Thursday, April 30, 2009

One of my favorites...

Over the years as my career in sports broadcasting and journalism has evolved, there was always one voice and one writing style that I tired to emulate. That's because this one character always had a reason for saying something and he always knew what he said was, in his opinion atleast, the right answer.

Tuesday that voice and that talent was silenced. Charlotte Observer motorsports writer and co-host of The Morning Drive on Sirius Satellite Radio David Poole died of a heart attack shortly after signing off the air Tuesday morning.

I admired David because he really didn't seem to care what others thought of his ideas and always tried to see both sides of a NASCAR issue. He argued every caller that called his show and when he debated them, he debated via facts. I always knew that he'd come up with some stat that was really from left field and didn't back down from his opinions. I think a lot more journalists should share the same philosophy.

Now I didn't always share the same ideas as David did. I screamed at my radio on Monday morning driving back from Talladega about his ideas to bulldoze the banking at Talladega because of the danger it posed to drivers and fans. Some of those fans were injured in a last lap wreck that saw Carl Edwards' Ford fly through the air and into the catchfence in the trioval at the Alabama track. I belive there are other options to make the track safer for fans and drivers, but this isn't the time to talk about that.

I give props to Dave Moody and Mike Bagley who somehow managed to both make it through four hours of programming on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. I don't think I could have done what those guys did.

I'll always remember David Poole for his opinions and those hilarious Dramatic Readings each week on TMD. His voice is now silenced, but his influence on me and the rest of the NASCAR media will forever be felt.