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Remembering Ken

One of my most-vivid NASCAR memories as a child was cutting out of church early on that Sunday afternoon in February to get home for the Daytona 500.

“The Great American Race” featuring “The King” Richard Petty, “Big” Buddy Baker, “The Alabama Gang” – Bobby and Donnie Allison, “The Taxi Driver from Detroit” Benny Parsons, “Texas” Terry Labonte and others provided an afternoon hiatus from the Pennsylvania weather, taking us to the sunshine of Daytona Beach, Florida.

The voice telling the story was Ken Squier.

I had the chance to meet Ken early in my career as a young public relations guy, he was not necessarily intimidating; but more awe-inspiring. Here was the bigger-than-life guy who was the NASCAR storyteller of my youth, but in person.

Yes, racing is a story and needs a storyteller. Squier with his cadence, his passion and his vocabulary was for decades the narrator of NASCAR.

Then, came the break of a lifetime.

In 1998 I started announcing the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway, then a few years later Track General Manager Humpy Wheeler invited me to be the voice of the big track for its NASCAR weekends. Ten years earlier I was at Penn Can Speedway in Pennsylvania, and here I was holding a microphone at one of the most iconic tracks in the world.

That was a break, but not the “break of a lifetime” I reference.

Squier and Wheeler were closer friends, and Wheeler paired Squier up with his new announcer to get him up to speed with what is needed to properly announce races. Now, THAT was the break of a lifetime for this wannabe announcer.

Ken was among the best announcers and broadcasters in the sport. His curiosity and passion for racing, combined his exceptional command of the English language and ability to weave a story is unrivaled.

But I quickly learned there was another side to Ken Squier. He LOVED sharing what he had learned about calling races to young aspiring announcers, and for me school was in session. I swear I must have worn him out with questions, all of them he was happy to answer and discuss.

Early in our time together at Charlotte we had one of those dreaded all-day rain delays; we were trapped. Except I was trapped alongside Ken; and everyone from Wheeler to Chris Economaki (The Dean of Motorsports Journalists) to officials and spotters and drivers stopped by with stories; and there I was sitting in the corner gladly taking it all in.

Opportunities in my career put me at a crossroads with a small schedule at Charlotte Motor Speedway and a small schedule with Motor Racing Network broadcasting races on radio. It was at a time when the parent companies of those two – International Speedway Corporation and Speedway Motorsports – did not necessarily see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Ken was connected with Charlotte through Wheeler, and he was a founder of MRN, so who better to ask about what to do.

I explained that neither was large enough to pay the bills and asked for his suggestions on how to navigate between the two.

His response was simple: “let both sides know what you are doing, never show up at the right place with the wrong shirt or microphone and do a good job every day for whoever you are working for.”

Sound advice as 20-plus years later I’m still working for both, who get along much better these days.

As MRN grew it required me to leave the “big booth” at Charlotte for NASCAR weekends, but I remained involved with the Summer Shootout. But things tend to circle back around and in 2019 it worked out for me to return to Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR Weekends.

And again., I was paired with Ken Squier. (It was Ken, Lenny Batycki, and me.)

We had such wonderful visits, albeit from different perspectives than the earlier ones at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Ken was still the older storyteller and I had been able to carve out a nice little career for myself, using his advice from years ago.

Last night Ken passed at 88 years old – a life well-lived.

Thank You and Rest Easy Ken.

--Postman

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