Speaking of great Announcers, Steve Bixler, informed me last weekend that long-time Lawrenceburg Speedway announcer, Bert Swafford, had passed away. Bert was a very nice man and loved "The Burg!" He even came back and announced my 2 Mini-Sprint Wins there in 1997. It meant a lot!

I also miss Terry Baltes! He was also one of the best ever! Eldora has never had a better announcer! I was fired up when we ran the Mopar Million in 2003, and Terry came back to announce! That made it really special!

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Theres actually a couple Bert Swafford pit interviews on Youtube that his son posted a couple years ago. I grew up with Bert Announcing the Burg and several other auto type events around cincinnati.

As said in Spint and Midget magazine "announcers need to know when to shut up". Quiet is nice during slack periods. At least turn the volume down when cars are off the track. I'm a little hoarse every Sunday from trying to talk to others around me over a blaring PA. I've noticed that I also tune out the constant jabbering of some announcers and end up missing some info I want to hear.

Duirng down time, I prefer music at a low level. Loud enough to keep me entertained if I want to listen to it, but not so loud that it drowns out any chance of a conversation. There is a local track that runs specials that has the worst announcer known to man. He never shuts up. It is the worst. There is nothing wrong with quiet time.

As far as other habits of announcers, one of my biggest pet peeves is not announcing the transfer spot. This is the most important thing of the heat races, but I am amazed the number of times that the announcer does not annouce it. For the most part, I hate driver interviews. The wireless technolgoy at most tracks is not good enough for a static free interview. It only takes a couple of moments of static or feedback to ruin the interview. Also, for the most part, the drivers are tired, hot and full of adreniline, and you get some of the worst interviews ever. Finally, the absolute worst is driver introductions. It just drags out the show for no good reason.

Someone spoke highly of the sound system at Perris Auto Speedway. I would agree wholeheartedly.

On the final pace lap prior to getting the green flag at the start and following yellow flag segments they play some appropriate music like "For Those About To Rock" by Def Leppard up until the front row get's into turn 4 coming to the green. Someone has a great ability to pick the music and they play it just loud enough.

That, along with Scott Daloisio's stellar announcing abilities makes for an enjoyable side bar that compliments the racing to a T.

If you want what I would call a great announcing/information/music format study the Perris model. It's 'bout as good it gets.