The changes at SPEED since FOX executive David Hill took over direct responsibility for the network have been ongoing. Today, Hill took his biggest step in naming veteran TV executive Patti Wheeler as Executive Vice President of Programming and Production. In essence, that hands day-to-day responsibility for the network to Wheeler.
Here is some information from the official SPEED media release:
“Beginning Nov. 1, Patti will take the lead in two crucial areas at SPEED,” said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. “Program development is key to any network’s continuing evolution, and with our substantial commitment to a live network presence at all NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events headlining a massive motor sports production schedule, bringing in someone with Patti’s credentials and experience strengthens the entire SPEED team.”
Wheeler, who has produced every major racing series for every broadcast and cable network that has ever done motor sports, started her career at age 22 as a producer/director of live NASCAR races. She later served as Director of Motorsports and Executive Producer for TNN. Prior to founding her own company, Wheeler Television, Inc., Wheeler was President of World Sports Enterprises, the leading motorsports television production company in the U.S.
A graduate of Belmont Abbey College, Wheeler lives in Charlotte with her husband, Leo Hindery, Jr., and their two teenagers. She has been named one of NASCAR’s Top 25 Most Powerful People by the Charlotte Observer and was included on the Charlotte Business Journal list of Top Forty Under Forty.
We often see management changes when a new executive is put in charge of a major property. Hill was frustrated over the years that SPEED was managed by executives at FOX's Cable Networks group. Now, Hill is fully in charge of the entire SPEED franchise and that should bring even more changes down the road.
Keep in mind that the original reason SPEED moved from Stamford, CT to Charlotte, NC was to become a fulltime NASCAR TV network. Those plans never worked and lots of things have changed since then. It should be interesting to see how this new addition to SPEED effects what NASCAR fans see at home.
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