Richard DeBruhl (born June 22, 1955) is an American auto racing and automobile auction commentator. He is the TV voice of the Barrett Jackson collector car auctions on the

A&E Networks A&E Television Networks, LLC, doing business as A+E Global Media (formerly A+E Networks) is an American multinational broadcasting company owned and operated as a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company th ...

. DeBruhl previously worked in radio before becoming a television personality and journalist for the NBC affiliate in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. His motorsports work began on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

in 1988 and lasted for nearly thirty years.

Biography

DeBruhl grew up in

Canoga Park, California Canoga Park is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Before the Mexican–American War, the district was part of a Ranchos of California, rancho, and after the American victory it was converted ...

and graduated from

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

at San Luis Obispo with a degree in journalism. He later received a Master's in Journalism from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. He began his career at KATY Radio in San Luis Obispo, CA, then moved into television at

KCOY-TV KCOY-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Santa Maria, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of Telemundo and The CW. It is owned by VistaWest Media, LLC, which maintains a shared se ...

in Santa Maria, CA. He is married with two sons.

Career

Rick DeBruhl covers the Barrett Jackson collector car auctions for the A&E Networks (The History Channel and FYI,). He previously worked as a pit reporter for ESPN covering the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

airing on ABC. He also worked as an American local television sportscaster, reporter and anchor, working with the NBC affiliate

KPNX KPNX (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Mesa, Arizona, United States, serving the Phoenix area as an affiliate of NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios at the Republic Media building on Van Buren Stree ...

-TV from 1978 to 2009. DeBruhl began his work with ESPN in 1988, after writing freelance articles for the Detroit-based publication Autoweek. Beginning in 1988 DeBruhl worked on coverage of various forms of racing including

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive dir ...

(IMSA),

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing T ...

, off-road,

Superbike racing Superbike racing is a category of motorcycle racing that employs highly modified production motorcycles, as opposed to MotoGP in which purpose-built motorcycles are used. The Superbike World Championship is the official world championship series, ...

and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

. He also previously hosted the Thursday Night Thunder anthology series. In 2002, he moved to

Speed (TV channel) Speed was an American List of sports television channels, sports-oriented cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports, Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The ...

as the play-by-play voice for

and began covering the

Barrett-Jackson Barrett-Jackson is an American collector car auction company headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was founded by Scottsdale business partners Tom Barrett and Russ Jackson. They initially launched a car show, Fiesta de los Autos Elegantes, in 1 ...

Collector Car Auctions. DeBruhl returned to ESPN in 2009 as a pit reporter for their Verizon IndyCar Series coverage as well as selected American LeMans Series events. He would later also serve as a substitute pit reporter for the network's NASCAR coverage at the standalone

NASCAR Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

races such as

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. DeBruhl would work for ESPN until 2018, when the network experienced financial problems and lost their television rights for IndyCar and the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

to NBC.

Awards

DeBruhl has won numerous awards for reporting including three Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards. He also received awards from the Arizona Press Club, Arizona Associated Press, the Arizona chapter of the American Women in Radio and Television (Reporter of the Year award in 1999), and

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

(Diversity award in 2006). DeBruhl was also inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Science's Silver Circle in 2001.

Books

DeBruhl has written two books, ''Communicating at the Right Speed: 52 Ways to Fix Your Professional Communication Troubles'' and ''The Insider's Guide to Media Training: 99 Tips to Survive Your Interview in the Digital Age'' (with Kevin Riggs).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeBruhl, Rick 1955 births Living people ESPN announcers Motorsport announcers