Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9408200010
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He just didn't think he would be there watching stock cars.
Kernan heads for Indy next week for the inaugural Brickyard 400, NASCAR's first run on the famed oval. The former WDBJ sports director continues to live in Roanoke when he isn't running through airports. He may be working in the pits on NASCAR's Winston Cup telecasts for ESPN, but his career certainly isn't there.
With the arrival of ESPN2, Kernan has added play-by-play on a 13-race AMA Motocross series to his schedule. He hosts the ``Saturday Night Lightning'' NASCAR show on the fledgling network known as ``The Deuce.'' The latest addition is the Stunt Challenge Series.
Between ESPN's two networks, Kernan works more than 65 events annually. At Indy next weekend, he will work the pits during qualifying Thursday and Friday afternoon, then helicopter over to Indianapolis Raceway Park for ESPN's live coverage of the Kroger 200 Grand National race Friday night.
On Saturday, ESPN previews the Brickyard 400 at noon. ABC Sports has the 31/2-hour race telecast (1 p.m., WSET) and will employ some of the ESPN stock-car crew. Others, including Kernan and Ned Jarrett, will work the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network coverage (12:30 p.m., WSLC, 610 AM).
``I've always been interested in racing,'' Kernan said. ``Indy-car racing was the big thing in the Midwest, and I always thought that's what I'd one day see there. I never went to Indy until I went there to do reports on NASCAR testing for SportsCenter. Before I came to Roanoke, I worked for a couple of radio stations that carried the Indy 500, but I was always at the station running the board while the station owners went to the race.''
Kernan, 35, is in his fifth year with ESPN, his second full-time since leaving WDBJ. He signed a five-year contract and was comfortable that his workload would increase. He had no idea he would be as busy as he's become, thanks to ESPN's second cable network. And once his involvement in the sport developed, he realized it was only a matter of time before NASCAR and the Brickyard found each other.
``The last 10-12 years, people have been talking about NASCAR and Indy,'' Kernan said. ``It seemed this day was almost inevitable, but I didn't think it would happen this soon. I figured another three or four more years down the road. And it's going to become one of the biggest days in racing, right off the bat.
``The other day I was in the Atlanta airport talking to a man from Indianapolis. He said that for the people there, the Indy 500 isn't a race, it's a big party. A lot of them aren't really race fans. Some of them can't see the race, and they don't care. He said he hopes the Brickyard 400 will be more of a `racing' crowd.''
There is a notion by some in NASCAR that Indy will one day replace Daytona as the major event, even if NASCAR officials don't allow the Brickyard purse to top Daytona's.
A telecaster who used to hear the roar of engines at a 1/8th-mile bowl in Bismarck, Mo., when he was a kid isn't sure that will happen, however.
``I grew up in the Midwest, so to me, working at Indy is pretty special,'' Kernan said. ``It's kind of neat to be part of all this and realize I'm in Gasoline Alley at Indy, but then I get chills walking around Daytona, too.
``Daytona is the start of the year. It's the Super Bowl of the sport. They race there for two weeks. The Brickyard, right now, is a three-day race weekend, but it's at the center of the racing world. I think it will be a very special day in the sport.''
LOOK BACK: With plans plotted for a new Salem ballpark, the Buccaneers are likely in their last month at Municipal Field. So, WROV (1240 AM) has scheduled a radio retrospective on the stadium that opened in 1927. It will air Sunday, Aug. 28, the Bucs' late home date of the Carolina League season.
The two-hour show, hosted by Jeff Dickerson, will include interviews with fans, media and baseball executives who have special memories of the years in the park. It airs at 4:50 p.m., before the broadcast of the Salem-Wilmington game.
AROUND THE DIAL: Tonight's live coverage of the WDBJ 200 at New River Valley Speedway (9 p.m., WDBJ) will be a seven-camera production, including one angle from trackside that should give viewers a feel for the cars' speed. Mike Stevens, the WDBJ sports director who will call the race, said the night's features include a limited sportsman piece on 68-year-old driver Melvin Smith of Giles County. Stevens said Smith's crew consists of the driver's girlfriend. If rain postpones the WDBJ 200 tonight, the station will air the event live Sunday at 2 p.m. ... The NFL preseason schedule begins today, with ABC airing the Hall of Fame game featuring Atlanta and San Diego (noon, WSET). ... The Fox Network NFL game debut for CBS expatriates Pat Summerall and John Madden comes in a prime-time Denver-San Francisco exhibition Aug. 12 (8 p.m., WFXR). ... Radford University and WPSK (107.1 FM) have extended their agreement for the Pulaski station to serve as the flagship station for Highlanders' hoops.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB