BARRE, Vt. — Ken Squier, the NASCAR Hall of Fame broadcaster who was a pillar of the sport for decades and brought stock car racing into the mainstream, died at his home in Waterbury, Connecticut, last Wednesday at 88.

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Squier, a broadcast legend in his home state of Vermont, was co-founder of the Motor Racing Network in 1970 with NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. He helped found Thunder Road International Speedbowl — usually just called Thunder Road — a quarter-mile, high-banked, paved short track in Barre, Vermont, according to the track’s website.

“Stock car racing flourished and continues to this day because of Ken Squier,” Thunder Road officials said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Our thoughts are with the Squier family as well as all of those who’s life that he touched.”

Squier started his broadcast career at WDEV, a Vermont radio station founded by his father and later owned by Squier. His talent as a broadcaster was extolled by friends.

“He had an incredible ability to do the radio broadcasting and paint the picture which radio does, and on the television side he’d put captions under pictures,” said Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, according to Mychamplainvalley.com.

His biggest contribution to NASCAR probably came in 1979 when he helped cut a deal with CBS’ coverage of the Daytona 500, which he led until 1997, calling the race for 19 straight years. He coined the phrase “The Great American Race” to describe the Daytona 500 and described racers as “ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” and “common men doing uncommon things,” according to his obituary on NASCAR.com. He was also aware that Daytona was run in the dead of winter, when most Americans were snowed in and were drawn into the sport. It remains a fixture on sports TV.

Jim France, NASCAR chairman and CEO, released a statement that summed up Squier’s down-to-earth personality, his vision that helped build NASCAR and his unparalleled talent as a sportscaster.

“Though he never sat behind the wheel of a stock car, Ken Squier contributed to the growth of NASCAR as much as any competitor,” France said in a statement published in Squier’s NASCAR obit.

“Ken was a superb storyteller and his unmistakable voice is the soundtrack to many of NASCAR’s greatest moments. His calls on TV and radio brought fans closer to the sport, and for that, he was a fan favorite. Ken knew no strangers, and he will be missed by all. On behalf of the France family and all of NASCAR, I offer my condolences to the family and friends of Ken Squier.”

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