Racing: Top 5 most underrated TV personalities

Leigh Diffey

The man originally from Australia has nearly covered every type of motorsports in his career thus far, endearing himself to the open-wheel racing community. Leigh Diffey may have grown up covering the V8 Supercars, but he has diversified nicely by coming over to America, covering everything from the Formula One world championship to NASCAR to even rugby.

There is no questioning the following that Diffey has created in the open-wheel community through his exciting call of IndyCar and Formula One races on NBC Sports. And while he will no longer be calling F1 after it moves to ESPN in 2018, the venerable host and announcer will continue to be heard on IndyCar, the Olympics, rugby, and NASCAR on NBC and NBCSN. Many fans have praised Diffey over his rise from sports car announcer on Speed to his current post today.

So what makes Diffey underrated? Perhaps it is his struggle with the largest community of racing fans in the United States. While Rick Allen was away covering track and field for NBC, Diffey filled lead for the lead NASCAR announcer by calling races at Michigan and Watkins Glen. While some were excited to hear Diffey alongside Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte, others were less pleased. These fans may be stuck in the days of old NASCAR, before the globalization of racing, but Diffey is here to stay, and will continue to do his job masterfully for years to come.