How Leigh Diffey became the voice of American moto...

You already know his voice, even when you’ve by no means seen his face. It’s heat but pressing, authoritative but inviting with an unmistakable timbre just like the hum of a V8 engine earlier than it roars to life. When the race is calm, his voice is regular and measured, however because the motion reaches a fever pitch, he crackles with pleasure whereas delivering every syllable with the arrogance of somebody who has spent a long time residing and respiratory motorsport. Far more than only a commentator, Leigh Diffey is a maestro who might inject a burst of power right into a tortoise race – and he doesn’t solely inform you what’s taking place, he makes you’re feeling it. 

You’ve heard Diffey’s Australian lilt in all places. The 100m dash finals on the Paris Olympics with one of many closest finishes in historical past? That was Diffey. The Indy 500? You wager, and he was the voice of IndyCar for over a decade. He’s soundtracked NBC’s System 1 protection within the US and continues to steer the community’s slate of motorsport choices, together with NASCAR and the Rolex 24, the place I managed to steal a second of his time throughout a business break.

Though the commentary field wasn’t on his radar till early maturity, Diffey’s ambition grew shortly, and he left the job of a lifetime in Australia to chase a good larger dream on the opposite facet of the world. Nevertheless, the 53-year-old’s path to the top didn’t start within the paddock, however in a classroom exterior Brisbane, the place he labored as a schoolteacher in his early twenties and toyed with the concept of a profession in farming.

Earlier than Diffey’s dulcet tones have been heard around the globe, he was juggling an eclectic mixture of jobs. “I labored within the health business as a health club and aerobics teacher, I labored on constructing websites as a chippie’s laborer [Ed. note: a carpenter, in Australian], and I labored on the theme park Warner Brothers Film World,” he remembers. “This was all on the identical time — I used to be doing every little thing and something.” Whilst a young person engaged on a tomato farm, he absorbed classes that formed his work ethic. “I had an incredible boss who taught me there’s no such factor as a free lunch.”

After taking a job as a bodily training trainer at a prestigious all-boys college, Diffey was met by destiny when some buddies he used to race grime bikes with requested him to deal with public-address asserting duties at a neighborhood motorbike membership meet. “I naturally had a really energetic model,” he says, admitting a few of his early commentary “in all probability wasn’t all that factual.” His enthusiasm, nonetheless, laid the groundwork for mastering the artwork of race calling. “My ardour helped lead me to the entire different intrinsic parts of constructing race name,” he explains, attributing his storytelling expertise to vigorous conversations across the household dinner desk. “Perhaps it got here to me by way of osmosis,” he muses.

Doorways quickly began to open for Diffey as he ascended the ranks in Australia, ultimately touchdown a coveted job that just about definitely would have seen him change into one of many nation’s most recognizable figures in sport. “I used to be a reporter on Sports activities Tonight protecting so many alternative motorsport classes, and I began to get alternatives overseas actually early on in my profession. I received the bug for [moving overseas], and I would met a gentleman within the UK who was very effectively related, so I left what might have been the job of a lifetime in Australia to chase the massive dream,” he remembers. 

That lofty dream was maybe the loftiest dream potential within the small world of commentating: supplanting the long-time, deeply beloved voice of System 1 when he retired in 2001. “I’d satisfied myself that I used to be going to switch Murray Walker, which was a gorgeous naivety and youthful exuberance,” he says with fun. He even cold-called Bernie Ecclestone to throw his hat within the ring. “I received shut, I received to the ultimate three.”

James Allen (now this publication’s president of motorsport enterprise) finally secured the position at ITV, the place he was the community’s lead commentator for seven years till they misplaced the published rights in 2008. However I ask Diffey what life might need appeared like if he was profitable, and dove headfirst into System 1 within the early 2000s. “I feel it could have been powerful purely as a result of I might have been a foreigner stepping in and I used to be nonetheless so younger and so inexperienced …  take a look at the hardship and the criticism that James confronted. He was already a part of the crew, and he’s English,” Diffey says of the fixed comparisons made between different pundits and the late, nice Walker . “I’m now well-tenured having lived within the US for over 20 years. I do know what it’s prefer to be a foreigner doing massive, massive occasions, however again then … I feel it could have been considerably of a poisoned chalice.”

After a brief stint within the UK with the BBC, he moved stateside to affix Pace Channel as a play-by-play announcer, earlier than inking a cope with NBC in 2013. The community held F1’s American broadcast rights till 2017, that means Diffey was the voice of the sequence for 4 years. “I actually take pleasure in strolling by way of airports now and seeing children, and adults, carrying Crimson Bull shirts or McLaren caps, as a result of at the same time as just lately as once we have been doing F1 on NBC, that was fairly sparse,” he remembers, noting that the rise of F1 fandom represents a broader victory for all types of motorsport. “As a substitute of carrying a New York Yankees shirt, they’re carrying a McLaren shirt, and that’s nice for our sport.” 

