It is funny how things happen. Since my birthday is in the middle of February it always falls either the week before or the week after the Daytona 500. Due to this fact, I watch the race every year. I am not the biggest stock car racing fan but I love the spectacle of that event and it always served as a nice escape from the frigid confines of Massachusetts to see sunny and warm Florida on a TV screen. I have never been to the race in person but I have it on the list of stuff I really want to do. Long story short, I remember watching this race live as a 13 (or soon to be 13) year old kid and loving every second of it.
Fast forward to this previous weekend and my own driveway. My son Tom was ripping around the driveway on his Razor 360 trike which is essentially a drifting big wheel that is kind of fun. He’s got the hang of the thing pretty good so when he makes turns, the tail is always hanging out. Anyway after a coupe of these “laps” I went into announcer mode and was egging him on to go faster and faster. I blasted this photo of him rounding “turn 4” and heading for the finish line.
I like the photo and I stuck it up on my Facebook page where a bunch of people commented on it including Jon Lundberg who made reference that maybe one day I’d be able to call my son doing something spectacular in a race car and it brought me right back to that February weekend in 1993 when Ned Jarrett got to do just that with his son Dale being the featured attraction.
Thankfully through the miracle of YouTube we have a great clip of the last lap and a half of the race including the post race interview which is the perfect icing on this great cake. Ned Jarrett is one of the best NASCAR racers ever and we’d say that he is one of the best racing broadcasters ever. He had a knack and a charm that are still the stuff of legend. The way he handled a hurriedly expanded role in this particular instance will go down in race announcing lore forever.
Jarrett was not for this race and never was a play by play man. He was the color guy, filling in the gaps, adding information, and helping to enhance the broadcast but once the final lap of this race began, Ken Squier set the table and essentially went silent and Jarrett called the final lap throwing all objectivity out the window, seemingly trying to will his son’s car into the right position on track and somehow managing to keep himself from turning into a blubbering mess. His famous line, “It’s the Dale and Dale show now coming off of turn four…you know who I’m pulling for, it’s Dale Jarrett.” Is fabulous for all the right reasons. When Dale won the race, things actually got BETTER. How?
As Ned’s elated call echoes off the glass of the announcer booth the camera cuts down to Martha Jarrett who is Ned’s wife and Dale’s mom. She was so nervous she did not watch the race but rather sat in a motorhome and got updates. She listened to the end when she knew he was close and has the kind of reaction that you’d expect an overwhelmed mom to have. It is great.
The capper on the whole deal is when Chris Economaki has Dale Jarrett in the winner’s circle and gets him into contact with his dad. Ned makes a crack about Dale doing just what he told him and Dale gives a very sincere thanks to his pop before continuing with the interview.
This is an awesome watch.
