Griff Allen
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Griff Allen is a motorsports broadcaster, on-site announcer and trainer. Allen is best known for his regular appearances on ESPN2 as host, pit reporter and expert analyst for Speedworld, In the Driver’s Seat, The Mother’s Polish Car Show Series, Inside Drag Racing, The Outdoor Channel's World of Trucks and other programming. He gained greatest visibility as one of the first and one of the longest-running broadcasters of the sport compact broadcast wave as NIRA, IDRA, IDRC, NHRA, Summer Slam, NOPI Nationals and other sanctions and promoters started airing their events on Speedvision, Spike, SPEED Channel and ESPN2.
Allen performs live analysis and commentary for AMA Superbike , ASRA, CCS, monster truck events, motocross, arenacross, drifting, rock crawling, car shows, major industry trade shows and auto shows.
Allen holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to his broadcasting career, he worked in the industries of steel production, fluid systems component manufacturing, actuator development and investment casting. He was awarded patent number 5,822,989 for his work in developing a fuel-saving clutch mechanism used in the heavy trucking industry.
He was introduced to TV broadcasting and production through his volunteer work with the American Red Cross public access TV show Crossviews. He learned all aspects of TV including production, directing, scripting, editing, videography, voiceover and on-camera work from veteran and pioneering broadcaster Ceatta Mickey. In 1997, while producing his own public access program about racing - Speed TV - he was invited to host Speedvision’s Competition Offshore - which covered APBA offshore powerboat racing. Griff was also briefly a sports producer at Cleveland's FOX 8 under Casey Coleman.
Allen served as the national spokesperson for the Toyo Tires Take it to the Track program - which discourages illegal street racing. He has appeared frequently on local TV stations nationwide addressing issues of transportation-related public safety.
Allen has theater and film experience. He appearing as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music and William Harrison Brent in the Ohio premier of Perfect Crime at Chagrin Valley Little Theater. He appeared as Mark Ferris in London Suite and Mike Connor in High Society with The Gates Mills Players. He appeared as Brett - a police officer in the HBO movie Proximity, and as a Desk Sergeant in the film Sugar. He appeared as a CDC Official in The Discovery Health Channel’s Diagnosis: Unknown and has appeared in numerous radio and television commercials - most notably for Summit Racing Equipment.
Griff was the first to place a drifting event on broadcast television with the August 2005 Toyo Tires Drift Shootout Presented by Kawasaki. The event was broadcast a total of three times on ESPN2.
At the time of the event, with an event purse of over $11,000 (USD), it was the highest purse-paying drifting event to date. Purse was paid by Toyo Tires (Pro) and Kawasaki (Amateur).
Griff has hosted all but the first GT Live events. He has co-hosted or served as production designer for most XDL events with Thomas Evans. GT Live and XDL are Paramax USA properties.
Griff Allen has hosted the 2005, 2006 and 2007 SEMA Show and 2006 and 2007 SEMA Sprint Expo / SEMA Off-Road and Road-based Proving Grounds. At the 2006 SEMA Show and 2007 Sprint Expo, he interview Ivan "Ironman" Stewart. At the 2007 SEMA Show, he appeared in a televised segment with Will Castro in Unique Whips.
At the 2007 SEMA Off-Road Show, he moderated The Performance Diesel Panel which was made up of Mark Williams, editor of Truck Trend magazine, Kevin Wilson, editor of Diesel World, John Waraniak, SEMA vice president, vehicle technology, Harald Hanks of BD Diesel Performance, and Ron Knoch from the Diesel Hot Rod Association (DHRA).
At the 2006 XDL US Stunt Riding Championship Finals - which took place April 14 and 15, 2007 in the parking lot of Scores in Las Vegas, Nevada - Griff produced a two-camera Beta SP shoot of the Stuntride.com Sickest Trick competition and the XDL's top 11 finalists' Individual Freestyle Eliminations. The shoot was for two 30-minute television broadcasts of the event to air on Mav TV. This represents the first time that Sport Bike Freestyle Competition has been broadcast as an event on television. (See earlier entry regarding Griff's history of being the first to place emerging forms of motorsports on broadcast television.)
At The Promotion Company's Spring 4 X 4 event at the Allen County Fairgrounds in Lima, Ohio; Griff appeared as a judge in ESPN2's Mother's Polish Car Show Series with Kathy Fisher (Host) and Doc Riley (Judge). Griff judged vehicles according to the following criterion:
10 Points - Exterior, Body and Paint; 10 Points - Interior and In-Car Electronics / Entertainment; 10 Points - Engine and Drivetrain; 10 Points - Wheels, Tires, Brakes and Suspension; 10 Points - Cleanliness; 10 Points - Concept or Theme of Vehicle; 10 Points - Display; 30 Points - Griff Factor / Overall Impact.
All entrants started at the midpoint of each category range and were graded up or down depending upon success of each category. Griff's scores were customarily - but uniformly - lower than those of the other judges, thereby not affecting the outcome of the competition, but lowering all competitors scores.
Griff co-hosts ESPN2's Bidding Wars - which first ran during the second quarter of 2007 and which will run its second season in the second quarter of 2008. In 2007, it was ESPN2's highest rated program in its Saturday morning / Wednesday or Thursday afternoon motorsports block with a high rating of 4.1. The program was voiced over by David "Doc" Riley, was hosted by Bill Stephens and was co-hosted by Genevieve Chappell. The program was shot again over Labor Day weekend of 2007 at the Kruse International Classic Car Auction and Show in Auburn, Indiana for the 2008 broadcast year. Genevieve and Griff return as co-hosts while Stephen Cox replaced Bill Stephens as the host. The program is slated to be shot over Labor Day Weekend of 2008 for airing in the Summer of 2009.
At the 2008 AMA Daytona 200 presented by Honda at Daytona International Speedway, Allen shot several tape-delay segments for Speed to air through the 2008 broadcast season.
Allen offers communications and media skills training under the brand @thletic Xpression Communication Clinictm. He has delivered this training to the staff and sponsored racers of Toyo Tires, all riders in the 2008 AMA US Red Bull Rookies Cup and many others.
Allen has covered the following sanctions or disciplines of motorsport:
Road Racing: Formula 1, Champ Car, IRL, Toyota Atlantic, Trans-Am, SCCA, E-Modified (Wayne County Speedway)
Drag Racing: NHRA Sport Compact, NHRA Jr. Dragster, NIRA, IDRC, IDRA
Drifting: GT Live, The XDL Show, The Toyo Tires Drift Shootout Presented by Kawasaki
KART:
Oval and Road Course
TRUCK:
Mud Drags: NMRO
Monster Trucks: USHRA, The Special Events Performance Series
Rock Crawl: Special Events, UROC
Off Road: Special Events, USHRA
MOTORCYCLE
Road Racing: AMA, Formula USA, ASRA, CCS, USGPRU, CRA
Motard: NASMOTO
Drag Racing: AMA Prostar, AMA Arenacross, CRA Arenacross
Boat: APBA Offshore
TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY
Auto Shows: Daimler Chrysler (Chrysler / Jeep / Dodge), Ford (Lincoln / Mercury)
AFTERMARKET INDUSTRY
Marketing, Sponsorship Attainment, Trade Shows: Toyo Tires, SEMA, PRI
MISCELLANEOUS
Lifestyle Events – Host/Emcee: NOPI Nationals, IDRC Summer Slam
Awards Banquets – Live Event Emcee: Clear Channel Communications
World Record Attempts – Event/Television Liaison: FOX Broadcasting Company
[edit] External links
- www.playinthestreet.com- official website
