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Todd Hallenbeck3 May 2014
NEWS

Uniquely Diffey

Through his own persistence, Leigh Diffey has created a career behind the microphone that has made his voice one of the most recognisable Australians in America

“We’re bringing Paul Tracy for the first time into the broadcast booth today,” announces Leigh Diffey, before hanging a question out there on a hook: “What do you think?”

Diffey has a keen sense of conversation and controversy. He invites debate, stirs it with a verbal stick inside the broadcast studio and serves it to the viewing audience with intensity.

You can’t ignore Diffey, and Tracy is learning quickly. Diffey brings to any broadcast a deep knowledge of motorsport, from dirt track to Formula One, and has an unnatural ability to recall information in a freakish Rain Man kind of way.

Snow to Eskimos, sand to Arabia, coal to Newcastle – Diffey has brought an Australian voice to American motorsport. This is a country that takes television, big teeth and talking very seriously.

Listen to Diffey; unlike other broadcasters he’s actually quite concise, saying a lot but with few words. That’s what makes him different. The fact that his voice is enriched with an Australian accent makes him unique among the millions in America who can talk the red off a brick wall.

He uses Tracy, Townsend Bell and a string of pitlane reporters to build a conversation atop a simple question: Will Montoya be competitive on his return to IndyCar? Is Scott Dixon likely to repeat as series champion?

Diffey’s instincts have been perfectly refined after stints with Network Ten in Australia, the BBC in London and the Speed Channel in the US. He reckons Tracy, who was aggressive behind the wheel of an IndyCar, will be verbally aggressive behind the microphone. Tracy’s game.

“We’re not live today during qualifying so if anything happens we can catch it. But, for the race tomorrow, we’ll be live,” he said with a slight smile of anticipation at the recent Long Beach IndyCar Grand Prix.

Tracy definitely says what he thinks and brings a level of expertise that melds smoothly with Diffey’s informative style.

Leigh still wears a boyish grin that I remember from our first meeting almost 20 years ago when he started appearing on-air for Network Ten.

During the past two decades he’s shared his expert commentary of Australian V8 Supercars, Formula One, the American LeMans Series and now he’s the main man for NBC Sport Network’s coverage of the 2014 Formula One and IndyCar Series.

Long Beach is NBC’s first IndyCar broadcast of the season, but Diffey’s workload for the first few months of this year has been busy and not confined to motorsport.

He records a few promos – one take – and settles in for the weekend’s racing.

Television coverage of the 18-race IndyCar series is split between NBC and rival ABC. Diffey will anchor NBC’s 13 rounds along with a broadcast team of about 65 working behind the cameras.

NBC’s compound at Long Beach includes a string of large zinc-oxide white 40-foot trailers with cables running back and forth like strings on a tennis racket. Each trailer is inhabited by editors, graphic artists, producers and assistants who all seem incredibly calm considering they’re about to go live from Long Beach.

Live race coverage consumes man hours like a kid with a bag of Skittles. Televising each IndyCar race live requires more staff, cameras and resources than did NBC’s coverage of the 2012 NFL Super Bowl. In terms of scale, NASCAR is king but IndyCar is a near second.

Diffey has brushed with motorsport fame since he was a school boy in Queensland where he tried racing motorcycles but his best mate Daryl Beattie was a whole lot quicker. While Beattie left Queensland for 500cc Grand Prix racing, Diffey earned a university degree and became a physical education teacher.

By then he had the good fortune of knowing what he truly wanted as a life’s career. Diffey saw his future in lap times not running laps.

Through experience he’s refined the gift of gab to become the master of the 10-second intro, off-the-cuff conversation and the poignant segue way into a commercial break. For those of us on the receiving end of the telecast, Diffey gives us few reasons to reach for the remote.

From his trackside pulpit, he’s confronted by six TV screens displaying lap times, real-time camera feeds, graphics and other pertinent information. Through his headset he keeps pace with the pitlane reporters, talks with any number of assistants and keeps Tracy prepped for the next conversation. It seems impossibly confusing but Diffey has the ambidextrous ability to listen while talking and remaining entirely relaxed.

