NBC’s throwback Darlington broadcast segment was incredible
If you’re a long-time NASCAR fan and didn’t have flashbacks when Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett started calling a portion of Sunday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington, please get yourself examined. Immediately.
The Sprint Cup Series’ first Labor Day Weekend trip back to the historic South Carolina track in 12 years was billed as a throwback weekend. As many NASCAR teams ran throwback paint schemes, NBC’s regular announcers Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte wore 1970s-era clothes and a portion of the broadcast was called by Squier, Jarrett and Dale Jarrett, Ned’s son.
For me, Squier and Ned Jarrett were the voices of my youth. I didn’t have cable growing up, so the NASCAR races I saw in the 1990s were limited to network television. And since CBS has the Daytona 500, it’s the network that formed the soundtrack of my NASCAR youth.
My first racing memory is the 1992 Indianapolis 500, when Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear. Unser Jr. became my favorite IndyCar driver. My first Daytona 500 memory is the following year, when Squier and Jarrett broadcasted the final laps of the 500 as Dale Jarrett held off Dale Earnhardt for the win. Unsurprisingly, Dale Jarrett became my favorite NASCAR driver (until another driver entered NASCAR in 1999, but more on that when the situation warrants). 7-year-olds are pretty impressionable.
Listening to the three call the early stages of Sunday nights race felt like a time warp, even with HD televisions and massive front splitters on the Cup cars that didn’t exist 20 years ago. The interplay between Squier and Ned Jarrett was exceptional. It felt like the two had called a race together a week ago, not some 15 years ago.
It was also a reminder of how many of us fell in love with NASCAR. We always love the announcers of our youth and it’s no secret that NASCAR fans love to harken back to the good old days. Well, the good old days were sort of back Sunday night. And if you didn’t enjoy the nostalgic feel – albeit brought on because NASCAR finally came to the realization that moving the Southern 500 from its traditional date to tap in to different markets was a bad idea – we hope you get a prescription.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
