My Apologies to Mike Joy
Written by Ray Champagne · June 17, 2008
I wrote a blog post on Fastmachines.com lately, and one of the points that I had made involved Mike Joy (the play-by-play man on the Fox NASCAR broadcasts on Sundays) calling Tony Stewart’s Home Depot team “Big Orange”. I had made a comment that he should not have done that out of respect to the late, great Richie Evans, a popular, wildy successful driver of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
Come to find out, Mike Joy himself read the post and sent me a personal email explaining why he had used the term. I won’t disclose the whole email, since it was personal, but to sum it up, he explained that it was not unintentional that he had done that, and meant no disrespect whatsoever to Richie. Rather, it was more of a talking point to relate with fans like myself who remember the man who perished behind the wheel doing the single thing that he loved most in life. It was told to me that Richie, Mike, and Greg Zipadelli (Stewart’s crew chief) all knew each other at the time, and were good friends. He also mentioned that he felt that Tony would have gotten along quite well with Richie Evans, a point that I had not considered, but agree with wholeheartedly.
So, Mike, I appreciate the criticism, and apologize for my short rant. I am also humbled that a great announcer such as yourself took the time out to read my blog post and explain your position. I’m looking forward to next season when you and your team get back to the track doing the great job that you do covering races for us armchair racers at home.
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You’ve got to respect Mike Joy. I remember him from wayyyyy back, before there was big money in racing. If he makes a comment about racing, you can take it to the bank. The man knows his stuff, and has met all the greats.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. My father and his friends remember Mike Joy from back in the day, and I kinda knew that I might have been out of line at the time, giving that I knew that fact. Sometimes we get comfy behind our blog postings, thinking that no one will call us out. All I can say is ‘oops’.