National notebook
Notes: Despain winding down announcing career
Michael Despain (schaefer11.smugmug.com)
After 32 years behind the microphone, announcer Michael Despain is retiring at the end of the 2024 racing season. The Campbellsville, Ky., resident looks back on his career and sees it as a time full of fun and enjoyable memories, even as looks forward to what’s coming next.
“I’ve been very, very blessed,” the 53-year-old Despain said on Saturday at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, where he called Devin Gilpin's Valvoline American Late Model Iron-Man Series victory for series owner Chris Tilley. “I’ve got to work with some great promoters. I could never repay (veteran promoter) Ray Cook and especially Chris for everything they’ve done for me. I love Chris like a brother, you know? Sometimes I think one can just about finish the other one’s sentence, you know what I’m saying? I’m gonna miss that part of it, but also kind of looking forward to wondering what normal life is like.”
Despain’s voice — including his hallmark slogan “It’s showtime!” as drivers have been taking the green flag — will be sorely missed by Tilley, who has no plans to replace Despain next season.
“He, in my opinion, is irreplaceable,” Tilley said. “I’m not going to be replacing him. How do you? How do you find someone that can do everything you need them to do who you’ve worked with for so long? Yes, people are replaceable, but he’s one that’s not because he does so much.
“I probably got the best announcer in the business working for me whose unfortunately gonna retire at the end of the year,” Tilley added. “We’re gonna take a hit because of that, because he does so much for us. He’s a big part of the puzzle. He is not just an announcer, but a brother in Christ and a friend of mine. I’m gonna mention how good and important he is to this deal. I couldn’t do it without him.”
Despain’s 32-year career spans multiple tracks, series and classes, with deep roots in the Bluegrass State. His announcing career began in 1993 at Mannsville Kart Raceway in Kentucky. He made the leap to stock cars in 1996 at Barren County Speedway in Glasgow before moving to Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown from 1997-1998.
He spent three seasons at Brownstown (1999-2001), where he's a member of the quarter-mile oval’s Hall of Fame, before returning to Bardstown for 2002. He was a guest announcer “here, there, and yonder” at various tracks and series around the country, including the Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar series and Ray Cook’s Schaeffer's Southern Nationals series. He connected with Tilley in 2015.
“He means so much,” said Tilley, adding he believes Despain deserves a spot in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. “I think he’s the most underrated announcer in the business. He’s not a showboat, doesn’t try to put attention to himself. He does his job. He does it very well. He’s a great writer and statistician and just an all-around true professional in the way he treats the racers, the racetrack. I have racetracks that call and compliment Michael Despain on his work ethic and how we handle ourselves with them because of the professionalism we try to show towards them.”
Even though he'll no longer be behind the mic, Despain plans to continue attending races as a spectator as well as spending more time with his family and doing things he loves.
“My wife, she just retired from teaching,” said Despain, who is also retired from the Campbellsville (Ky.) Independent School corporation. “I’ve been retired for about three and a half years. She just retired from teaching here at the end of this year (May). I’m not doing it just because of her, but she’s given a lot to let me do what I’ve been very blessed and fortunate enough to be able to do, you know, during this time.
“You come to a point in life where you think it’s time to do something else,” he added. “I guess that’s kind of where I’m at in this point in life.” — Bryan Ault
Bowersock checks out OK
Longtime racer Jerry Bowersock of Wapakoneta, Ohio, confirmed through social media posts that he's OK after Sunday’s opening-lap tangle at Brushcreek Motorsports Complex in Peebles, Ohio, an incident that necessitated a 25-minute red flag as he was helped to the ambulance and competitors awaited a replacement medical team.
“Thank you to everyone who has messaged me, or texted or called to check on me from my wreck last night," Bowersock posted on Facebook. "Not sure what exactly happened, I seem to have an issue with being involved in wrecks on the start of a race 3 or 5 times this year.”
The first-lap incident had an accordion effect triggered when seventh-starting Tyler Carpenter pushed coming off turn two, sweeping into eighth-starting Derek Fisher. Carpenter and Fisher’s machines both turned abruptly to the left and nearly became airborne with several other cars involved. Carpenter rebounded to finish third.
The 11th-starting Bowersock had nowhere to go as he struck Fisher’s adjacent machine in the driver’s side, lifting Fisher’s car further off the ground before sweeping it off to side, as both cars came to rest near the turn-three infield. The resulting damage knocked the air cleaner guard off the hood of Bowersock’s machine, along with damaging the right-side B-pillar. — Aaron Clay
Southern Nationals brewing
The 20th edition of the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series gets rolling this weekend on the Ray Cook-promoted tour where half the 12 races pay at least $10,053-to-win with the remaining events paying $7,053-to-win. Nearly $400,000 in prize money is up for grabs over 16 days with a potential $128,000 going to a single driver.
“We are very excited about our 20th anniversary season,” Cook said in a news release. “There is a lot of driver interest in our 12 races. We’ll see how many of them run the entire tour, but there will be a lot of different guys coming and going throughout the two weeks."
The tour kicks off with three nights of action July 12-14 at Beckley (W.Va.) Motor Speedway, Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Va., and Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn.
In honor of the tour's 20th year, drivers leading lap 20 of each feature will pick up an additional $200.
Among drivers expected for multiple series events are former champions Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., Donald McIntosh of Dawsonville, Ga., and Cory Hedgecock of Loudon, Tenn. Among other multiple-race drivers expected are Dale McDowell, Ricky Weiss, Jensen Ford, Benji Hicks, Stacy Boles, Mark Whitener, Ross Bailes, Kenny Collins and Ethan Dotson.
The Red Clay Series for 602 Crate Late Models will be on the undercard of five series events as Cook, who in March became a co-director of the circuit, envisions a long-term goal of bringing two styles of Late Model divisions to many of his touring events. — Series and staff reports
Repeat victory spoiled
Jon Herring Jr. of Woodward, Okla., has a history with Beaver County Raceway. After all, that's where it all began for him.
“This is actually the first place I have ever raced,” Herring said of the Beaver, Okla., track. “It was 2011 I think or before that. I have run a lot of laps there. We like racing at Beaver because it is only 50 miles from home.”
It was evident April 13 when Herring captured his first career Apex Healthcare Partners Sooner Series main event at Beaver County. The series return to the 3/8-mile oval on July 5 and Herring appeared poised for a repeat victory, leading the first eight laps. Then trouble set in.
“We had carburetor issues,” Herring said. “We stumbled, it would not take off on restarts. I felt like a sitting duck and when Kip (Hughes) passed me it relieved a little bit of pressure as I was not the leader anymore.”
Despite his new carburetor stumbling Herring managed a fourth-place finish. Hughes went on to victory.
“If we can get that lined out and one other problem we have had all year I think the car will be pretty good,” Herring said of his carburetor issues.
The next Sooner Series event is July 26 at Thunderbird Speedway in Muskogee, Okla. — John Rittenoure
