CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
O
ne of the great things about
the recent Memorial Day
Springfield Mile was the fact that
Dave Despain was on hand be-
ing honored as Grand Marshal.
For years Despain, considered
by many racing enthusiasts the
greatest voice ever to call a
motorcycle race, was the man
calling the Springfield Mile. Now
he was back at one of his favorite
racing events signing autographs
and hearing from hundreds of
admirers their favorite Dave De-
spain story.
Of course, Despain is much
more than a racing announcer,
although he calls that one of
his favorite jobs. He is also the
best-known television personal-
ity in the history of motorcycle
racing. He was a Motorcycle Hall
of Famer (until he resigned under
protest for the way the institu-
tion was being managed back in
(2012) and today he's one of the
cherished treasures of our sport.
A newer generation of fans got
a glimpse at Springfield of why
Despain is so beloved when he
got on the mic at Springfield. It
brought chills.
Despain never got into race
announcing, radio and TV for the
adulation, but man was it on full
display at Springfield and you
could tell he enjoyed it just a little
bit.
As much as an institution De-
spain once was to the Springfield
Mile, to the best of his recollec-
tion, it had been around 20 years
since he'd been to the iconic
race.
"I don't remember exactly,"
he said of the 20-year absence.
"That may be a slight exaggera-
tion, but it's been close to that.
It would have been prior to the
Wind Tunnel show which kept
me in Charlotte every Sunday
night for 11 years, and then there
were three years at Mav. It all
kind of runs together. I don't re-
member the last time I was here.
Part of the problem is that I don't
remember a lot of things. That's
why I had to give up being the
announcer. Some people were
disappointed because I'm not
announcing the race today. The
reason I got out of the television
P116
RACING'S
GOLDEN VOICE
