Dave Moody (sportscaster)

Dave Moody is an American motorsports commentator who works for the Motor Racing Network. He is the lead turn announcer for MRN and has worked for the radio network on and off since 1983. He moved to MRN full time in 1997 and became the lead turn announcer in 2001. Since 2003, Moody has been the host of the nationally syndicated Sirius XM show Sirius XM Speedway on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Early years

Born in Montpelier, Vermont, Moody got into racing when his uncle took him to the local Thunder Road Speedbowl.^[1] The track was owned by MRN co-founder Ken Squier. When CBS Sports hired him, he needed someone to take over the public address duties at the track. "I still don’t know - to this day - how he picked me. He may have read some of my columns and thought I had a workable vocabulary. More likely, I was just standing there with my finger in my nose and he figured this is a kid with time on his hands."^[1]

Motor Racing Network

Beginning

Through Squier, Moody was hired on as a garage reporter for MRN in the 1983 Daytona 500.^[1] "I think it was one of, if not the only Daytona 500s in history where nobody blew up, nobody crashed and nobody even spun. I sat down there all day long just praying for somebody to talk to. I think I did get a couple minutes of airtime, but that was about it."^[1] He worked as a turn announcer for the first time in 1987 during the Gatorade 125's. In the 1989 Daytona 500; Moody worked with Dave Despain at the turns 3 and 4 post and called Darrell Waltrip to the victory (along with Eli Gold).

Present

Moody worked sporadically for MRN until 1997, when he was hired on full time to work the turns.^[1] He was the No. 2 turn announcer behind Joe Moore. He would take over the lead spot in the races Moore moved to the booth when Allen Bestwick (then the lead announcer for MRN) would do the races from the television booth. In 2001, Moody was moved to the lead turn position full time. He's worked in the booth for a number of Sprint Cup Series race in place of Barney Hall.

Role

Moody is the lead turn announcer for MRN. He works turns 1 and 2 at most race tracks, the backstretch at both Martinsville Speedway races and the September Richmond International Raceway race (Mike Bagley works the spring race), turn 1 at Pocono Raceway and the first set of turns at the road courses (such as the Esses at Watkins Glen International). He works these same positions for Xfinity and Truck Series races. Moody doesn't work the west coast races unless Dan Hubbard and Kurt Becker are unavailable. He's the lead announcer for Truck races that are a companion event with Sprint Cup races at SMI venues. The only track where this happens is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Sirius XM

Since 2003, Moody has hosted the nationally syndicated Sirius XM show Sirius XM Speedway on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.^[1] "Our first show was the day after Matt Kenseth won the championship. You couldn’t have picked a worse time to start a racing show. It was the end of the season. All of the drivers were either on an island or a boat somewhere. The race fans didn’t know we existed. We were brand new, and in the middle of a stick-and-ball sports channel. We would come on, do our three hours and lead into "World Soccer Daily."^[1] There was zero listener transfer from our show to the next. Somehow, we made a go of it and soldiered on. It's been 11 years, now, and it doesn’t seem possible."

He hosted the show solo for the first year before taking on Suzy Q. Armstrong (wife of former MRN turn announcer Fred Armstrong) as a co-host. This last for three years before she left to pursue other projects. For the next four years, he co-hosted the show with David Reutimann and others. In 2011, Angie Skinner, wife of now retired NASCAR driver Mike Skinner joined the show. She and Moody did the show for four years before she decided to start her own show on Sirius XM called Skinner Round-Up. Moody returned to anchoring the show solo in January of 2015. Armstrong returned to the channel to deliver news updates at the bottom of the hour.

Moody is known for his no-nonsense style of hosting and desire for civilized discussion. Additionally He is the Sirius XM voting representative on the 48 person panel that decides who gets inducted into that years class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

References