As I’ve mentioned, probably far too often over on the forum, I really love to announce drag races. It’s probably the one thing in life that I feel like I have a strong handle on doing. Everyone has at least one of those things that you are absolutely sure you’re good at. It just so happens mine is screaming into a microphone. Like my mom used to say, God has a plan for everyone.
Anyway, it’s kind of strange thing to aspire to do I suppose. I blame it all on Steve Evans, who in my eyes is the best guy to ever broadcast racing (of several types) on television. I first started watching Evans back in the mid-‘80s. Every Sunday my dad and I would tune in the TNN’s American Sports Cavalcade that Steve Evans hosted. The show was kind of a Wide World of Sports deal featuring a different event every week.
They did the NHRA drag races, monster truck racing, Trans-Am, NASCAR, Swamp Buggies, big-rig oval-track racing, I mean a whole range of stuff, hell, even bull riding. The one common factor was that Evans was the lead guy on every broadcast and he was a freaking expert no matter what the event.
Drag racing was his wheelhouse though, I mean the guy just WAS the NHRA coverage on television as the top-end interviewer as well as lead commentator. Those were the days of tape-delayed shows so he was able to fill both roles, to the delight of viewers like me. The secrets to Evans’ success were many, but the biggest was his long history in the sport, holding positions of track manager at places like Lions, holding jobs within the NHRA, and basically, growing up in the sport along side guys like Don Prudhomme, Ed McCullough, Dick LaHaie and other legends of the day. His top-end interviews with winning, and occasionally losing drivers were the most genuine racing interviews ever done on television because he honestly knew these guys and they knew him. The bond was palpable.
Evans was also creative and spot-on while doing his work as the lead announcer. Although he had a good voice, he didn’t have the golden pipes of a Dave McClelland. Evans’ trick was to really use his voice as a tool, working things like volume and inflection to really drive a point, joke, or specific item he wanted you to see home. It was just perfect. Today, having had a modicum of success as an announcer using tricks I stole from him, I understand what he was trying to do.
When the cameras were rolling on him at the swamp buggy races in Naples, Florida, the guy was able to create comedy gold without embarrassing any competitors or demeaning people. That was another gift of his. Being able to see the whimsy and fun of an event like the swamp buggy races and convey that joy to the viewer. He was a great straight man. He’d announce the races like it was the US Nationals, his level of intensity unwavering. This both made the event worth watching, but also, and I’m sure it was on purpose, created near untold levels of comedy.
A signature moment occurred during one of the swamp buggy events when two Jeeps got tangled up in the deep Sippy Hole. One must understand that these Jeeps run the majority of the race half submerged, and when they hit the deep hole, they go nearly completely underwater. The drivers, wearing tank tops and cutoffs and topped with ancient motorcycle helmets, got two of the rigs tangled up.
What happened next nearly defied all description. The drivers and co-drivers all unbuckled, waded into the swampy water, and started fist fighting. One of the guys, the only guy to do so, pulled his helmet off. Evans, who started calling the affair as a boxing match screamed out, “Good idea Einstein, take your helmet off when he’s trying to cream you!” High comedy indeed.
Being the top-end guy for the IHRA (at the track, not on television), I did my best to channel Steve Evans, trying to ask good questions, capture the emotions of a driver who had just done something amazing or tasted bitter defeat, and most of all provoke smiles and thought from the listeners. I like to think I honored my hero with my performance.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet many of my personal heroes during my stints writing stuff, working in a PR capacity or just hanging around with the right people. Steve Evans will forever escape me here as he passed away in 2000 when I was a sophomore in college and had ironically just started announcing at the first strip that I worked at, Lebanon Valley Dragway. I’m not ashamed to say that I cried when I heard the news.
Steve Evans was a guy with faults, shortcomings, and warts like the rest of us, but man he certainly inspired me to dream those stupid dreams that kids do.
Who inspired you?
The video below shows the three-man team of Evans, Brock Yates, and Don Garlits calling a horrible wreck involving Don Prudhomme. Snake is fine, the car is trash, and the coverage is poetry in motion. Seamless.
