SPARTAN SNAPSHOTS
by Michelle Sprague
This is the fourth interview in the series, featuring the Spartan and Springport Motor Speedway announcer, Big Ed Inloes.
Michelle: We know so little about the man behind the microphone, can you share a little about yourself and family?
Big Ed: I'm married to my lovely wife Linda, four years next February, but we've been together for 19 years now. I have a daughter from my first marriage, Amanda 19, and Linda has a son from her first marriage, John 33. I was born in January, and my family started taking me to the race track, Dixie Speedway, that summer. I haven't missed a year since. It was the one thing my Dad did with me. He wasn't a big "toss the ball" kind of Dad, but he loved auto racing. And through my years as a kid, he took me to many races, and many tracks. I have him to thank for planting the early seeds of a passion for racing.
Michelle: I know you and Linda are on the road most of the summer. Where are you from, and how far do you travel to announce the shows for us?
Big Ed: I live in Grand Blanc, MI. Spartan Speedway is 65 miles from my driveway, and Springport is 89 miles. I can get to Spartan in an hour, as long as there is NO CONSTRUCTION!!! Springport took a little over an hour and a half. Spartan's drive is a piece of cake, it has never bothered me. It gives me time to forget my day, and think about the night ahead. The drive to Springport though can be a killer. Linda has only ever missed one or two nights there. We travel very well together, and she makes the ride seem a lot shorter.
Michelle: Is announcing all you do, or do you have a day job?
Big Ed: I'm a Real Estate Appraiser by day. I just love it, something different every day. I'm very fortunate, to have two different jobs that I love to do.
Michelle: If you're like the rest of us avid fans, what do you do on Friday and Saturday nights, once racing season is over?
Big Ed: Mope, cry, get VERY bored. No not really, I go to as many other race tracks as I can while the weather allows. But Linda and I are avid sports fans, and we watch a lot of football, and some other sports. But I'll be honest, from about Mid February to April, I plug in a lot of the racing tapes that I accumulate over the summer. It's like watching it for the first time, because by then, I've forgotten who actually won the race!!!
Michelle: I know Greg Yost was a great friend of yours. How did he impact your decision to become an announcer?
Big Ed: Greg is probably the main reason I'm a local short track announcer. In 1989, I was working as a Manager in a local Gas Station/C-store in the Flint area. One of my regular morning customers was a person that was a grade ahead of me at Clio High School. One day, I noticed that he wore a hat in the store that had the same radio station logo on it as the one that was doing the live broadcasting from Auto City Speedway. I mentioned it to my friend, Larry Hennesy, and joked about how I thought that the guy up there needed some help. He was doing the live broadcast all by himself, with hardly any commercials, and had to keep talking forever, through every yellow flag period. I just thought that he needed someone else to help him. The next day, when Larry came in my station, he asked me how long I had been going to Auto City, and then asked me if I'd like to join the broadcast! I'm like, "Yeah, right. I've never done ANYTHING like that before in my life!!!" No schooling, no training, just sitting in the grandstands thinking I could do it. That next Saturday night, I was told to go to the front gate (where I got in free!!!), then up to the tower (never been there either), and ask for a guy named Greg Stevens (that was his radio name back then). When I did this, this big bearded guy looks me over from head to toe, and says, "So do you know anything about auto racing? I answered "Yeah, I think I do. He then said, "Well, we're about to find out, put that headset on." I had never been in this situation, or anything close to it before in my life. He turned on the power, introduced himself, then me (and even said my name right the first time), and started asking questions, and I started answering them. By the time the first night was over, we were finishing each others sentences, and laughing, and having a great time. He made me feel like I had done this a million times before. From that day forward, we became best friends. He did anything he could to help teach me, and help promote me in whatever I was doing at the time. Our wives became friends, our kids played with each other. We did stuff in the off season. And we went to race together when we weren't working. I'll always be grateful for everything that he did for me, and I'll ALWAYS miss him.
Michelle: Sometimes, fans forget that you're just the announcer and come after you about a call that was made on the track. How do you handle that? (I'm asking this because of the potentially volatile situation involving a fan who questioned the presence of a certain street stock in the division at Springport).
