Ken Squier
Encyclopedia
Ken Squier is an American
sportscaster
and motorsports editor
from Waterbury, Vermont
. From 1979-1997, he was the lap-by-lap commentator for NASCAR on CBS
, and was also a lap-by-lap commentator for TBS from the time they had rights to NASCAR until 2000. Squier was the first announcer to give lap-by-lap commentary on the Daytona 500
in 1979. He coined the term "The Great American Race" for the Daytona 500, and developed the in-car camera for the 1982 Daytona 500. He lives in Stowe, Vermont
.
in Waterbury, Vermont
and Ken began his on-air work at age 12 (When Lloyd Squier died in 1979, Ken inherited the station and remains its principal owner and CEO). Squier's racing announcing career began when he announced a stockcar race from the back of an old logging truck
at a tiny dirt track in Vermont
at age 14. He was the announcer at Mallets Bay and the Northeastern Speedway as well as the Monadnock Speedway in the 1950s. In 1960 he opened Thunder Road International SpeedBowl
, the Barre, Vermont quarter-mile oval which he still owns.
Squier was among a group of six men who founded Catamount Stadium in Milton, Vermont
, which operated from 1965 - 1987. He was a frequent announcer at this track dubbed "The Home of the Brave".
Squier co-founded Motor Racing Network
in 1969. He announced races on the network for several years before moving to television in the later 1970s.
in 1971.
Squier joined CBS Sports
in 1972.
Ken Squier believed that people would watch the entire 200-lap Daytona 500. "It was a tough sell," Squier said. "There was a general feeling that this was more of a novelty thing and that it wouldn't work on a national level." On February 18, 1979; CBS aired "The Great American Race
" flag-to-flag. Television ratings were high, in part because a major snowstorm on the East Coast
kept millions of viewers indoors. Richard Petty
won the race, but the fight between Bobby Allison
and Cale Yarborough
made headlines throughout the United States.
For the next 20 years, beginning in 1981, various TV stations would get NASCAR coverage on various tracks: CBS, TBS, TNN
, ESPN
, ABC
, and NBC
. Squier would work for CBS and TBS over this time frame, covering half of the Winston Million
races: Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600
.
Squier stopped lap-by-lap announcing in 1997, and was replaced in the booth by Mike Joy
. Squier had announced every Daytona 500 from 1979 to 1997. Squier became the studio host, where he remained until 2000.
Squier now contributes to the Speed Channel's NASCAR coverage, working as a co-host during Speed's coverage of Daytona Speedweeks.
' occasional CART IndyCar
broadcasts in the 1990s, but has announced in a wide range of sports outside of auto racing, including ice skating
, golf
, and tennis
. He has announced outside of the United States, including Australia
, Japan
, and Europe
. He was a play-by-play announcer for CBS' United States coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics
in Albertville
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sportscaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
and motorsports editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
from Waterbury, Vermont
Waterbury, Vermont
Waterbury is a town in Washington County in central Vermont, in the United States. It is also the name of a village within that town. The population was 4,915 at the 2000 census.-Economy:-Industry:...
. From 1979-1997, he was the lap-by-lap commentator for NASCAR on CBS
NASCAR on CBS
NASCAR on CBS was a series of NASCAR races airing on CBS Sports from 1960-2000.-Races covered by CBS:*Jiffy Lube Miami 300*Michigan 400...
, and was also a lap-by-lap commentator for TBS from the time they had rights to NASCAR until 2000. Squier was the first announcer to give lap-by-lap commentary on the Daytona 500
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....
in 1979. He coined the term "The Great American Race" for the Daytona 500, and developed the in-car camera for the 1982 Daytona 500. He lives in Stowe, Vermont
Stowe, Vermont
Stowe is a town in Lamoille County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,339 at the 2000 census. Tourism is a significant industry.-Geography:...
.
