Racing season begins Mar. 29 at SRP

ANNOUNCERS BACK:
Faeth Motorsports promoter Rick Faeth, center, shakes the hands of Gary Moore, left, and Gary Cressey. Cressey and Moore are returning to the raceway as announcers for the 2008 racing season.

Gary Cressey has been announcing car racing for the past 23 years. He said he has had two favorite co-announcers over the years. One was Dave Piland, who recently passed away, and the other was Gary Moore. Faeth Motorsports promoter Rick Faeth, doing business as the Shasta Raceway Park, has hired and reunited the Cressey – Moore team.

“This year promises to be a great year,” said Faeth.

“You can’t ask for better and more knowledgeable announcers than these two guys.”

Cressey said “announcers don’t necessarily have to be funny but they have to have fun. People know if you are enjoying what you are doing.” Moore, a 1981 Anderson Union High School graduate, got started in radio/announcing when he visited the racing team announcer Cressey and radio personality Dave Tappen.

“Cressey had Tappen and me lay on the floor of the announcer’s booth. We had to broadcast what was happening to the crowd as he (Cressey) observed and told us what was taking place down on the track – it was a great lesson,” said Moore.

Moore spent some time in the Sacramento area in the broadcast industry and, when the opportunity presented itself, he moved back to his hometown.

Cressey has announced at some 51 different tracks in 11 states and he continues to announce, on a regular basis, at Shasta Raceway Park and at Evergreen Speedway near Seattle, Washington. Moore is also doing other broadcasting such as in Roseville and Roseburg, Ore.

While talking about the new season, Cressey quickly figured that watching some 2,100 races with some 200 laps each — means that he has watched 100,000 miles of racing — or watching cars go four times around the earth at 25,000 miles each time.

Rick Faeth, originally from Los Gatos, said he “got tired of the pace of life in the Bay Area and moved north. Faeth is the president of the Bay City Racing Midgets and plans to have them come north and race here.

Cressey had said that in the early years of the racetrack “you had to get there early to get a seat.” Faeth said he wants to get the family entertainment back to that point and it is rough competition with all the electronic gadgets out there now.

“Nothing, but nothing is better than ‘live’ entertainment races,” said Faeth. Faeth said he doesn’t race as much as he used to but “it is also fun taking a ‘hobby’ and turning it into a way to make a living.”Faeth said that Shasta Raceway Park, in 2008, will feature the premiere Late Model racing division, along with Modifieds, Bombers, Mini Stocks and a very affordable entry level division called Hornets.

Faeth went on to say that he “is committed to providing family entertainment in a stock car racing capacity” and said he plans “many special events” for the season including special race showings at Win-River Casino.

A family entrance fee is $28 which includes two adults and two children’s tickets.