COMMENTARY
VIEWERS LOVE ACTION
When I worked for NASCAR
and the Motor Racing
Network, I was usually the
guy hidden in a Winston
cigarette box that stood high above the
third turn at Daytona in Florida, and
at Talladega in Alabama. In 1976, I was
working the Daytona 500’s main booth at
the start/finish line. As the race neared the
finish, I was elected to go to Victory Lane
to interview the winning driver.
On the final lap, David Pearson and
Richard Petty came out of the turn and
hit, as both made friends with the wall.
Petty was spinning, but he managed to
stay on the track until just short of the
finish line, when he went into the infield
still spinning. Pearson also spun, but went
from the retaining wall to the infield, where
his car slowed down. His motor never
stopped running, so as soon as he could
gain control, he headed back onto the
track, wreckage and all. He was declared
the winner as the checkered flag waved,
while King Richard Petty sat with a dead
engine in the infield about 50 feet from
the finish line.
Chris Economaki, who was broadcasting
for ABC’s Wide World of Sports, turned to
me and asked, “Who won?” I told him my
team on the radio was calling Pearson the
winner, but we didn’t get a confirmation
until the winning car pulled into Victory
Lane where we were standing. It was
David Pearson’s car, and celebrations
began.
Along with car racing, I also got involved
in broadcasting boat racing. I did the Ocean
Powerboats, Drag Boats and Unlimited
Hydroplanes. These hydroplanes were
30 feet long with two sponsons. All that
was in the water at 200+ mph were the
trailing edges of the two sponsons and the
bottom half of a propeller. In 1988, I was
broadcasting an Unlimited Hydroplane
Race in San Diego’s Mission Bay, when
two superfast competitors performed
an unexpected ballet. The Circus Circus
was trying to catch up on the field on
the outside. Meanwhile, the Holset Miss
Madison was trying to get the lead. All of
a sudden, Circus Circus caught air and the
front end headed upward; a split second
later the Miss Madison did the same.
Both boats flipped almost side by side.
Both drivers were fine after the incident,
although the same could not be said for
the boats. The fans? They enjoyed seeing a
twin flip at better than 150+ miles per hour.
Fans love to see that kind of action,
whether cars, boats or you name it. In
126 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
order to keep things safe, NASCAR, The
Unlimited Hydroplanes and almost any
other kind of racing organization insist on
safety regulations. Vehicles and boats are
inspected and approved before taking to
the track or the water. A good friend, the
late Bernie Little of Lakeland, came up
with a safety idea of putting the Unlimited
Hydroplanes drivers in F-16 capsules. He
campaigned the Miss Budweiser, and once
he installed his idea on the boat, others
were quick to follow suit. Unfortunately, it
was too late to help Bill Brow, who met his
fate driving in an open cockpit during an
unlimited race off the Courtney Campbell
Causeway in Tampa, but the idea saved
a lot of drivers from the same fate right
up to the present day.
I have thought about safety, starting
with the first time I took the microphone
at Daytona for a test session for stock cars.
A young and somewhat inexperienced
driver was trying for speed, and literally
started rolling over out of the third turn.
He rolled over all the way down the front
straightaway. Parts were flying off the car.
I was sure I was going to have to deliver
some tragic news, but thankfully, they
got the driver out of the car with just a
bumped knee. How lucky he was, due to
the NASCAR safety precautions. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dick Crippen, a staple
in Tampa Bay broadcasting for more than
40 years, is a retired senior adviser for the
Tampa Bay Rays, where he worked extensively
with the military. He is active in the world
of charity fundraising and sits on numerous
boards for nonprofit organizations.
By Dick Crippen
Dick Crippen