Early career
Squier's father Lloyd owned and operated WDEVWDEV
WDEV is a radio station based in Waterbury, Vermont, USA. WDEV broadcasts on the AM band at 550 kHz, and WDEV-FM, licensed to Warren, Vermont, broadcasts at 96.1 MHz. The stations' studios and offices are located near U.S. Route 2 in Waterbury...
in Waterbury, Vermont
Waterbury, Vermont
Waterbury is a town in Washington County in central Vermont, in the United States. It is also the name of a village within that town. The population was 4,915 at the 2000 census.-Economy:-Industry:...
and Ken began his on-air work at age 12 (When Lloyd Squier died in 1979, Ken inherited the station and remains its principal owner and CEO). Squier's racing announcing career began when he announced a stockcar race from the back of an old logging truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
at a tiny dirt track in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
at age 14. He was the announcer at Mallets Bay and the Northeastern Speedway as well as the Monadnock Speedway in the 1950s. In 1960 he opened Thunder Road International SpeedBowl
Thunder Road International SpeedBowl
Thunder Road International SpeedBowl, more commonly known as Thunder Road, is a high-banked, paved short track speedway located in the Town of Barre, Vermont . The track is co-owned by Ken Squier and Tom Curley. Currently, Thunder Road hosts four weekly divisions: Late Models, Tiger Sportsman,...
, the Barre, Vermont quarter-mile oval which he still owns.
Squier was among a group of six men who founded Catamount Stadium in Milton, Vermont
Milton, Vermont
Milton is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The population was 10,352 at the 2010 census. According to local legend, the town was named for the English poet John Milton, but the name most likely originated from William FitzWilliam, 4th Earl FitzWilliam, who held the title...
, which operated from 1965 - 1987. He was a frequent announcer at this track dubbed "The Home of the Brave".
Squier co-founded Motor Racing Network
Motor Racing Network
The Motor Racing Network is the principal radio broadcasting operation of NASCAR, promoting themselves as "The Voice of NASCAR." It broadcasts coverage of most major NASCAR races at the top three levels of NASCAR at tracks owned by International Speedway Corporation as well as Dover International...
in 1969. He announced races on the network for several years before moving to television in the later 1970s.
NASCAR announcer
Squier was a pit reporter for the very first live "flag-to-flag" coverage of the Greenville 200 on American Broadcasting CompanyAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1971.
Squier joined CBS Sports
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...
in 1972.
Ken Squier believed that people would watch the entire 200-lap Daytona 500. "It was a tough sell," Squier said. "There was a general feeling that this was more of a novelty thing and that it wouldn't work on a national level." On February 18, 1979; CBS aired "The Great American Race
1979 Daytona 500
The 1979 Daytona 500 was the second race of the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup season. It was held on February 18, 1979. Critics consider the 1979 Daytona 500 to be the most important race in stock car history....
" flag-to-flag. Television ratings were high, in part because a major snowstorm on the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
kept millions of viewers indoors. Richard Petty
Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...
won the race, but the fight between Bobby Allison
Bobby Allison
Robert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....
and Cale Yarborough
Cale Yarborough
William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...
made headlines throughout the United States.
For the next 20 years, beginning in 1981, various TV stations would get NASCAR coverage on various tracks: CBS, TBS, TNN
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Squier would work for CBS and TBS over this time frame, covering half of the Winston Million
Winston Million
The Winston Million was a cash prize award program in the NASCAR Winston Cup series, based on the Grand Slam concept. From 1985 to 1997, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, then the title sponsor of NASCAR's premier circuit, offered an award of $1 million for any driver who won three of the four "crown...
races: Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600
Coca-Cola 600
The Coca-Cola 600, formerly known as the World 600, is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held each year at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina on Memorial Day weekend...
.
Squier stopped lap-by-lap announcing in 1997, and was replaced in the booth by Mike Joy
Mike Joy
Mike Joy is an American TV sports announcer, who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of FOX Sports' NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage. His color analysts are Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds. Joy has broadcast more than 30 Daytona 500s, NASCAR's biggest event...
. Squier had announced every Daytona 500 from 1979 to 1997. Squier became the studio host, where he remained until 2000.
Squier now contributes to the Speed Channel's NASCAR coverage, working as a co-host during Speed's coverage of Daytona Speedweeks.
Style
Squier had a unique broadcasting style, he often described NASCAR drivers in his era as "common men doing uncommon things" and describing wrecks as "side over side, end over end" for flips and for calling wrecked racecars with the phrase "all torn up".Announcer in other sports
Squier also announced CBS SportsCBS Sports
CBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...
