Racing Announcers Bloopers--

[Rick Anges]

Chuck Chitty always makes me hesitate, then there was the time at Volusia when the white flag came out and I dropped the "L"..... there are many more that most people never hear thank God.......

[Todd McCreary]

And I recall annoucing a midget race at, I think, Butler in Michigan

you've been to Butler / Quincy Michigan? did it have the lip around the top of 1 and 2 when you were there?

[oldyeller]

you've been to Butler / Quincy Michigan? did it have the lip around the top of 1 and 2 when you were there?


I belive it did -- I mostly recall that I had never seen a dirt track with so many rocks -- BIG, golf- and tennis-ball sized rocks -- in the surface.

[Todd McCreary]

I belive it did

you ever seen any of Ron's racing Electra's? one of those 20' long monsters?

about 7 years ago he ran the pink "24Q" one in an enduro at Butler / Quincy. he put a tire down so he came over the hill to the pits which were outside of turn 1 and i changed it. while he was off, they wound up throwing a red flag.

so we get him turned around and he goes back out to the pit exit and the corner worker holds him up for the red flag. now, Ron can see down the front stretch just fine from where he's sitting and he can see that once they go green he can just slot right in there in the corner.

Flag man throws the green and Ron stands on it, heading right out onto the track from over the corner in turn one.

you know how everybody reenters that track by driving all the way around 1&2, merging in on the back stretch? we found out why.

Ron hit that ~3 inch lip ( which he hadn't noticed before ) and launched off the top of turn 1. he didn't come down until the bottom groove. i think he could have almost cleared a car if there had been one running in the middle groove. the announcer saw it and almost lost his mind.

Ron wound up getting shoved into the back of a pile up ( promoter kept watering the track down and keeping it slimey ) and smashing the radiator so he didn't finish. but that jump didn't hurt the 3900lb car. amazingly enough.

[AB195]

Vintage posting--

vintage page 13, but more--

--Andrew Maehterns loves it when Darrel Gibson comes inside of him-Rugby commentator

--This is really a lovely horse, I once rode her mother--Ted Walsh--

--I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body--Winston Bennett--
--If history repeats itself, I think we can expect the same thing--

--"Julian Dicks is everywhere; it's like they got 11 Dicks on the field"--

--"what happens now that you'll be leaving racing? will you be racing?"

[Todd McCreary]

welcome back, AB.

[Andy S]

The wonderful world of cricket gave us a great commentary moment in the 80s during a match between the West Indies and England, when the only way to describe the situation was "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey".

Back in the UK we were lucky to have the wonderful Murray Walker doing most of our motorsports commentary on the TV, covering Formula 1 but also the other niche motorsports that we used to get covered on our Saturday afternoon sports shows like rally-cross. Do a google search for 'Murrayisms' and you'll find a ton of his gaffes - he was kind of like our very own Yogi Berra in that respect, but most legendary for making predictions that would instantly be proven to be wrong. Youtube has a few of the clips where he predicts easy wins for drivers only to see them crash out before he can even finish the sentence. This led to one of his most famous moments that saw him having to say live on air "and unless I'm very much mistaken... and I am very much mistaken..."

A few of my favorite Murray Walker commentary moments:

"And there are Ford Escorts now in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place - not really a surprise as all the cars in this race are Ford Escorts..."

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough?"

"And he's lost both right front tires."

"There is nothing wrong with the car except that it is on fire."

[Todd McCreary]

"And he's lost both right front tires."



actually possible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrrell_P34

[Andy S]

actually possible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrrell_P34

I used to live near the track and museum where that car is now housed and it was an incredible thing to see. The only car that matched it for weirdness in that museum (IMHO) was this one:

The Brabham BT46

[Todd McCreary]

this guy is fantastic: "IF is F1 spelled backwords".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfYf0FtkRxY

[ocalasp76]

The Great One...

Mr. Bob Hope on a radio show circa 1948 in a comment he thought he was making to a dead mic. during a commercial:

"If these womens dresses get any shorter, they will have to shave someplace else besides under their arms".
My mom said it was just dead air after that for several minutes. laughing could still be heard in the background when the station resumed the program.

True story.
-JIM-

[Todd McCreary]

Hope would have known about where it was necessary for them to shave. he was around for the Roaring 20's.