Post by Gusey Racing on Feb 17, 2010 20:23:34 GMT -4
Announcing the Announcers
by Jeff Spellman
February 17, 2010
One of the most demanding jobs at the speedway and possibly even the most important is that of the track announcer. A good announcer will keep the crowd entertained and informed all night long. A bad announcer can be embarassing for any speedway. Springport Motor Speedway has been blessed with some of the best announcers in the business. From 2004 through 2008, Hall of Fame Announcer, "Big Ed" Inloes has been the voice you've heard on Saturday nights. In 2009, Ed made the move to Auto City Speedway in Clio, Michigan, a track where he group up at and where he sold popcorn in his younger days. He left behind some big shoes to fill at Springport. Maurice Randall is the promoter for 2010, and has chosen Kyle Trinklein and Sean Sprague to fill those shoes left behind by Ed Inloes.
Sean Sprague is no stranger to the fans at Springport. In 2007, he was hired by then promoter Maurice Randall to work as an apprentice in the tower for Ed Inloes. His job was to gather useful information for Ed and to help out with the cordless microphone on the front stretch during the national anthem and other times during the evening. Before the season started, Ed said, "I will take Sean under my wing and maybe by the end of the season, I'll let him announce a race, maybe a Pure Stock race." Well, it didn't work out that way, Ed felt confident enough with Sean that he had him announce the Pure Stock race on opening night, April 28, 2007. Also, when the Great Lakes Mini Cup Series made their first appearance on May 5th, Ed had Sean announce that race as well. Sean announced each of the Pure Stock and Mini Cup races for the remainder of the season. Ed Inloes was also the announcer at nearby Spartan Speedway on Friday nights, so guess where Sean began working on Friday nights?
Sean Sprague's association with Ed Inloes continued through the 2008 season at both Spartan Speedway and Springport Motor Speedway. In 2009, Sean took over the announcing position full time at Springport. However, the season was a short lived one and Sean was soon out of an announcing job. Enter Tim Phillips, owner of the Mini Cup Series. Tim learned of Sean's availability and immediately offered him the position to travel with the Mini Cups and announce at each track they would race at for the remainder of the 2009 season. After all, Sean had become the most experienced Mini Cup announcer having announced numerous Mini Cup races for two seasons. At the end of the season, Sean took a once in a lifetime job working on a cruise ship in Hawaii. It was not to be a permanent job, however, and Sean would return home to Michigan in June of 2010.
Upon returning back to Michigan, Sean will once again announce for the Mini Cup Series and when he is not gone to another track with the series on Saturday nights, Sean will be in the tower at Springport where he began his announcing career. Sean will be co-announcing with the new permanent voice in the tower, Kyle "Flipper" Trinklein.
Kyle is perhaps the unknown secret to the announcing world. He could be destined to be one of the great announcers in the State of Michigan. When Sean Sprague is at the speedway, the fans will have a very powerful announcing team to keep the fans entertained all night long.
Just like Sean, Kyle Trinklein also gives credit to Ed Inloes as being his mentor and helping to show him the ropes. Matt "Hollywood" Prieur is another announcer who Kyle claims is the reason he became an announcer. Matt currently announces at Owosso Speedway and Dixie Motor Speedway.
Kyle began his announcing career in 2004 at Tri City Motor Speedway in Auburn, Michigan, filling in for Matt Prieur whenever he needed a break. In 2005, Kyle became the full time announcer at Owosso Speedway while also racing in the Mini Stock division there. In 2006, he took a break from announcing to race a full season with the Short Track Truck Series. And in 2007, a wreck in the Short Track Truck Series cut his season back to just part time racing for financial reasons. This lead him to becoming a traveling announcer for the truck series whenever he wasn't able to race. He continued with that position up through the end of the 2009 season.
Between his travels and his announcing with the truck series, Kyle has announced at many tracks including Auto City, Owosso, Dixie, Spartan, Tri City, Springport, Berlin, Kalamazoo, Angola, New Paris, Winchester, Mansfield, and M-40. He has also worked for racesontheweb.com and streamnetradio.com announcing races over the internet as well as hosting his own internet radio program which he is looking to bring back for the 2010 season.
Kyle stated, "Announcing has really given me some neat oppertunites, from co-announcing a Super Late Model race with Andy Jach, including on track introductions at Angola, calling a truck race literally in front of a full grandstand from the infield at Berlin, being a pit reporter for the ASA Late Model Series at Mansfield while working with Matt Prieur, to working side by side with my mentor Big Ed Enloes calling a Late Model race at the Harvest a few years back. I have had a lot of fun on the road, but I'm really looking forward to having a home track again."
Racing experience is one thing that really helps Kyle in the tower. He started racing Mini Stock trucks at Dixie Motor Speedway in 2000. Since then, he has raced all over racing various forms of Mini Stocks at tracks like Owosso, Mt Pleasant, Crystal, I-96 on the big 1/2 mile, Auto City, Tri City, Springport as he took part in the first ever Racin' And Rockin' driving a Mercury Cougar Mini Stock, and even ran a Figure 8 race at Spartan in a 4 cylinder. He moved to the Short Track Truck Series in 2006 and won Rookie of the Year that year. Coincidentally, the person who found him the truck that he purchased to race was Maurice Randall, the once again promoter at Springport for 2010. Some of Kyle's racing accomplishments include the 2003 Owendale Speedway Track Championship, 2004 Owosso Speedway 2nd in points, 2005 Owosso Speedway 3rd in points, and the 2006 Short Track Truck Challenge Series Rookie of the year.