' occasional CART IndyCar
Champ Car
Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
broadcasts in the 1990s, but has announced in a wide range of sports outside of auto racing, including ice skating
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
. He has announced outside of the United States, including Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. He was a play-by-play announcer for CBS' United States coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics
1992 Winter Olympics
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first where the Winter Paralympics...
in Albertville
Albertville
Albertville is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.The town is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics.-Geography:...
.
Selected filmography
Squier has acted in several movies, primarily as an announcer.- The Cannonball RunThe Cannonball Run (film)The Cannonball Run is a 1981 comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise and Farrah Fawcett, and was directed by Hal Needham. It was produced by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest films. There was a sequel, 1984's Cannonball Run II.-Plot:...
(1981) - Stroker AceStroker AceStroker Ace is a 1983 action comedy film, filmed in North Carolina and Georgia, about a NASCAR driver, the eponymous Stroker Ace, played by Burt Reynolds....
(1983) - RadRad (film)Rad is a film about BMX racing, first released in the USA in 1986. The film was written by Sam Bernard and Geoffrey Edwards and directed by Hal Needham. It stars Bill Allen and Lori Loughlin. Parts of this movie were filmed in Cochrane in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, Colonel Macleod Jr...
(1986) - CMT 40 Greatest NASCAR Moments
- Daytona 500: Drama, Danger, Dedication
Business ventures
- He helped co-found Motor Racing NetworkMotor Racing NetworkThe Motor Racing Network is the principal radio broadcasting operation of NASCAR, promoting themselves as "The Voice of NASCAR." It broadcasts coverage of most major NASCAR races at the top three levels of NASCAR at tracks owned by International Speedway Corporation as well as Dover International...
, as well as his play by play announcing on the network. - President/Owner of Radio Vermont, Inc. and its radio stations WDEVWDEVWDEV is a radio station based in Waterbury, Vermont, USA. WDEV broadcasts on the AM band at 550 kHz, and WDEV-FM, licensed to Warren, Vermont, broadcasts at 96.1 MHz. The stations' studios and offices are located near U.S. Route 2 in Waterbury...
, WLVBWLVBWLVB is a radio station licensed to serve Morrisville, Vermont. The station is owned by Radio Vermont, Inc. It airs a Country music format....
, and WCVTWCVTWCVT is a radio station broadcasting a Classical format. Licensed to Stowe, Vermont, USA, the station serves the Burlington-Plattsburgh area. The station is currently owned by Radio Vermont Classics, L.L.C.-History:... - Co-founded World Sports Enterprises with Fred Rheinstein, the first television production company to specialize in motorsports. It was sold to The Nashville Network in 1995 and to CBS in 1997. WSE was closed by MTV Networks.
- Owner and Founder of Thunder Road International Speed Bowl, Barre, VT.
- Former Co-Owner of Airborne Raceway, Plattsburgh, NY
Halls of fame
- He was inducted in the Oceanside Rotary Club of Daytona Beach Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame in 2000.
- Squier was inducted in the New England Auto Racers Hall of FameNew England Auto Racers Hall of FameThe New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for racing-related people in the New England region of the United States. NEAR was established in 1981. The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame was established in 1998 by the New England Antique Racers.-New England Antique Racers:The...
in 2002. - He was a charter member of the VermontVermontVermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
Broadcasters Hall of Fame. - He was awarded the 2003 Smokey YunickSmokey YunickHenry "Smokey" Yunick was an American mechanic and car designer associated with motorsports. Yunick was deeply involved in the early years of NASCAR, and he is probably most associated with that racing genre...
Award for his lifelong contributions to motorsports.
Broadcasting awards
- Henry T. McLenore Motorsports Press Award - Journalism
- Buddy Shuman Award, Motor Racing Network - Radio Race Coverage
- E.M.P.A. Art Peck Award - Announcer
- Eastern Motor Sport Press Association Award - Journalism
- Vermont Sportscaster of the Year - 1963, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1997
- Flock Award, Charlotte Motor SpeedwayCharlotte Motor SpeedwayCharlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Sprint All-Star Race...
- 1987