A racing heart: steve post’s passion spans A lifetime

storY: ALLISON COLLINS, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS Photos: PROvIDED

for as long as Motor Racing Network broadcaster Steve Post can recall, his life has revolved around racing. “I don’t remember a time when I was not interested in racing and what got me started is my dad,” Post, 56, said, noting that he grew up in Hallstead, Pennsylvania. “We’d always go to the local races at Penn-Can Speedway (in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania) or Five Mile Point Speedway in Kirkwood, (New York), so I don’t remember an aspect of life where I was not just all absorbed with racing. It goes back to going to those racetracks.” announcing aLLure

“As a child, one of the things that fascinated me was the announcers,” he said. “I would take my Matchbox cars on the braided rug or under the dining room table and have races and announce them. I loved talking about the racing, so it was always a passion of mine … and talking about the racing has always been part of who I’ve been.

“One of those Friday nights Cal Arthur and Jim Beavens were the two announcers,” Post continued. “I’ll never forget it: my dad knew those guys from being in the community and … he took me up to the tower before the races started. I remember looking out over the racetrack and what a moment that was for me.”

But it was hearing such races broadcast over static-riddled airwaves, Post said, that really set his wheels spinning.

“I loved listening to baseball on a transistor radio and the two stations I could get were the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies,” Post said. “But there was a Sunday afternoon when I was scrolling on the AM channel — holding my breath, holding the thing up in the air – and I heard NASCAR racing on the radio. I could not believe it. “The signal was terrible and I’d get it for seconds, then it’d be gone,” he continued, “but I knew it was out there and thought, ‘That’s interesting.’”

From pr to pit roaD

carried through his college years at Pennsylvania State University, where he earned a marketing degree, until becoming catalytic.

“I went to college and then settled in Binghamton and decided this radio passion was something I wanted to pursue,” he said. “I got a job doing overnights at a country station … and I had other jobs, but certainly had a passion for (radio) and always listened to it, whether conversational or music.

“I had a car show in Scranton, I had some PR clients, I was guest announcing — so I was doing everything I could,” he continued. “But I was about 30 years old and it struck me, ‘If I don’t make the move from Pennsylvania and upstate New York to North Carolina to pursue a dream with NASCAR racing, I may never do that.’”

In 1995, Post relocated to North Carolina for a public relations position, setting something more in motion.

“I started working in PR, which is a great entry-level way into the sport if you’re not mechanically inclined, which I am not,” Post said, laughing. “I got to know the folks at MRN, got to listen to them a lot and work with them. Then, in 2002 — I had expressed my interest (in broadcasting) and I have a strong voice — I did an audition. I worked my first race in 2003 and, at that point, made the transition from PR to broadcasting.”

Though those years presented challenges, Post said, he’d never switch lanes. “In the early days where you’re working not many races at all — I think I had 12 races that first year and my paycheck was in line with that —you’re cobbling things together: races and PR projects and juggling chainsaws,” he said. “Even if you catch them, you’re still not sure they’ll all add up to what you need. “There was frustration, but I don’t know that that’s unique to what I do,” Post continued. “The asterisk I have … is that I was pursuing my dream job, so as bad as it might have been, it still wasn’t quite that bad. I don’t think I’d change anything about it now, when I look back.”

This year, Post noted, he will cover “somewhere in the vicinity of 65 to 75 races with MRN on pit road.”

Eighteen years later and Post said he still loves being “the boots on the ground of the broadcast crew.”

“I do NASCAR broadcasting and pit road reporting … so I’m down in the trenches,” he said. “Broadcast of the event starts … with interviewing the drivers pre-race — what they’ll be looking for, how they feel about their car – then, as the race is unfolding, we deal with the pit stops and strategies and those aspects of the race; we monitor on a scanner all the conversations among the crew chiefs and gather information on what everyone is doing; and we talk to drivers during the race that have fallen out. When it’s over, we go over to victory lane and talk to the winners.”

Steve Post is seen broadcasting for Motor Racing Network at Daytona in February of last year.

a peak oF the pitS

Post said a recent trip to victory lane stands out from the rest.

“When I look at the way my career has gone — and I’ve had a bevy of great moments — my absolute favorite moment in the sport was this year’s Daytona 500, when Mike McDowell won his first race.”

