Longtime racing announcer Bob Jenkins, a former radio voice of the Indianapolis 500 whose profession spanned greater than 5 a long time on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Community, died Monday on the age of 73, Indianapolis Motor Speedway mentioned in an announcement.
Jenkins revealed in February that he had been recognized with mind most cancers and deliberate to reduce his work on the speedway as he underwent radiation and chemotherapy remedy.
Jenkins, who survived colon most cancers within the Nineteen Eighties, retired from broadcasting on the finish of the 2012 IndyCar season to look after his spouse, Pam, who had been recognized with mind most cancers. He returned to the tv sales space briefly in 2013 after she died, and had most just lately labored as one of many speedway’s main public handle announcers.
Jenkins joined the IMS Radio Community in 1979 and rapidly turned well-liked along with his booming, baritone voice and easygoing type.
He additionally referred to as IndyCar, NASCAR and Formulation One races for different networks together with ABC, ESPN, NBC Sports activities Community and its predecessor Versus. He was a central determine in ESPN’s racing protection, anchoring “NASCAR on ESPN” from 1979 to 2000.
Jenkins additionally appeared in “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and supplied the voice for a number of video video games, together with EA Sports activities’ well-liked “NASCAR.”
However he may need been finest identified round Indianapolis because the radio voice of the five hundred from 1990-98, a tenure that included his name of Al Unser Jr.’s first 500 victory in 1992 when he barely beat Scott Goodyear.
“The checkered flag is out, Goodyear makes a transfer, Little Al wins by just some tenths of a second — maybe the closest end within the historical past of the Indianapolis 500,” Jenkins declared. The victory margin — 0.043 seconds — stays the closest end within the race’s 104-year historical past.
Jenkins grew up in rural Indiana and attended his first Indianapolis 500 in 1960. Since then, he mentioned he missed solely two races — 1961, when he could not get anybody to take him, and 1965, when he was on a senior journey.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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