1. Paul Page was born on November 25,1945 and is an American motorsports broadcaster who is best known for serving as the play-by-play commentator for the Indianapolis 500 for a total of 50 years across radio and television.
32 Facts About Paul Page
1. 2.
Paul Page's broadcasting career started at WIBC in the late 1960s.
3.
Paul Page was born in Evansville, Indiana, but grew up as an "army brat," moving several times, spending time in Stuttgart, Germany, Fort Belvoir, and Fort Sheridan.
4.
Paul Page's mother remarried, at which time his surname changed from Henstridge to Page, the last name of his step-father.
5.
Paul Page went to twelve different schools from elementary to high school, and he graduated high school in Highland Park, Illinois.
6.
Paul Page's son Brian is a member of Bryan Herta Autosport.
7.
Paul Page's broadcasting career began at WAIV and WATI, after which he moved to WIBC in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1968, where he was mentored by Sid Collins.
8.
On December 1,1977, while doing a helicopter traffic report, Paul Page was nearly killed in an accident, as the helicopter he was riding aboard crashed near Speedway Senior High School in Speedway, Indiana.
9.
Paul Page suffered a compound fracture of his ankle, but soon returned to his duties.
10.
Paul Page's great-uncle was Harry Geisel, a Major League Baseball AL umpire.
11.
From 1974 to 1987, Paul Page served on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.
12.
Paul Page served as a pit reporter from 1974 to 1976, and as Chief Announcer from 1977 to 1987.
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Paul Page was considered the hand-picked successor to Sid Collins at the IMSRN.
14.
Paul Page took over as chief announcer after Collins committed suicide.
15.
Paul Page served as anchor of auto racing telecasts on NBC Sports from 1978 to 1987, covering Indy cars, NASCAR, Formula One, and the NHRA.
16.
Paul Page worked on NBC's Sportsworld, covering a variety of sports including weightlifting, Olympics, and the America's Cup.
17.
Paul Page was the brainchild behind the Delta Force intros, first introduced in 1988.
18.
The intros, known as the "Paul Page Teases," became a popular fixture of the ABC telecasts of the Indy 500, Brickyard 400, and other Indy car races, through 1998 and reprised again in 2001.
19.
Parallel to his work at ABC, Paul Page worked at ESPN, primarily as the anchor for CART Indy car telecasts.
20.
Paul Page worked both CART and IRL events from 1996 to 1998, then for a brief time from 1999 to 2001 was shifted to CART events exclusively.
21.
Paul Page was reassigned to cover other events for the ESPN family of networks, most notably the X Games, NHRA, and the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
22.
In 2006, Paul Page shared announcing duties with Marty Reid for ESPN's coverage of NHRA Drag Racing, then took over NHRA full-time from 2007 to 2012.
23.
In 2009, Paul Page returned to the IMS Radio Network coverage of the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
24.
Paul Page replaced Mike King for the 2014 and 2015 race, after King tendered his resignation.
25.
Paul Page has returned to the broadcast in subsequent years, sitting in the booth multiple times as a guest analyst.
26.
Paul Page was one of the announcers along with former Top Fuel Dragster and Funny Car driver Mike Dunn for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series on ESPN and ESPN2.
27.
From 2005 until 2017, Paul Page announced the play-by-play for ESPN's coverage of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest annually on July 4.
28.
In 2001, Paul Page narrated scenes in the film Driven, but was uncredited.
29.
In 2013, Paul Page voiced the announcer character in the film Turbo.
30.
Paul Page gave the opening introduction to Papyrus's IndyCar Racing and IndyCar Racing II video games, released in 1993 and 1995 respectively.
31.
Paul Page has done some work calling Snocross races at the Winter X Games in the early 2000s.
32.
Paul Page is a member of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame.