Published on July 20, 2026 9:33 am
Last Updated on July 20, 2026 9:56 am
MRN broadcast at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT., left to right, Kyle Rickey, Kurt Becker, Tim Catalfamo and Trey Downey.
BY MILLIE LANGE
The big question, after talking with Kurt Becker recently, is ‘why doesn’t he have a permanent room at the hospital for exhaustion’?
Becker recently sat down with Matt Robinson, Brian Herrmann and myself to discuss exactly what his career entails and he provided us with a six-page itinerary for a 15-day period in his life. Reading it made me tired. I don’t know when he finds time to sleep.
If folks don’t know what Becker does for a living, he’s a harness racing and NASCAR announcer. In 1997, Becker became the first announcer in Keeneland’s history and since 1994, he also has served as the play-by-play announcer for Motor Racing Network’s radio coverage of NASCAR.
Along with all of that, Becker always comes back to his home in Altamont and announces the harness races at the Effingham County Fair.
When asked about his schedule when he heads to cover a NASCAR event, Becker said, “A lot is dictated by the schedule at the speedway. If there is a practice session or qualifying. I have to be on everybody else’s schedule. If qualifying is at noon and the race isn’t until 6 p.m. I still have to be at the track. I just try to make use of the time. I will usually watch qualifying.”
Becker is placed at a turn during a NASCAR race. The number of turn announcers depends on the race. When asked how he knows which car and driver is which, Becker said:
“A lot of these teams have mutliple sponsors. One time it will be this business with their colors, the next another business with their colors. At one point, it was patriotic colors for everyone and that was overwhelming during the patriotic color scheme.
“Trust me, I look for something that sets them apart. I have to get there ahead of time and will do my best to study paint schemes. I will listen and watch the qualifying video. I will put an earbud in and listen to the network racing coverage. It can be a long listen for information but you get a lot such as, how the track is, there’s a bump on turn two. If you are working turn two, you don’t want to be the only guy not knowing that.
“Sometimes I feel I’ve done all I can to get ready for the broadcast. Rain delay I fill that time making notes for harness racing where I have to be next. I pull up the entries and work ahead.
“When it rains, it can be hectic if you don’t know how long the track drying goes. Been relaxing in the media center and they say, get out to your turn. Sometimes you cut it close getting there because you’re in-flux not knowing when the rain delay will end.
“Another thing that’s sometimes hard is name pronunciations. You see this with new drivers and up and coming drivers. Everybody had called this lady driver’s name wrong. Technically it’s pronounced Roboosto. There are things like that that will pop up where you find out you’ve been pronouncing a name wrong.”
Becker takes a backpack with a set of binoculars, Cannon, battery powered with him to his spot.
“It keeps things nice. When you’re at Talladega, you’re covering a long call. Even if you’re getting tired because you’re hands and wrists are getting tired holding the binonculars.
“I throw in a couple bottles of Gatorade and water.
“Turns are hard-wired with fiber. I will climb up on the scaffold. The scaffold is attached to a billboard, sometimes a construction workers’ scaffold. The main thing, once you’re in position, the head set and talk button is wrapped up in a bag and I need to pull it out of the bag to check it and turn it on.
“I was complaining about going early to the track because sometimes it’s sweltering hot. The green flag isn’t until noon. We don’t have to roll until the green flag drops. They say we can wait to go to our position.
“I am always listening. We gently remind one another to pay attention what the other broadcasters are saying.
“One of the times I wasn’t happy with myself, we were at Darlington Labor Day week which is one of the hottest. I forgot to grab something to drink. My mind started to wander. We hit a stretch when the booth didn’t come to the turns. I lost my focus because I was hot and thirsty. The booth threw it to me and I didn’t know and we had dead air. They said, ‘Apparently Kurt is to impressed with what’s going on that he’s speechless.” So see, everyone is good at helping everyone.
“You push a talk button. There is a temporary and lock position. We use the temporary normally. If you’re mike is hot all the time, there are things some say that don’t deal with the race.”
The main question we wanted an answer to is ‘What do you have to do if you have to use the restroom since you’re way up high on a turn?
“When my dad worked auctions, some of those would go six or seven hours. He was the only announcer and never had time to come off the stand. I guess I get it from my dad not having to use the restroom. Thankfully I’ve never had an issue. I pace myself. I will just take a few sips during a caution flag. But near the end of the race I will chug it.
“Sometimes there are portable restrooms nearby. I will send a text saying I am stepping away for a while. I communicate through text. The pit reporters have a two-way channel and they can go there and talk but in the turns we don’t have that. So anything we say would be live on the air.
“If you have a rainout doubleheader and you’re stuck there, they do a great job of taking care of us with food and drinks.”
There is a local connection in NASCAR and that is Adam Wall from Teutopolis.
“Adam is one of the bright talents in the crew chiefs,” said Becker. “I met him at the Michigan Speedway. He was all business but he was courteous and bright. He said glad to meet you and he is focused because he has work to do.
“One of the great things about when I talk to folks from Teutopolis, it’s a way that community feels more connected to NASCAR. They take pride in what he is doing.”
Becker is still doing truck races.
“Last week there was a truck event at a road course in Connecticut,” said Becker. “That’s a track that has a lot of history. It’s 30 to 40 feet wide, narrow. In all seriousness there are spots, I think the backstretch at the Effingham County Fair, that is wider than that. Very tough to pass. You’ll see drivers get frustrated.