The loudspeakers at Springport Motor Speedway promise to be filled with information and excitement when Kyle Trinklein and Sean Sprague flip the microphone switches on during the 2010 season.
www.springportmotorspeedway.com
by Jeff Spellman
February 17, 2010
One of the most demanding jobs at the speedway and possibly even the most important is that of the track announcer. A good announcer will keep the crowd entertained and informed all night long. A bad announcer can be embarassing for any speedway. Springport Motor Speedway has been blessed with some of the best announcers in the business. From 2004 through 2008, Hall of Fame Announcer, "Big Ed" Inloes has been the voice you've heard on Saturday nights. In 2009, Ed made the move to Auto City Speedway in Clio, Michigan, a track where he group up at and where he sold popcorn in his younger days. He left behind some big shoes to fill at Springport. Maurice Randall is the promoter for 2010, and has chosen Kyle Trinklein and Sean Sprague to fill those shoes left behind by Ed Inloes.
Sean Sprague is no stranger to the fans at Springport. In 2007, he was hired by then promoter Maurice Randall to work as an apprentice in the tower for Ed Inloes. His job was to gather useful information for Ed and to help out with the cordless microphone on the front stretch during the national anthem and other times during the evening. Before the season started, Ed said, "I will take Sean under my wing and maybe by the end of the season, I'll let him announce a race, maybe a Pure Stock race." Well, it didn't work out that way, Ed felt confident enough with Sean that he had him announce the Pure Stock race on opening night, April 28, 2007. Also, when the Great Lakes Mini Cup Series made their first appearance on May 5th, Ed had Sean announce that race as well. Sean announced each of the Pure Stock and Mini Cup races for the remainder of the season. Ed Inloes was also the announcer at nearby Spartan Speedway on Friday nights, so guess where Sean began working on Friday nights?
Sean Sprague's association with Ed Inloes continued through the 2008 season at both Spartan Speedway and Springport Motor Speedway. In 2009, Sean took over the announcing position full time at Springport. However, the season was a short lived one and Sean was soon out of an announcing job. Enter Tim Phillips, owner of the Mini Cup Series. Tim learned of Sean's availability and immediately offered him the position to travel with the Mini Cups and announce at each track they would race at for the remainder of the 2009 season. After all, Sean had become the most experienced Mini Cup announcer having announced numerous Mini Cup races for two seasons. At the end of the season, Sean took a once in a lifetime job working on a cruise ship in Hawaii. It was not to be a permanent job, however, and Sean would return home to Michigan in June of 2010.
Upon returning back to Michigan, Sean will once again announce for the Mini Cup Series and when he is not gone to another track with the series on Saturday nights, Sean will be in the tower at Springport where he began his announcing career. Sean will be co-announcing with the new permanent voice in the tower, Kyle "Flipper" Trinklein.
Kyle is perhaps the unknown secret to the announcing world. He could be destined to be one of the great announcers in the State of Michigan. When Sean Sprague is at the speedway, the fans will have a very powerful announcing team to keep the fans entertained all night long.
Just like Sean, Kyle Trinklein also gives credit to Ed Inloes as being his mentor and helping to show him the ropes. Matt "Hollywood" Prieur is another announcer who Kyle claims is the reason he became an announcer. Matt currently announces at Owosso Speedway and Dixie Motor Speedway.
Kyle began his announcing career in 2004 at Tri City Motor Speedway in Auburn, Michigan, filling in for Matt Prieur whenever he needed a break. In 2005, Kyle became the full time announcer at Owosso Speedway while also racing in the Mini Stock division there. In 2006, he took a break from announcing to race a full season with the Short Track Truck Series. And in 2007, a wreck in the Short Track Truck Series cut his season back to just part time racing for financial reasons. This lead him to becoming a traveling announcer for the truck series whenever he wasn't able to race. He continued with that position up through the end of the 2009 season.
Between his travels and his announcing with the truck series, Kyle has announced at many tracks including Auto City, Owosso, Dixie, Spartan, Tri City, Springport, Berlin, Kalamazoo, Angola, New Paris, Winchester, Mansfield, and M-40. He has also worked for racesontheweb.com and streamnetradio.com announcing races over the internet as well as hosting his own internet radio program which he is looking to bring back for the 2010 season.
Kyle stated, "Announcing has really given me some neat oppertunites, from co-announcing a Super Late Model race with Andy Jach, including on track introductions at Angola, calling a truck race literally in front of a full grandstand from the infield at Berlin, being a pit reporter for the ASA Late Model Series at Mansfield while working with Matt Prieur, to working side by side with my mentor Big Ed Enloes calling a Late Model race at the Harvest a few years back. I have had a lot of fun on the road, but I'm really looking forward to having a home track again."
Racing experience is one thing that really helps Kyle in the tower. He started racing Mini Stock trucks at Dixie Motor Speedway in 2000. Since then, he has raced all over racing various forms of Mini Stocks at tracks like Owosso, Mt Pleasant, Crystal, I-96 on the big 1/2 mile, Auto City, Tri City, Springport as he took part in the first ever Racin' And Rockin' driving a Mercury Cougar Mini Stock, and even ran a Figure 8 race at Spartan in a 4 cylinder. He moved to the Short Track Truck Series in 2006 and won Rookie of the Year that year. Coincidentally, the person who found him the truck that he purchased to race was Maurice Randall, the once again promoter at Springport for 2010. Some of Kyle's racing accomplishments include the 2003 Owendale Speedway Track Championship, 2004 Owosso Speedway 2nd in points, 2005 Owosso Speedway 3rd in points, and the 2006 Short Track Truck Challenge Series Rookie of the year.
The loudspeakers at Springport Motor Speedway promise to be filled with information and excitement when Kyle Trinklein and Sean Sprague flip the microphone switches on during the 2010 season.
www.springportmotorspeedway.com