Additionally nice for the game, in Diffey’s eyes: an American driver in F1: “I might be stunned when you did not see Colton Herta in one of many seats,” he predicts after I ask about Cadillac’s 2026 arrival, referring to the IndyCar star who partnered Lando Norris of their junior single-seater careers. “That’s the final lacking piece of the puzzle of the American System 1 success story: having a [competitive] driver.”

AJ Allmendinger, Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, for NBC at Highway Atlanta, 2019 IMSA race

Picture by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Photographs

As we converse, Diffey is gearing up for some of the notoriously grueling challenges in racing: the Rolex 24 on the Daytona Worldwide Speedway. “We now have a rotating crew, so all of us faucet out and faucet in, however you’ll be able to’t go too far-off. You’ve received to maintain your eye on the race to take care of the thread of the story,” he explains. Throughout a go to to race management, within the room subsequent door to the NBC sales space, I spot blow-up mattresses underneath desks, makeshift hammocks between workstations and trash cans filled with espresso cups. Sleep is tough to come back by throughout an endurance race, so that you relaxation anyplace you’ll be able to. “We’re both behind the sales space or we’re within the manufacturing trailer,” Diffey tells me. Though there are tons of of drivers and numerous tales to inform, 24 hours continues to be quite a lot of airtime to fill. “When there’s not a lot happening, that is while you earn your cash,” he says with fun.

Exterior of motorsport, Diffey’s voice has change into a staple of Olympic broadcasts, together with the most-watched 10 seconds of the Paris Video games: the 100m dash closing. “There’s quite a lot of parallels and crossover between motorsport and monitor and discipline,” he says. “With the 100-meter, me and my teammate Ato Bolden, the 4 time Olympic medalist, may have a pre-set rhythm in order that the published is seamless. Usually we’ll have a little bit of silence so you’ll be able to hear the gun and construct anticipation, then you definately get into the race name.” 

He goes together with his intestine and 99% of the time he will get it proper, however he’s additionally the primary to confess when he’s made a mistake. “I received it flawed,” he wrote on Instagram final summer season after incorrectly figuring out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson because the winner of the 100m closing, somewhat than American sprinter, Noah Lyles. “You’ve simply received to go along with what your eyes see,” he tells me. With six Olympics underneath his belt, Diffey hopes to name the 2032 Video games in his hometown of Brisbane. “That will be one thing particular,” he says.

His subsequent massive problem, nonetheless, is constant to win over hardcore NASCAR followers unaccustomed to listening to an Aussie accent within the commentary sales space. Diffey joined analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte because the sequence’ lead announcer after IndyCar moved to FOX final yr, and he’s already incomes rave opinions.  

“You are by no means going to please everyone, however I used to be completely sincere and open with the fan base by saying ‘I’ve by no means been to Talladega, I’ve by no means been to Bristol, I’ve by no means been to Martinsville.’ 

“I had this child-like enthusiasm and wonderment, and I feel viewers received to see the true me,” he explains. When he headed to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 for his first race within the massive chair final August, he made positive his homework was achieved. “It was powerful coming in later within the yr after I had already achieved Supercross, IMSA, IndyCar, the Indy 500, and the Olympics. I put together greatest after I compartmentalize. I had so many different issues I needed to give attention to and do job with first, particularly Paris,” he says. “When it’s lastly go-time, I watch each race of the season and write myself notes that I can refer again to.”

Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton, Dale Jarrett and Steve Letarte converse to media throughout a press convention at NASCAR Championship 4 Media Day at Phoenix Raceway, 2024

Picture by: Meg Oliphant/Getty Photographs

Diffey shortly earned his stripes within the eyes of NASCAR faithfuls after he energetically declared, “Jeff, your little boy has achieved it,” when Harrison Burton took residence a shock victory at Daytona throughout his maiden outing within the sales space. “I don’t know if nervous is the best phrase … I used to be anxious. I actually wished to have begin and make impression. I informed myself what I inform my children after they have a college examination: only one step at a time. I made positive I’d achieved my homework as a result of I wished to do job for the corporate, for the followers, and for myself,” he says, describing Harrison’s win as “a type of epic moments” that he’ll bear in mind eternally.

My dialog with Diffey ultimately circles again to the concept of legacy. With two younger sons rising up on motorbikes, I’m wondering if he envisions a Diffey dynasty. “Under no circumstances,” he laughs. “Our boys are into so many sports activities, the motorbikes are only a enjoyable factor on the facet.” Actually, his sons’ races is perhaps the one motorsport occasions the place he isn’t calling the photographs. “I work most weekends so my spouse is a full moto mother. She’s unbelievable,” he says. “She’s the one loading the pickup truck with the bikes, the gasoline cans, the ramps and the gear.” Diffey’s position? Retaining quiet. “I get tense when my children compete,” he confesses. “After I’m at a race, I’ve to maintain my mouth shut.”