“When you’re in the booth, I have thought you are a traffic cop. You have to be sure you bring in other people in the broadcast. I don’t care if it’s two people or a half dozen. I don’t care how talented, when you’re listening to one voice, you tune it out. You need a variety of voices.
“One of the biggest challenges when I started in 1994 with MRN, my background being a horse race announcer, you have two minutes to get it. That doesn’t allow a lot of time.
“A producer told me I needed to be more descriptive. I remember at Rockingham, Michael Waltrip had a dominate car. The podcast ends and I thought I did a good job but come to find out I didn’t. That was my first year. I was getting added to some of these events late. I drove from Altamont to Rockingham, Ala.
“I can remember, regarding description, you had a call today he said. You said at one point, Michael Waltrip is leading and it’s a little further back to the driver in back. That doesn’t tell me anything. I need you to learn to be more descriptive. Because of working with MRN for several years, I will now throw in more description when I do races, like the horseman are watching or they go by the cornfield at the east. MRN has made me more cognitive of talking more about descriptions.
“Sometimes I get frustrated. I use the same phrase over and over. Sometimes if I drive to an event and I am driving home, they play an encore of that race and I hear a phrase I used the same lap after lap after lap and I just cringe.
“It’s a lot different day being in the booth or in the turns. If you’re working the turns it’s easier.
“I remember a Cup race in Phoenix in 1996. When you’re in the booth you have to think of everybody on the broadcast, the pit people, the turn people. We are fortunate we had a good roster of producers. A producer will tell you things because you forget. He plays a key role. Sometimes he has to talk you off the ledge. He will pat you on the back and say ‘just let us move forward.’
“The format of a broadcast, Allen had a policy for every station id to do a reset because people are out mowing the lawn or something else. Tell people who we are, the people who are working the broadcast, lead changes, number of leaders, whose led the most laps so far. If there is a name they are not hearing, tell them what happened. Give a full field rundown in good splits throughout the day. We are a quarter of a way through, we’re halfway through. Allen was always a teacher.”
How do you know when to talk?
“They will have drop points in mind. Before we go on the air, we will check in with one another. The booth will say, Kurt we will give it to you before . . . I will ask turn three and four. I will ask when they see it.
“When you work with others, you get used to their style. Sometimes they say off turn two, then if you’re in turn three, you know it’s coming your way.
“One of the most challenging things is when do I wrap up this call. Last summer at Daytona, we had a very good announcer, Tim Catalfamo. He is one of the most considerate members of the crew. He will inconvenience himself if it will help you.
“I’m focusing on the lead battle and I call the third and fourth drivers. When I need to drop it to Tim, here comes someone that will be a factor. He might win and he might be close. Instinct is to say that and I went way long into Tim’s track. He handled it beautifully. He shortened his call. He is a junior announcer (eight years) and is excellent when he needs to shift gears. He will do whatever benefits the broadcast. He is developing an excellent career.
“You know you need to take over when somebody wrecks in front of you. That should be the first thing off your tongue saying trouble. You have free rein at that point when an accident unfolds in front of you, they want us to take over at that point.”
How do you spend your free time?
“On the one hand it’s fun to see a lot of the country and someone else is picking up the tab,” said Becker. “With the travel, we have gotten to see a lot of country we wouldn’t visit.
“But on the other hand, you don’t have a lot of time. The main thing we do is try to go out and eat as a group. It’s a lot of fun, a fun group. They are truly enjoyable. Sometimes we grab lunch on the way to the track or grab dinner afterwards.
“In 2018 we had a midweek truck race at Ohio. The next morning we went to Daytona to cover Watkins Glen in New York. One of our announcers, Steve Post, told me and Kyle Rickey, ‘Boys I’m telling you what I’m going to do, give you the Steve Post tour of Watkins Glen.” He drove us around the original racecourse, all the historical markers, took us to his favorite pizza place and picked up the tab. We went to the library in Watkins Glen, the International Motosports Library which is a great research center.That is one of the most memorable days away from the track. Everybody knew Steve. It was fantastic but those opportunities are limited.
“Alex Hayden is very good at taking initiative. He’d say, ‘Looking ahead would any of you be interested in coming in a day early and I’ll take you sightseeing. We’ll get a rental car and we’ll go have some fun.”
What races Becker chooses depends upon the Keeneland schedule.
“The only thing they ask when we draw to the end of the season, a senior producer will call me and ask about my Keeneland dates and they will plug me around their schedule. As a general rule, Daytona is a perk who commits to them fulltime. They will put me on the August race and I’m grateful for that.”
Is there a favorite for Kurt . . . NASCAR or harness racing?
“Jokingly I say whoever is signing my paycheck,” said Becker. “I find it difficult to pick one over the other. They are different and provide different challenges. Maybe the job I feel the most pressure, is track announcing. The reason is, it’s just me. When I go to Keeneland, I’m the only voice people are hearing and I need to get it right. Once you speak on the microphine it’s out there.
“With NASCAR, I like working with a crew. I enjoy that.”
Be sure to head to the Effingham County Fair for the harness races Sunday, August 2 through Friday, August 7. You’ll be able to hear Kurt Becker announce along with Scott Beal.
The stand where Kurt Becker sits to announce at a NASCAR race.
The view for Becker during a NASCAR race.