Economaki as the first racing journalists to receive major recognition for their work in all three major media forms: radio, television and print.

Joy hosted Fox Sports Net's Formula 1 coverage from 1998-2000, and hosted a weekly auto racing program on Fox Sports Net New England. At CBS Sports, Joy also participated in 1992 Winter Olympics coverage, and called NCAA championship events in soccer, swimming and diving, track and field, gymnastics, and lacrosse. He also served as a sideline reporter and half-time host for CBS college football including the John Hancock Bowl. In 18 years with CBS, Joy also called such diverse events as the Hambletonian, America's biggest race for three year old trotters; Pro Beach Soccer and World Cup skiing.

Joy began his career as a public address announcer at New England speedways while attending the University of Hartford and Emerson College. He spent 14 years with NASCAR's Motor Racing Network, and anchored the first live Winston Cup telecasts on ESPN (1981) and on TNN (1991). He has been a racetrack promoter and advertising executive, and co-owns the New England distributorship for Sunoco and Union 76 racing gasolines.

Joy was born Nov. 25, 1949 in Chicago. He served four elected terms to the Windsor, Conn. town council, overseeing health, environment and public safety issues for 28,000 residents. Mike and his wife Gaye reside near Charlotte, NC, with son Scott and daughter Katie.