Big Ed: This is no easy answer, and I've only had this happen, to the degree your thinking, that one time at Springport, and I don't know if I did handle it properly to be honest. What I failed to notice immediately was this individual had been drinking. If I had realized that sooner, I'd of just walked away and never even tried to diffuse this disgruntled fan. It's just my nature to try and resolve any kind of situation if I can, and that was my mistake. I wasn't going to make this person happy. He wanted me to disqualify someone, and I couldn't do that! He spat at me, and that angered me. I fought back with the one thing that I know, humor, and the crowd absolutely loved it, but it embarrassed him, and he charged the tower. That's when I realized that he had been drinking, and we had to get some form of security there to deal with him. Too bad things like that do happen, because a lot of people think that because I'm in the tower, I have a say in the decisions made there. That is very rare. I am asked for what I may have seen from time to time, but none of those decisions are mine. I'm just the mouth that tells you about such decisions.
Michelle: This may be a silly question, but on your "off" days, do you and Linda go to the races?
Big Ed: Oh yes. This was the hardest part for Linda. Local racing has always been OUR thing. There is nothing better than Linda and I sitting in the grandstands, watching racing. Whether it's at some NASCAR facility watching the big boys, or down the street at any local short track. That is what WE love to do. And with me announcing, it has taken away from that time. Anyone that has seen me at Springport will notice my wife very near me there, and her standing out on my "perch" with me during features. During the middle of the summer, that's about the only time we get to do that!!! She loves what I have accomplished in racing, but it does bum her out sometimes that we're not getting our quality "grandstand" time!!!
Michelle: I attended the Super Shoe at K-zoo (one of the first races I had attended, and not had to write about, in a couple of years) and was constantly looking for my clipboard and notes. Do you find it hard to spectate, without giving a running commentary on the racing action?
Big Ed: Yes, as a matter of fact, a commentary is expected of me, by the ones that go racing with me. It s always been that way. That's how Linda and I knew I could be an announcer. I would say things in the grandstand, before the announcer would. I was forever correcting them. I started driving my wife crazy with it all.
Michelle: This question is kind of a personal one (not that personal.) I know of a young person who would love the opportunity to be mentored by you, up in the tower. There has always been an interest in announcing the racing action, and he came to me, asking if I would ask Big Ed if he would "show him the ropes." This is kind of the way you got your start, isn't it? Is this something you might be willing to do?
Big Ed: Yes it is, and yes I would, depending on the individual. Here is the fact that no one ever seems to think is true. I've just completed my 6th year announcing! That's it. Most people think I've been doing it for 20 years or more, but I'm still learning. I never had any formal training or schooling. I've learned everything I know from sitting in the grandstand listening to all kinds of great announcers all my life. If I'm going to "mentor" someone, this person has to LOVE local short track racing. The "passion" has to be there like it is with me. They can't look at doing this as a "job", you have to love it.
Michelle: What is your favorite track to announce at? I know I love the fact that you come into the crowd to announce at Springport, probably for the same reason that I don't sit in the tower. No ivory palace for Big Ed!
Big Ed: You've pretty much answered the question yourself. Springport by far, because I CAN get outside with all the other people, the fans, and at the end of the day, all I have ever been, and want to be is a true blue all-American race fan. I try and describe what the average fan might not have seen. After a caution, you'll hear me try and recapture what just happened. Maybe you weren't looking at the wreck when it happened. Maybe you were at the concession stand. I try and relate to the race fan what they might not have seen. That's what I did in the grandstands for years for my friends, before they put a microphone in my hand, so I try to do the same thing when I'm in the booth.
Michelle: Last question...favorite driver and why?
Big Ed: I have so many! NASCAR past, Rusty Wallace. He was one of the first "BIG TIME" drivers I actually got to meet at Galesburg Speedway. Present, Matt Kenseth. When I was writing for Late Model Digest, it had to be 1996 or -97. I was at the Kalamazoo Klash, and I was looking for someone different to interview for my story, as all the other reporters were hovering over the top 10. I remembered how well the kid from Wisconsin had run earlier in the day, but had problems later. So I went over and asked him if he had a minute or two for me to interview him, and he was like, "Why do you want to interview me?", and I said, "cause I think you did great for your first time here, and I think you re going to be very good some day!" He shook my hand, and said, "How can I refuse? We leaned against his car and talked for over 30 minutes. He was extremely nice, offered me food and beverage, and I'll never forget how he acted, and treated others around him, even before he became famous. He's just about the same way today. But my favorite all time driver, with huge influence from my Father, would have to be Dick Trickle. This man has won over 1200 feature events in his life. He is a household name, and a racing icon in his home state of Wisconsin. If you ever go there, and find him, and start a conversation with him, he'll treat you like he has known you all his life. He's an amazing man.
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