CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTW) — Longtime NASCAR broadcaster Barney Hall died Tuesday.
He was 83.
Hall was a part of Motor Racing Network, the radio flagship of more than half of NASCAR’s races each season, from its founding in 1970 until he retired in 2014. He was also a part of more than 50 Daytona 500 broadcasts. During his time at MRN, Hall called races from the turns and eventually as the lead play-by-play caller.
He also was public address announcer at Bristol Motor Speedway in its early days.
When News13 interviewed Hall at Darlington Raceway before the 2009 Southern 500, he reflected on what the track meant to him and to so many connected to motorsports.
“This track has more personality than any track we go to,” he said then. “”It’s hard to do a race, I don’t care how exciting it is, and not have a memory or two pop into your head about when something similar–whether it was Joe Weatherly racing Curtis Turner, or Richard Petty doing this or that, something like that.”
The NASCAR Hall of Fame named its award for media excellence after Hall and fellow broadcaster Ken Squier, and the two shared the award with the first class.
In a statement, Motor Racing Network (owned by International Speedway Corporation, also the owner of the majority of tracks, including Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway) President David Hyatt said: “For many of us in the racing and broadcasting industries, Barney was more than just ‘The Voice’ who brought us the NASCAR action each week on the radio, He was an inspiration, a teacher and, mostly, a friend. Barney was a consummate professional whose style and honesty made him one of the most revered voices of the sport and perhaps the most trusted reporter of his day.”
