IN
THE
WIND
P48
M
otorsports announcer Bruce Flanders
died Friday, August 14, 2020, at his
Southern California home in San Bernardi-
no. Flanders battled Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for a dozen
years, working his craft while tethered to
an oxygen bottle until early this year. He
was 74 years old.
A Pasadena native, Bruce and his broth-
ers, John and Paul, were born into a motor-
cycle racing family. His father, Earl, raced
speedway motorcycles before the war, ran
the annual speed trials at the Bonneville
Salt Flats and started a handlebar com-
pany, along with a BMW distributorship.
Flanders soaked it all up and went to work
in the family business following an Army
stint in Vietnam. Bruce raced speedway for
a few years and set a land speed record
that stood for seven years.
Flanders had an unmistakably rich bari-
tone voice and began announcing speed-
way at Costa Mesa, then motocross at
Lions Drag Strip. By 1975 he was announc-
ing speedway races four nights a week,
then sprint cars at Ascot Park on Saturday
night. He became the voice of the Long
Beach Grand Prix in 1978, announcing the
event for 42 years. He was looking forward
to doing it again earlier this year until the
Covid-19 pandemic canceled the race.
Before long Bruce was doing every type
of racing event: AMA National MX, flat
track, road racing, drag races, Sprint cars,
NASCAR, Supermoto, Monster Trucks,
you name it, he announced it at the highest
level, and usually wearing an ugly Hawai-
ian shirt. But his favorite type of racing was
speedway motorcycles, hands down. The
smaller venues, raucous crowd and intense
racing combined with Flanders' passion
and sense of humor provided decades
of good times for racers and fans that will
never be forgotten.
Flanders was preceded in death by his
wife, Vickie, who passed in 2018. He is
survived by his brothers, Paul and John,
and his children, Megan and Michael.
Rest in Peace, Bruce, you were one of
a kind.
Steve Bauer
Famed Motorsports Announcer Passes
Legendary
motorsports
racing
announcer
Bruce Flanders
passed away.
