7/12/2020
Ransomville Speedway
Staff Profile: Track Announcer Rick Mooney
One doesn’t have to look hard to identify “The Voice of Ransomville Speedway” in the 21st century because he’s been a part of the “Big R” since the year 2000. Track announcer Rick Mooney has spent 20 seasons behind the microphone at Ransomville, starting every race with his classic phrase “And we are racing!”
Mooney’s road to Ransomville starts as a kid attending the race tracks around Western New York. His Uncle Ed was a veteran campaigner on the pavement tracks, including Perry, Holland and Lancaster, racking up some championships along the way in support divisions. His Uncle Jack was known for his mechanical skills, but also spent a year behind the wheel of a Street Stock at Lancaster. His cousin, Rhonda, is one of the great female racers in WNY motorsports history, racing against the men in the Pure Stocks.
As he grew a little older Mooney wanted to continue attending races, but without some of the cost associated with it. “I had been going to races my whole life, I was looking for a way to get in without paying. Nobody was covering racing for the Batavia Daily News, and I knew the guy that was a sports editor so I gave him a call and asked if he could get me a press pass, then I would start writing about racing,” said Mooney.
That writing gig in Batavia led Mooney to his first job in racing as he became the PR Director for Perry Speedway (now Wyoming County International Speedway) in 1980. Two years later he got his first taste of race announcing when the legendary Kenny Hangauer was going to be late for a show at Perry. Mooney had done some public address announcing in high school, and he used that experience to fill in for Hangauer.
Mooney became a fixture as a track announcer after that. He and Hangauer worked together at Perry and Genesee Speedway before Mooney got the call to fill in at Holland Speedway in 1985. That led to Mooney working at Holland on a regular basis for over 30 years starting in 1986.
Mooney was working strictly at Holland in 2000 when Ransomville Speedway came calling. The “Big R” was in search of a new announcer to take over for the departing Craig Wilson, and so he was brought in to work with Mel Thomas. Mooney has been paired up with Dave Buchanan in the announcer’s booth since 2009.
While he’s still waiting to get his 21st season at Ransomville started, you won’t have to push him out the door once we get the all-clear. “The racing is just exciting. The Modifieds coming out of turn 4 at the start of a feature race, when I get excited about it, it’s not false excitement. I am really wound up,” said Mooney. “It’s just a thrill to actually get excited, share that excitement with people, and have that be a job. That’s the best of both worlds.”
One of the things Mooney loves best about Ransomville is that every race can be unpredictable. “It’s very rare you see a runaway there. What I like about it, especially with the Modifieds, is that the track can change through the course of a feature race and it really changes the complexion of how the race is working out,” said Mooney. “You may think you’re seeing a runaway at the start, but it turns out not to be on the 24th lap.”
All of us at the “Big R” can’t wait for the day for racing to resume, and for Rick Mooney to utter that familiar phrase once again. “And we are racing!’
Submitted By: Dave Buchanan