To Diffey’s left in the broadcast booth sits Russell. When Diffey needs the answer to some obscure question, Russell taps on his keyboard to find it. So when qualifying is dominated by rookie drivers, Diffey asks if a rookie has ever qualified on pole in the 40-year history of the Long Beach Grand Prix.

“I won the race,” adds Tracy. “It was my first IndyCar win.” A moment later Russell has the answer: “Nigel Mansell in 1993.” They look at each other in an oh-yeah moment.

Off mic Diffey digs deeper, asking Tracy about racing against Mansell. Did he have a good relationship with Roger Penske? What happened with Barry Green? Tracy is amazingly diplomatic; unbelievably wiser with age. All the while Diffey is adding info to his mental library that’s destined to be unleashed at a later date.

After 20 years and now with the power of a major American network behind him, Diffey is truly dialled in and reaches out globally to drivers, team owners, engineers and anyone who has information he needs. His black book is a treasure trove of the world’s motorsport elite and they answer when Diffey rings.

As an enthusiast, he’s dangerous; as a broadcaster, he’s worth listening to. He brings passion to every broadcast. So far viewers are cool with Diffey’s aggressive style and distinct Australian accent. He’s different from the multitude of talking heads that populate American TV, who talk a lot but say very little. Diffey knows his stuff and is willing to mix conversation with controversy. It makes for a lively broadcast.

On the downside, he is the target of faceless criticism fired via Twitter, and at times he admits the barbs do sting.

“Some of the things said are hard to ignore,” he admits. Such is life as a public figure in the US, but there’s a real toughness and determination.

Diffey doesn’t give up and walk away although he’s had reason to. He survived a divorce while chasing an elusive career across three continents. Now he seems comfortable with NBC and life at home in North Carolina includes two boys and the support of an Australian-born wife.

He became a US citizen recently. “This country has given me so much, and I felt I needed to give back. That’s why I accepted US citizenship. I’m Australian and I’m also American,” he explains.

Diffey seems unfazed by the enormity of all that’s whizzing around him. He finds time to say hello to everyone and has a natural pace that’s never hurried. Relaxed, professional, unhurried and genuine – what’s not to like about Diffey?

Make enemies and America can be harsh and cruel. Making friends paid off when the Speed Channel, which held Diffey’s contract, ceased broadcasting in the US. By then NBC wanted Diffey to lead its motorsport coverage – IndyCar and Formula One – and signed him to a multi-year contract early in 2013.

Normally, winter is the holiday season for Diffey, but NBC has a loose definition of motorsport. He was again trackside but this time wearing a heavy parka and anchoring network coverage of bobsled, luge and skeleton during the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Ice? The nearest the boy from Queensland has come to cold is the ice in his Coke but that changed when he found himself in Putin’s backyard.

“I’m kinda their speed guy if that makes sense,” says Diffey. Sochi proved he is adaptable with abilities beyond motorsport.

It was a minor risk for NBC, which had spent more than $US1 billion to broadcast the Sochi Olympics, to go with the Australian and his distinct play-by-play commentary.

Diffey was among NBC’s elite sports commentators – Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Cris Collingsworth, Mary Carillo – broadcasting more hours of winter Olympics coverage than the two previous Winter Games combined.

It may be confined as one line on his CV, but Diffey is the first Australian to hold a commentary position during NBC’s Olympic coverage.

NBC believes he may also be the right guy to have around when the network talks golf. “NBC owns the Golf Channel,” he mentions and is OK with the possibility of putts as well as pits. “They know I’ve done golf coverage in Australia. We’ll see what happens.”

Right now his time card is full with Formula One and IndyCar. And as far as American motorsport fans are concerned, Australia’s loss is their gain.

The real compliment, though, comes when Diffey is nowhere around. Several members of the broadcast team make a couple of things clear about Diffey: “He’s great to work with and he’s a real talent.”

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Written byTodd Hallenbeck
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