For more than two decades, J.A. Ackley has covered motorsports and the automotive industry as a journalist. Before joining Grassroots Motorsports and Classic Motorsports in 2022, J.A. had contributed to several publications, mostly in the oval-track segment. He spent nearly 12 years as the managing editor of Speedway Illustrated. J.A.’s story on illicit tire treatments in dirt late model racing earned him the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism, which had previously honored journalists from national outlets such as USA Today, The New York Times, CBS Sports, ESPN, and The Washington Post. He has also been awarded Eastern Motorsport Press Association Jim Hunter Memorial Writer of the Year in 2019. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, J.A. has promoted auto racing events and trade shows, worked as a PA announcer and in public relations for a traveling sprint car series, and managed a group of multimillion-dollar convenience stories for a major worldwide corporation.
While a lifelong learner, J.A. also earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration—Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology, with a concentration in Communications, and additional coursework in mechanical engineering, printing, and graphic design. J.A. grew up in Long Island, New York, but currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, with his wife, Jess, and two dogs, Enzo, a ribbon-winning Shiba Inu, and Notty, an English Cocker Spaniel. His hobbies include reviving his mother’s 1974 Cadillac Eldorado, restoring old houses, researching random topics, watching off-the-radar films and TV shows (especially foreign), learning new languages, being involved in his local community as a wiffleball/kickball team captain and traveling.
