MAVTV

About MAVTV

Overview

MAVTV was an American motorsports-focused television network owned for most of its history by Lucas Oil Products, the automotive lubricants company. Founded in 2002 by four former Showtime Networks executives and launched on October 1, 2004, the channel grew from a male-oriented cable startup into a national motorsports network broadcasting dirt racing, motocross, sprint cars, and automotive programming. In March 2025, the network was acquired by the lead investors behind RACER, the motorsports news and information brand, and was rebranded as RACER Network. The network's official website during the MAVTV era was www.mavtv.com.

Founding and Launch

MAVTV was founded in 2002 by four former executives of Showtime Networks — Steve Severn, Steve Smith, Doug Jost, and Rob Stevens — and was privately held. The name was short for Maverick Television, and the network positioned itself around male-oriented programming including motorsports, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling. It launched on October 1, 2004, based in Atlanta, with distribution initially limited to select cable companies. The network had no connection to the NBA's Dallas Mavericks or their owner Mark Cuban, nor to Maverick Television, the British reality television production company. In its early years, MAVTV was a small independent cable channel competing for carriage in a crowded market.

The Lucas Oil Purchase

In October 2011, Lucas Oil Products — the longtime lubricants partner that had provided and sponsored most of the network's motorsports programming — purchased MAVTV outright. The acquisition likely saved the channel: programming rights had deteriorated toward barter arrangements and heavy repeats of library content, and industry observers believed the network might have gone dark without the purchase. Under the new management, the network was quickly reformatted away from its exclusively male focus toward a general, action-oriented family programming direction, while retaining its motorsports core: the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, and the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League. The network was also advertised on the containers of many Lucas Oil products, tying the channel directly to the company's retail brand.

Motorsports Programming

Under Lucas Oil ownership, MAVTV became the television leader in grassroots motorsports. Its schedule featured the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series — founded in 2005 and the nation's premier dirt late model sanctioning organization, running dozens of events across nearly 20 states — along with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series National Tour, which aired on the network for more than a decade. The channel broadcast up to its position as the presenting sponsor of the sprint car national tour, with events filmed and produced into one-hour specials. Lucas Oil Production Studios filmed, produced, and edited the television packages, building on the company's history of producing racing television for ESPN, Speed, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports.

Pro Motocross and Two-Wheel Racing

MAVTV served as a broadcast partner for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, founded in 1972 and title-sponsored by Lucas Oil since the 2009 season. The network provided live coverage of the opening motos of every national round, a role it held from the 2014 season onward, and was later named the primary broadcaster for the series' landmark 50th anniversary season, carrying all 24 motos across the 450 and 250 classes. The motocross coverage showcased international stars including France's Dylan Ferrandis and Australia's Jett Lawrence, and was complemented by the MAVTV Plus streaming platform for global on-demand access.

Talk Shows and Studio Content

The network expanded beyond race coverage into motorsports talk and studio programming. In 2015, the ISC-owned Motor Racing Network — the radio broadcaster of NASCAR — entered a strategic alliance with MAVTV to televise its sprint-car talk show Winged Nation, hosted by Kendra Jacobs and Steve Post. The deal marked the first time in MRN's 45-year history that one of its programs was simulcast on television, with the partners sharing advertising inventory and revenue in a hybrid arrangement. The show aired in condensed 30-minute form on Saturday mornings, reflecting MAVTV's focus on grassroots racing communities that other networks underserved.

Movies, Action, and Variety

During the Lucas Oil era, the network was promoted as MAVTV American Real, with the acronym presented as standing for Movies, Action, and Variety. The channel offered 24/7 high-definition programming spanning blockbuster films, motorsports, MMA, gaming, comedy, original reality shows, and scripted dramas — a broader entertainment mix than its pure-motorsports reputation suggested. The network's 1080i high-definition feed launched in the fall of 2008, with the standard-definition version downscaled from the HD master at the cable operator's headend. This general-entertainment positioning was part of Lucas Oil's strategy to transform MAVTV into a premier cable network using the same growth playbook it had applied to its lubricants business.

MAVTV Plus Streaming

As viewing shifted to streaming, Lucas Oil launched Lucas Oil Racing TV — a direct-to-consumer platform for motor racing content — in early 2016, later rebranded as MAVTV Plus (and eventually RACER+). The service covered up to five motorsport events each weekend from April to October, with some races broadcast live and others delivered as fast-turnaround highlight packages produced with cloud-based editing tools. The streaming platform was distributed on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Android TV, giving the network's grassroots racing content a global audience beyond its cable footprint.

Acquisition by RACER

In March 2025, the lead investors behind RACER — described as North America's foremost motorsports news and information source — announced they had acquired MAVTV and would rename the TV network RACER to create the most followed and diverse motorsports media platform in North America. RACER chairman Chris Dyson said the combination would make RACER the central multi-media motorsports hub for fans and provide brands with comprehensive marketing solutions. CJ Olivares, president of MAVTV and a former executive of FUEL TV, Street League Skateboarding, and the World Surf League, continued overseeing the network and led the brand transition. The Irvine, California-based RACER brand gained a substantial additional base of operations in Indianapolis, where MAVTV was located, with no changes to staffing or operations. The network, available on 350 million devices, completed the transition from the MAVTV name to RACER Network.

Leadership and Operations

CJ Olivares served as the network's president through the Lucas Oil era and the RACER transition, bringing experience from action-sports television including FUEL TV and the World Surf League. Under his leadership, the network maintained continuity in operations and production through the ownership change, preserving its relationships with racing series and its production infrastructure in Indianapolis. Lucas Oil's stewardship had grown the channel from a struggling independent into the television leader in motorsports, and the RACER acquisition was framed by both sides as a partnership years in the making.

Legacy and How to Watch

Over two decades as MAVTV, the network carved out a unique position in American television as the home of grassroots motorsports — dirt late models, sprint cars, off-road racing, tractor pulling, and motocross — disciplines that received little coverage on mainstream sports networks. Its evolution from a male-oriented startup founded by ex-Showtime executives, through the Lucas Oil rescue and rebuild, to its rebirth as RACER Network reflects the broader consolidation of motorsports media. Viewers can follow the network's current incarnation through the RACER Network platforms; during the MAVTV era, the channel's home was www.mavtv.com, with streaming on MAVTV Plus.

In summary: MAVTV was founded in 2002 by former Showtime Networks executives Steve Severn, Steve Smith, Doug Jost, and Rob Stevens, launching October 1, 2004, from Atlanta as a male-oriented cable network. Purchased by Lucas Oil Products in October 2011, it was rebuilt as a family-oriented motorsports network airing the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, American Sprint Car Series, Pro Motocross, and the Motor Racing Network's Winged Nation, with streaming on MAVTV Plus. In March 2025, RACER's lead investors acquired the network and rebranded it as RACER Network under president CJ Olivares.