NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series News Release:  Contact – ROBY HELM – (865) 207-4157

January 18, 2014

ROBY HELM RECEIVES BOB CROSS MEMORIAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

               DAWSONVILLE, GA – Long time auto racing Publicist and Announcer Roby Helm was the recipient of the Bob Cross Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award during the NeSmith Racing Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday night at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame and Thunder Road Museum.

               Helm, who has worked with NeSmith Racing since 2005 as the Public Relations Director and Event Announcer, was caught totally off guard by the announcement at the banquet, where he was working as the Master of Ceremonies.  Weeks earlier, Helm was told by NeSmith Racing Founder and CEO Mike Vaughn to write him a script for another recipient.

Helm introduced Vaughn to present the award, and as Helm sat down off stage, Vaughn told him not to worry if he went off script.  The announcement left Helm in an awkward moment, as he went from MC to recipient after a standing ovation.

“This is totally an unexpected surprise and you are about to witness a first for me,” Helm said.  “This is the first time in 32 years that I have picked up a microphone in front of a crowd with no idea of what to say, or how to say it.  I first have to thank God for giving me the gift of being able to announce and write, and I want to thank Mike and Heather Vaughn for believing that I am worthy of such a prestigious award.”

The award is named in memory of the late Bob Cross, who was an Engineer with Chevrolet Performance and developed the Chevrolet Performance 604 and 602 Crate Engines, as well as the Chevrolet Performance CT525 Engine that are used in all four NeSmith Racing Divisions.

Past recipients of the Bob Cross Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award have been National Dirt Hall of Fame Inductees Ronnie Johnson (2010) and Jeff Purvis (2012), and Chevrolet Performance Special Projects Manager Bill Martens (2011).

“It’s such an unbelievable honor to have my name enshrined on an award along with Hall of Famers Ronnie Johnson and Jeff Purvis, and Bill Martens of Chevrolet Performance,” Helm said.  “My Dad, who passed away in 2004, would be impressed that the award his son is being given tonight is named after Bob Cross.  I never had the pleasure to meet Bob Cross, but from what I’ve heard and read about him, he was a lot like my Dad.  They were both Engine guys that thought outside the box and they were both GM Engineers.”

Helm has worked in short track auto racing as an announcer and publicist for the past 32 years.  He grew up in a racing family that has been involved in the sport since 1922.  His father Bob Helm was a Sprint Car Chief Mechanic and Engine Builder from 1927 through 1950, and his uncle Ralph “Speedy” Helm was a Sprint Car Owner and Mechanic from 1922 through 1974 and is inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.

While in the Army and stationed at Fort Polk, LA in 1978, Helm worked part-time at 171 Speedway in Leesville, LA writing press releases for the track.  One night, the track’s announcer was going to be late getting there, so they had Helm fill in until he could get there. 

Before Helm could get comfortable as an announcer, the Army shipped him off to Germany for two years.  While in the Army, Helm was a Broadcaster and a Photojournalist.  After he was honorably discharged from the Army in 1980, Helm decided to pursue his Dad’s path in auto racing as a mechanic, and went to work for a friend of his from Racine, WI named Marty Davis, who had a Midget race car.

“I grew up as a boy with a strong desire to be a race car driver and be the next A.J. Foyt,” Helm said.  “Marty would take me go-kart racing, and he and others said I definitely had what it took to be a good race car driver.  But I had a lazy eye, and that’s not a good thing for an open-wheel race car driver to have, so I turned wrenches for Marty for a couple of years.”

Helm said it was his Uncle Ralph Helm that encouraged him to pursue getting a college degree and taking another route in choosing a different profession in racing.

“My uncle told me if I was a driver I would only get hurt or killed, and if I was a car owner or a mechanic I would go broke,” Helm said.  “He said I should go to college, get a degree, and be an announcer like Dickie Edwards in Tampa, FL.  It made sense to me because I was broke, but I loved to talk about racing.”

While Helm was attending the University of South Florida working towards a Mass Communications Degree in Broadcasting, he got another opportunity to announce the races by accident in 1982.  Before long, he was announcing races at two Tampa, FL tracks alongside two famous announcers.

“We had a school project where we could go out in the field and film a documentary,” Helm said.  “Well, there just happened to be a race track just a couple of miles down the road from USF on Fowler Ave. called Golden Gate Speedway.  The track promoter, Don Nerone, said we could film under one condition, and that was we had to give him a copy of the video tape.”

So Helm and his film crew finished their work at the track, but there was one race left in the show, the Thunder Car feature race.  They went and sat down in the grandstand when Helm got a crazy idea he wanted to try for fun.

