Tim Terry a mainstay at Scotia Speedworld

Tim Terry is in his element in the announcer's booth at many race tracks throughout Atlantic Canada.

SCOTIA SPEEDWORLD: He’s called some of racing’s biggest names during online racing games and for the past two years he’s been the Voice of Scotia Speedworld and the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour.
He is Tim Terry, an affable 21-year-old whose maturity surpasses his years. However, the enthusiasm and energy he brings as he belts out the action on the racetrack definitely fits the fact he’s still a youngster.
Terry— of Truro— drives up on a mini-golf cart next to the no. 75 legend car of Rawdon Gold Mines product Emily Meehan. He offers me a lift on the mini-golf cart to a spot he’s very familiar with— pit lane at Scotia Speedworld’s 3/10 mile oval.
It’s here that Terry explains how he got involved and what he does during the winter to curb his need for speed.
“I started here at Scotia about five years ago,” says Terry as he looked out at the track. “I took on the Pro Stock tour at the same time. This will be my third year doing the tour full time.”
He said just like a crew member, official or race car driver once racing gets in your blood it’s in you for good.
“That’s what motivates me, to get to the track, to talk to the drivers, to know what they’re going through, just to explain it and get it out to the race fans,” he says. “It’s just another avenue to see what’s going on in the sport.”
Terry started in the sport in 2004 with Simulation Racing online where he broadcasted Dale Earnhardt Jr’s online league in 2006. Some of the NASCAR Sprint Cup racers in that league include Dale Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, and Brad Keselowski.
“That was back when Brad Keselowski was a no name,” Terry says. “I started broadcasting with Sim Racing Network (SRN) and moved on from there and then I got started here.
“That’s really how I got started. I emailed Ken Cunning (Scotia Speedworld’s General Manager) one day and asked if they needed any announcer sometime I’d be up to do it.”
He says what drives him is the exhilarating racing week in week out that he gets to witness first hand from the control tower at Speedworld or any of the race tracks the tour goes to.
“The stock car racing is exciting,” he says. “I just try to make it that little bit more exciting for the people sitting in the stands.
“There’s nothing I don’t like. The long weekends are worth it in the end, like when you get no sleep. It’s fun and exhilarating, but it’s tiring after a long weekend.”
The words that come quickly off the tongue of Terry have been self-taught from him listening to broadcasters like Richard Gauthier, Wade Wilson, and NASCAR.
“That’s really where I learned my craft by picking up terminology used by them,” he says.
While his weekends are kept busy with the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour and weekly racing series, he has kept his online broadcasting presence.
“I’m doing the NASCAR iRacing World Championship,” he says.
For Terry a typical weekly racing series race night begins when he leaves his Truro home at 2:30 p.m., usually arriving at the track located near the Halifax Stanfield International Airport at 3 p.m.
“I start setting up the equipment then head back to the pits for the gates to open for competitors at 4:30 or so,” he says. “I’ll do some interviews so I’ll have some time to kill when I’m up in the tower during the night. I’ll go back to the booth about 6 and the show starts at 7 p.m.”
After the race is done, he leaves and heads home usually getting in his door at 11 p.m. That doesn’t leave much time to snooze when the bus leaves at 8 a.m. the next morning (or earlier for some race weekends) for the pro stock race.
“It’s just like racing there’s not a lot of money in it, but. I put a lot of effort into it,” he says.
With the travel involved to the various tracks that host pro stock races, this usually requires leaving home quite early resulting in a little bit of a tiring issue, Terry says with a chuckle.
“If all else fails I can always sleep on the bus on the way up,” he says. “Moncton, P.E.I., and Fredericton we stay overnight because we’ll get done late. It’s a long, strenuous day, but its’ well worth it in the end.”
Fans can hear Terry’s voice two more times before the curtain falls on the 2011 race season. He will call the track’s weekly racing series season finale on Sept. 9, beginning at 7 p.m., before the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour invades Scotia Speedworld for its season finale Dartmouth Dodge 200. Time trials start at 3:10 p.m., with racing set for 4 p.m.
The event will be supplemented by the Maritime League of Legends Tour, featuring Meehan known at the track as Miss Rawdon Rocket. She will look to end her rookie season on a good note.
While the weekly series and pro stock tour season ends, Terry won’t be quite done. He will act as a pit reporter for the NAPA Sportsman series 100 lap feature at Riverside International Speedway in James River on Sept. 16. It’s aprt of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series racing weekend.
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com