Former Indy Driver Derek Daly Sues Indy TV Station for $25M

Derek Daly

Retired race car driver and former motorsports broadcaster Derek Daly on Thursday filed a defamation lawsuit in Hamilton County seeking at least $25 million from his former employer, WISH-TV Channel 8, and its parent company, Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Media Group Inc.

According to the Indy Business Journal, the lawsuit claims WISH made false statements about Daly on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23 in online and broadcast stories related to racially charged comments former Indianapolis Colts announcer Bob Lamey allegedly made off the air.

And after Daly’s attorney notified WISH’s general manager and news director of the inaccuracies of the story, the lawsuit states, the station “failed and refused to publish a full and fair retraction of the false statements.”

 WISH fired the 65-year-old Daly, then its motorsports analyst, in the wake of the Lamey incident.

Bob Lamey

“They slandered my reputation and humiliated me and my family with false information,” Daly said.

WISH, in its news story, reported that more than three decades ago, when Daley was an open-wheel race car driver, he used a racial slur in an interview with radio personality Lamey.

Daly told IBJ this week, that he has never been interviewed by Lamey and was not the source of the racial slur to which Lamey referred.

LJim Voyles, Lamey’s attorney, told IBJ Thursday that he has not been contacted by Daly, his attorney or anyone else regarding the incident involving his client.

In its story last August, WISH claimed Daly confirmed he was the source of Lamey’s story. Daly said that’s false.  “How could I confirm an interview that never happened?” Daly said. “I was never even asked by WISH if I was the source of Lamey’s story.”