“I told the photographer to shoot the race, and I would try to do some play-by-play just for fun,” Helm said.  “These two guys were racing for the lead when one punted the other one over the turn three banking.  The puntee confronted the punter under caution and a fight broke out.  I went from calling the race right into calling the fight.  Later, we gave Nerone the tape, but I forgot to edit out the last race we did for fun.  Nerone saw it, he loved it, and he called me to see if I would like to come back and work with his announcer.”

Nerone’s announcer at the time was Hall of Famer Jack Miller, one of the top short track announcers in the country.  Helm jumped at the chance, and before long, he was also working with the announcer at East Bay Raceway in Tampa, FL, who was none other than the announcer Helm’s uncle told him about, Dickie Edwards.

“I probably wouldn’t be a racing announcer if it wasn’t for Jack Miller and Dickie Edwards,” Helm said.  “They taught me how to loosen up, have fun with it, and that you don’t have to sound like the guy doing the news on TV.  I tell race fans that I’m just like them, only instead of talking about what’s going on to the people sitting next to me, I have a microphone in my hand so I can tell everyone.”

Since that night 32 years ago, Helm has gone on to announce and/or perform public relations duties for events at 182 different race tracks in 26 different states.  He has also worked several radio and television motorsports broadcasts through the years and worked for many sanctioning bodies that include the Hooters Cup and Hooters Formula Cup Series, the Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Late Model Series, the United Sprint Car Series, and his current job with NeSmith Racing.

Through the years, Helm has worked with many of today’s top drivers early in their racing careers including NASCAR Champions Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Joe Nemechek and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who have fielded questions from Helm over a microphone.

“In 1985, I did the first National event interview at East Bay Raceway with a 13-year-old Sprint Car driver named Jeff Gordon,” Helm said.  “In 2004, I took another 13-year-old Sprint Car driver to his first television interview, and on that day, I told Ricky Stenhouse Jr. he reminded me a lot of Jeff Gordon both on and off the track when he was his age.  There are a lot of talented 13-year-old race car drivers out there today that have the potential to be the next Jeff Gordon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.”

The name Roby Helm may not be that well-known among short track race fans across the country by name, but they probably know his voice.  Helm said that’s O.K. with him because it’s by design.

“I’m not much of a self-promoter and I don’t get out and strut up and down the front straightaway drawing attention to myself,” Helm said.  “People don’t come to the races and buy a ticket to see me strut, or hear me talk.  They come to see the drivers race on the track.  If the fans leave the race track knowing my name and not the drivers, I haven’t done my job.  My goal is for the fans to leave the track knowing the drivers’ names and learning at least one thing about them that they didn’t know before.  The event is not about me, or any other announcer, it’s about the drivers and what they do on the race track. I just try to draw the fans’ attention to it.”

               For more information and rules about the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series, visit the series all-new web site at www.nesmithracing.com, or visit the series on Facebook at NeSmith Racing.  Becoming a fan of the NeSmith Racing Facebook page will make you eligible for special prizes that will be given away each month.  You can follow us on Twitter @NeSmithRacing.

NeSmith Chevrolet, Buick, GMC of Claxton, GA is the Title Sponsor of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.  NeSmith Chevrolet, Buick, GMC is the nation’s number one GM Powertrain and Performance Dealer six years running, with free delivery anywhere in the Southeast.  Chevrolet Performance Parts is an Official Sponsor of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.  Hoosier Racing Tire is the Official Tire Sponsor of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.  Hedman Hedders is the Official Hedder of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series and the Hedman Husler Award sponsor.  Bilstein Shocks is the Official Spec Shock of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.  Old Man’s Garage is the sponsor of the NeSmith Chevrolet Old Man’s Garage Weekly Racing Series.  RockAuto.com is an Official Sponsor of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.  Racecar Engineering is the Official Parts Supplier of the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series.  Renegade Race and Performance Fuels are a series Associate Sponsor and fuel supplier.  NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series Contingency Sponsors for 2013 are Dominator Race Products, Stealth Racing Carburetors, Modern Images, Mike Custom Tanks, Shorty’s Shock Service, Schoenfeld Headers, J.T. Kerr Racing Equipment, Kinser Air Filters, AR Bodies, Velocita Racewear, and Performance Rod & Custom.  2013 Chassis Sponsors are Trak-Star Race Cars, Warrior Race Cars, Rocket Chassis, GRT Race Cars, TNT Race Cars, Stinger Race Cars, and CVR Race Cars. 

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