Post noted that the 2020 retirement of veteran MRN broadcaster Winston Kelley meant mcDowell’s win dovetailed with his own first Daytona 500 victory lane coverage. But, Post said, a connection to McDowell predated such shared newness.

“My very first Daytona 500 experience was with this journeyman driver who had never won before, but the story was even deeper with michael,” he said. “He’s a guy who’s very strong in his faith and has, over the course of his life, done a lot of speaking in churches and rallies and youth groups. I would go with Michael to these events maybe 10 years ago and lead a Q-and-A, then he’d transition into his testimony and faith and it would be like a revival service that we’d break into. So, we had a relationship off the track. “We’ve had some good bonding time as a pair of guys doing what we were doing at that point (10 years ago), so we know each other well and each other’s families,” Post continued. “I’m closer to Michael than I am with most of the other drivers and here we are, at the Daytona 500 and he’d had a long winless streak, and I get to be there in victory lane to see his face when he climbs out of the car and grabs that checkered flag. He walked over and gave me a big hug, which is against all protocols with NASCAR and social distancing, but he didn’t care, and I didn’t care and it was just a really neat moment. To get to ask him about that race and hear him break it down is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. That stands out as the moment I’ll remember the most.”

Post said every race has driven something in him. “It’s career and hobby,” he said. “I love radio and I love the sport of auto racing, whether it’s NASCAR or not. When I’m not at NASCAR, I go to the local dirt tracks and I’ll announce, or I’ll go in the pits or I’ll sit in the stands and just hang out and be a fan.

“And I love travel and this job takes me to different places,” he continued. “I get to try some wonderful restaurants, breweries and do some great sightseeing. You take all these things and put them together and I’m sitting here, at a time when people my age are thinking about slowing down, and I’m more excited about this year than any other.”

For more information, visit stevepostcommunications.com or follow Post on Twitter @ThePostman68.

Post’s racing hero, No. 68, Pete Cordes, is seen in this undated photo.

With a lifetime of race loving under his belt, Steve Post said, it’s a man from the tiny hamlet of Sidney Center, New York, that still tops his list of best-loved drivers. “Pete Cordes raced in the ‘60s and ‘70s and into the ‘80s and he drove the No. 68 car,” he said. “My Twitter account is ThePostman68 and that ‘68’ is for Pete “my dad used to take me to the pits and we’d talk to Pete after the races,” Post continued. “Everyone loved him and respected him as a racer. That 68 reminds me of what it’s like to be a fan at Five Mile Point (in Kirkwood, New York) and to have a hero. He was my hero.”

Despite his own continuous involvement in the sport, Post said, it wasn’t until recently that he forged a connection with Cordes. “He’s been inducted into a couple of different halls of fame — he’s a very respected racer — and, as an adult, in the early ‘90s, I was president of the We-Go (Racing) Fan Club and we inducted Pete into that hall of fame,” he said. “But, for whatever reason, that night I never really got a chance to visit him. I presented him with his award but never got to talk to him.

“Then three or four years ago, I had a speaking engagement at Watkins Glenn … and someone came up to me and said they lived next to Pete and gave me a contact,” Post continued. “I was able to connect; I flew into Syracuse … and drove down to Sidney and had dinner with Pete and (his wife) Judy. So, as an adult, I got to meet my hero. It is an amazing thing when you find out your hero as a child — this person who was bigger than life — is a better man than you even imagined as a kid.”

Post, self-described as “ridiculously optimistic,” said he’s hopeful the motorsports industry and the world can turn the corner after the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19.

“I have hope,” he said. “I think racetracks, whether NASCAR or local tracks, have weathered a brutal storm and, beyond the sport, our society has weathered a brutal storm. There are industries that are absolutely gutted and industries that are thriving; somewhere in the middle is the motorsports industry. I’m blessed and have continued to work a lot.”

Pandemic-induced restrictions and creativity, Post said, will likely yield gains on and off the track.

“Some tracks are barely hanging on, but there’s hope (because) NASCAR and the local teams have learned new things: pay-per-view and how that factors into the sport; not practicing all day long and burning fuel and tires and people out; trimming things down and making things efficient,” he said.

“As things open up and we get into a post-COVID era, people will want to get back out and do things,” Post continued. “Track operators and people in the sport that will have come out of this will be in a spot to put together some fun racing programs and get people back out into the world. I have a lot of hope that we come out of this thing.”

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