![]() In his role as track announcer, Finan introduced drivers, their cars, and told fans basics of the race to come, such as how many laps and which division: Modified, Late Model, Super Pro Truck, Blunderbust, Figure 8, Enduros, Demolition Derby. of Riverhead talks to race commentator Bob Finan after winning a race at Riverhead Raceway in 2014. He remained there after the Cromartys sold Riverhead in 2015, working under current owners Connie Partridge and Tom Gatz.ĭriver Tom Rogers Jr. ![]() Galan liked what he heard, and when Barbara and Jim Cromarty leased Islip, starting in 1977 until its demise in 1984, they gave Finan a job with their telemarketing company and put him in the trackside booth - first at Islip and later at Riverhead. He always remembered that.įinan got his first break when Riverhead promoter Tom Galan let him call a Mini-Modified heat race, after giving him a five-minute crash course at the mike before a Friday night show in 1975. What Finan learned firsthand is that unlike the big-league drivers on TV, local drivers often worked full-time jobs and paid most of their expenses out of pocket - tires, fuel, car repairs - with limited funds coming in from local sponsors. "They handed me a wrench," Finan said, "which is kind of like giving Picasso a wrench. He does it because he cares." A path never envisioned He does it for the competitors, for the crews in the pits, for the fans. "He brings the same enthusiasm."Īs Halpin, 51, of Wading River, said: "And he doesn't do it for himself. "He didn't care if there were five people in the stands or 5,000," Stephen Halpin, who has partnered in the booth with Finan for 20 of those 47 years, said. "I started at Islip, then raced at Riverhead, and Bob's been the announcer my whole career." "I've been doing this since I'm 16, and I'm 59 now and I can't recall a time when he ever wasn't there," longtime Riverhead racer and former champion Modified and Figure-8 driver John Fortin said. He's headed into retirement in Dunedin, Florida, leaving behind generations of stock car drivers, their families, pit crews and racing fans for whom his voice on summertime Saturday nights was like hearing the late Bob Sheppard announce the next at-bat by Derek Jeter at Yankee Stadium. He's outlasted Islip Speedway and Freeport Municipal Stadium and untold other tracks on Long Island, where motorsports once was king.īy clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. The longest-serving racetrack announcer in Long Island motorsports history, Finan will call his final race at Riverhead Raceway on Nov. I'm going to announce the first batter - then I'm leaving.' So, for like 30 seconds, I got to work with Bob Sheppard. "Up walks Bob Sheppard, and Sheppard, who was from Baldwin, looks at us and says, 'He fixes my car. The organizer, who ran a local repair shop, told him a guest was coming in for the first inning. Finan recalled how he was once asked to call a charity softball game with the New York Islanders at Baldwin Park.He was an entertainer - and he's going to be missed." Bob made it fun for the drivers, fun for the fans. "They played off each other, were a great team together. "Bob and Stephen are like the Laurel and Hardy of Riverhead Raceway, the Abbott and Costello," driver John Fortin said.… When the racing bug bites, there's no amount of calamine lotion in the world that's going to cure you." The sights, the sounds, the smell, the spirit. "If they're not racing, they don't interest me. Bob Finan said strangely enough that he's not into cars.
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