(Bill W) May 9, 2016 – “It’s Racetime in the Valley Here at Knoxville!” Tim Trier’s voice ran out over the speakers at the Knoxville Raceway one more time last Saturday night, thanks to announcer Tony Bokhoven and videographer Kris Krohn, who dug through his archives. Tim passed away on April 26 having battled the “Big C” valiantly. Tim and Jack Herwehe were the announcers who molded my outlook on sprint car racing in my formative years at the “Sprint Car Capital of the World”.
“It’s Racetime in the Valley!” and “It’s Showtime here at Knoxville!” became iconic catchphrases for Trier every week. On more than one occasion, a drunk fan in section D would stand and exclaim, “If this is a valley, where the hell are the mountains?” It didn’t matter, we all loved those phrases and others like “He’s got the wick turned up, and the kite string out!” or “It’s Dick Dunkin magic again tonight! These guys are whistlin’ Dixie!”
Tim and Jack were the perfect combination. Many announcers do it solo, and do it well. My friends Bruce Ellis, John Gibson and others have perfected that craft. The reason Trier and Herwehe were great was they complimented each other so well.
In my opinion, announcers lean towards one of two directions. You have the entertainer, and the you have the informant. Trier had the catch phrases to entertain us, and Herwehe was the informant. Herwehe had all the dirt on the drivers, owners, their families and other nuggets. That’s not to say Trier didn’t know his stuff, because he did! The two balanced each other so well. They did their homework in the pits and before Saturday ever came, and that was evident. That is so important for an announcer to do! You need to spend at least as many hours in preparation as you do on the mike. Too many times we see the opposite, and it’s evident as soon as the PA is turned on.
These two men had a lasting impact on me to be sure. It was never my dream to announce, but I’ve been fortunate to do it, and I try to do the pair justice when I’m on the mike. I think Jeff Broeg and I work well together with the Sprint Invaders, and I’ve enjoyed working with other great announcers like “Hot Rod” Pattison, Justin Zoch, Tony B, Shawn Neistadt, Bryan Hulbert and many others as well. My style definitely leans towards the informant side. I try to let fans know more about who they’re seeing on the track, so it helps to have some balance of education and entertainment with my partners. We all try to get better every night out, and so did Tim and Jack.
Tim and Jack worked in a time before they had to jam a sponsor in every other sentence, and I miss those times. Sponsors are needed this day in age, and we have to give them their due diligence, but as an announcer, you have to work a lot harder to get everything in you need to inform new fans about the heroes they’re watching. Tim and Jack were also good at giving us some peace and quiet, which is very important. You can’t talk to your neighbor when it seems like AC/DC is playing in concert two rows in front of you. A big part of racing is the camaraderie with fellow race fans! Call me “old school” if you will, but there needs to be a balance. I need to be able to talk about what’s going on with the person beside me. Leave me alone for a while!
I knew Tim personally only in passing while he was announcing at Knoxville, but got to know him well later in life. We have both been coaching high school boys basketball for many years, he at Newton and I at PCM (Prairie City/Monroe). Our teams were in different classes, but we would scrimmage over Christmas or see each other at rules meetings. I also worked in Newton for fifteen years and we’d run into each other often. He had a big influence on young people’s lives and they will miss him in the community. I’m happy that I got to let him know what an influence he had on me in Knoxville. So did you Jack, and I hope you can see this as a tribute to you as well as all the other announcers mentioned. You all keep the show rolling, and keep us entertained and informed!
For me, when I think back to my time growing up at the Knoxville Raceway, it will always be the memories of Tim and Jack! And come Saturday night, it will be “Racetime in the Valley here at Knoxville!” once again!