Victory Lane at Grand Bend Speedway. Image: CTRE.tv
Now that life and time allows it, at the beginning of the racing season I send out my contact information to the speedway’s in my region. No, I’m not looking to become a full time announcer at a track. Rather, my goal is to announce a few events over the summer, have some fun, and keep my announcing skills sharp.
This past weekend I had the chance to announce at Grand Bend Speedway alongside Chris Soares with whom I had announced at Delaware Speedway for many years with with Jared Doxtator. It was a reunion of such, but sadly Jared passed away in 2019. It was meaningful to get a chance to announce at this track with Chris because Grand Bend Speedway was what I would call “Jared’s Track”; not in the sense that he owned it, but in the sense that he as the regular announcer for the track and frequently spoke to me about promotional ideas he was working on. He had a real passion for racing and whether he was working with me at Delaware or announcing at Grand Bend he always gave it his all.
At this event, I got caught working on sound system issues, so I didn’t get much of a chance to go through the pits. However, it was neat to talk to a few drivers who were part of the Delaware’s Junior Racing League back when I was teaching at that program.
It’s evident to me from just one visit that the promoter at the track (Tabitha) is working very hard to make Grand Bend Speedway a great place to race. I’m looking forward to seeing how the work of her and her team progresses.
This was my first announcing since 2015. Life has certainly been busy since that time and changed quite a bit. I wondered if I might be a bit rusty, but Chris and I were able to pick up seemingly right where we left off as if no time had passed.
I have two more events scheduled at Grand Bend Speedway this summer: August 8, and August 29.