Originally Posted by Dirtfan:
Don't think that will happen,WRG,Extreme Midgets?
I'll be in a minority here but I was Ok with Tony LaPorta.
I’d like to join your minority.He did well considering his limited knowledge of the series and its tracks. I got the chance to speak with Tony a few different times as that season progressed. I kept telling him to keep his head up. You could tell things were tough. The way he was eviscerated on this board had to be demoralizing. Even if he were offered this gig, why would he come back?
I have to wonder why there is a revolving door with announcers of Usac, yet I believe Johnny at WoO has been around a long time, as well Blake at the All Stars until this years sale of it. Hmmm. Someone wrote the grueling tour for Usac is a family killer. Isn’t any job that a person accepts that requires a ton of travel?? Heck the WoO series really doesn’t even have a home base like Usac does, where an awful lot of its season is spent in Indiana. Thank you to Chet for doing his job well while he was on tour and best wishes. I’m also hoping that Usac has a plan to generate some level of excitement at PRI similar to what we’ve endured the last few weeks over winged racing.
I first met John Gibson back in 1990 or 91 at a Wednesday night All Star race at Atomic (K-C back then). He’s originally from Pennsylvania, and at the time he was a courier for a bank around Pittsburgh. We got to talking and he said he was just a fan and said he would be able to get home by two or three in the AM and be able to go to work the next morning. Wasn’t long after that and he got hired by the WoO program seller, 1st name was Bill but his last escapes me. Bill sold programs at the main gate and hired Johnny to work the stands. Maybe a year or 2 later Bill left to take another racing affiliated job and John got hired to be the program seller replacing Bill. Used to see him quite a bit back then. About a month before the 1996 Kings Royal (Won by Johnny Herrera) when TNT was televising the race they hired John on to be the spotter for the TV
Announcers as John knew all the cars and drivers. He asked me if I could help him out and take his place selling programs that night. I said sure. I was prepared to walk the stands selling the program, but John said no… all you have to do is sit at the table at the main gate selling the programs and take care of the kids. I asked the kids?….. John said yeah you give them change and the programs and they work the stands and when they sell those they come back for more programs and you collect their money and make sure they have enough change….. I said “ who are the kids!” John said “they’re Haud’s niece and nephew!”That was 1996 and wasn’t long after that when John got promoted to being the official WoO announcer. He’s been with the WoO ever since…..John Gibson is a great announcer and a class act!!
I first met John Gibson back in 1990 or 91 at a Wednesday night All Star race at Atomic (K-C back then). He’s originally from Pennsylvania, and at the time he was a courier for a bank around Pittsburgh. We got to talking and he said he was just a fan and said he would be able to get home by two or three in the AM and be able to go to work the next morning. Wasn’t long after that and he got hired by the WoO program seller, 1st name was Bill but his last escapes me. Bill sold programs at the main gate and hired Johnny to work the stands. Maybe a year or 2 later Bill left to take another racing affiliated job and John got hired to be the program seller replacing Bill. Used to see him quite a bit back then. About a month before the 1996 Kings Royal (Won by Johnny Herrera) when TNT was televising the race they hired John on to be the spotter for the TV
Announcers as John knew all the cars and drivers. He asked me if I could help him out and take his place selling programs that night. I said sure. I was prepared to walk the stands selling the program, but John said no… all you have to do is sit at the table at the main gate selling the programs and take care of the kids. I asked the kids?….. John said yeah you give them change and the programs and they work the stands and when they sell those they come back for more programs and you collect their money and make sure they have enough change….. I said “ who are the kids!” John said “they’re Haud’s niece and nephew!”That was 1996 and wasn’t long after that when John got promoted to being the official WoO announcer. He’s been with the WoO ever since…..John Gibson is a great announcer and a class act!!
Tom, you’re right about Gibson, I’ve said a lot most of us who have tired of him suffer from over exposure, not his talent. I’m tired of hearing Stairway to Heaven, but it remains a great song. You know what might be more attractive to a perspective hire, is why not have a different announcer for each series? And then someone like Drake to do the color following all the race’s. Just a thought. The more I think about Chet leaving the more sad I am. We have 4 streams going in the garage at time’s. And besides USAC being the priority 98% of the time, Chet is really the only one I want to listen to and turn the volume up on even when there’s no race actually taking place at the moment. I sure wish I was 30 years younger and still doing my DJ gigs. I would’ve loved to take a swing at this.
Originally Posted by HDbill:
Announcers come in a lot of flavors. IMHO it is far more difficult than building the winning engine or car. Announcers have almost no time to prepare. They work to remember drivers names and how they like them spoken. But they no zero time to prepare for all the things that happen in nanoseconds. Traveling the USAC trail is a family killer. Most people simply could never do it period.
This comment reminds me of an incident at Hangtown (now Placerville) Speedway back in 77. I was announcing during a "claimer" stock car race. Now, the flag stand at the track is at the bottom level of the grandstands. Back then it protruded a couple of feet out from the stands, with wooden protection. During the feature, two cars came together on the front stretch, with one getting deflected directly into the flag stand. I just stood there, mike in hand and watched as the flag man fell, face forward into a cloud of dirt, splintered wood and race car, waiving the red flag all of the way down. I was absolutely speechless. Talk about having zero time to prepare. . . I was convinced that I watched a man die. . . as the dust settled, there he was, standing on the track and still waving his red flag. His white pants and shirt were stained from the red clay from the track. A large piece of plywood was placed over the opening in the fence where the flag stand used to stand, and a hole was cut so that the flagman could continue, and that was the way the night's racing was finished. That is certainly something that I will never forget. Hell, I can't even remember what I said once I had gathered my senses. . .
