The Dale Jr. Download - Bonus: Next Level w/ Ken Squier - Chapter 4: Common Man, Uncommon Deeds

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

It takes a special type of person to venture out and do things many others haven't. For some, it's the thrill of the risk that fuels their fire. For others, it simply just fits their personality.The extraordinary starts with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. This is where Ken Squier and Cale Yarborough fit into the story.  In this fourth installment of Next Level, host Andrew Kurland, and Squier pick apart his famous quote "common man doing uncommon deeds." The two talk about the first flag-to-flag broadcast, which aired in 1971 featuring Ken as a pit reporter for ABC. They also discuss the birth of in-car cameras, and a never-before-heard story featuring Cale Yarbrough and his pet bear, Susie. You heard it right, a BEAR. Get ready.  Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's going on, Download fans? This is Alex Tim's. Hope you guys had a great new year and holiday season. But here on the Dale Jr. Download, we are extremely excited for 2023. We have a lot of great guest lined up for this year, some new segment ideas, and a lot of other cool things I think you guys are going to really enjoy. And speaking of new things, a brand new episode of Next Level with Andrew Curland is out now. Andrew sat down with legendary broadcaster Ken Squire to discuss his whole. Hall of Fame career and much more. Make sure you go over to the Next Level podcast and hit subscribe so you never

miss another episode. But now, without further ado, here's the brand new episode of Andrew Curlin's next level conversation with Ken Squire. This is the production of Dirtymo Media. An 8, 9 automobile, smashing Jody Ridley, crashing into the end field,

spinning, splashing their way down throat, and his car slithering and sliding down in a corner of a fourth. Slipping, sliding through cars. It's shoot and scoot from here, David. A heel bonnet, a stout and steady third out here. Put every ounce of effort they have into winning. No equivocation about it.

This is worth doing. Common man doing uncommon deeds. They wouldn't be denied. They'd stick with it and fight with it as long as they had breath to breathe. We've got to own it at in cartamom because this is going to change everything. We're talking about like an actual bear, right? Beer, a real beer. Yeah, smoozy the beer.

It takes a special type of person to venture out and do things many others haven't done. For some, it's the thrill of risk that fuels their fire. For others, it simply just fits their personality. It's about proving you can do things that others can't. I mean, the extraordinary starts with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. This is where the likes of Kail Yavro and Ken Squire fit into the story. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the next installment of Next Level,

where we dive into that famous, quote, common man doing uncommon deeds. And honestly, this goes well beyond just the drivers on the track. It boils down to the very idea that a broadcasting, NASCAR was not a common thing at the time. The idea of mainstream broadcasting and mainstream racing just didn't exist. How did we get there? Well, it took someone with a big idea, someone who believed in it, and like we've covered in the first three episodes, that guy is Ken Squire.

We'll talk about the first flag-to-flag broadcast, which was not the 1979 Daytona 500, and you'll find out very shortly what it was. you did your research when I teased it that last time around but Ken was a pit reporter for that race and we actually in between recording we showed him clips of him on pit road if you want it is available on YouTube go check it out I'll share it at the end of the episode so I don't reveal any spoilers um but we talk about yeah that first flag to flag race in car cameras many people don't know that ken squire was that guy instrumental in bringing in car cameras to national and car, putting a face that connected with that car, because at the time when you were watching these

races, all you saw was a race car. You didn't see the hero behind the wheel. And that is, that's what so much of Ken Squire was about, is trying to bring those personalities to life. And one of those personalities, and we're going to cover him a fair amount in this episode, this is actually how the common man doing uncommon deeds quote came about is we were talking about Kayle Yarbrero. And, And some of the things he did, unbelievable stories when I was listening back to this specific portion of the interview, I was getting giddy myself. I was hanging on. It had been some time since I listened to our conversation and I didn't necessarily know where we were going. So I was hanging on as if I was listening to these stories for the first time.

And I can't wait for you to hear what is in store. in my opinion of all the episodes we put out, this one's the best one yet. Can't wait for you to listen to this conversation. Next level with Ken Squire. A lot of people think that the first flag-to-flag coverage of a NASCAR race was the 1979 Daytona 500, but that wasn't the case. It was the 1971 Greenville 200, and you were a pit reporter on that. Yeah.

Do you remember that very? Yeah, I sure do. I had something to look like a pack from World War I lugged around, and I had a great time. David Pearson and Bobby Isaac were the stars in that show. Imagine a guy who came out of that business of making underwear in North Carolina. The star, right, with Bobby Isaac, who I just loved. loved. He couldn't read too well, but he could understand as well as anybody I ever met in my life. I thought he was quite a guy. And that was good enough for him. And he thought he could do it better.

And he kept proving it. And that race, those two fought it out at the end. There was a runaway. I think didn't Bobby Isaac beat David Pearson by a few laps? I think he did. Because one of them tuckered out. But the car. Tucker doubt. Yeah. Not him. But those are the guys that really put solid roots in the ground for this sport and where it's going and what it's becoming and more power to them.

I heard you describe the 71 flag-to-flag race in Greenville as quite the experiment. What worked about it, what didn't work about it, and what did ABC think about that race after it was all sudden done? I guess I did work for ABC that day. I can't tell you that. I know that I walked out and thought, that's pretty interesting. Yeah. It meant something to so many that had not been particularly represented,

although baseball did. But as far as I was concerned, that didn't count. I had to have something more corn on the cob. And it was a short track. It wasn't a long track. And they did the same thing they did everywhere they go and still do today. Put every ounce of effort they have into winning. No equivocation about it.

This is worth doing. Not many people today can put up with that. But they do. And that's what racing was. And these kids today, most of whom I don't know, I see these new names and I'm what the heck is going on here? We've got this avalanche of new names. But where are the Isaacs, the Kali Arboros?

Kali Arboros, who used to jump out of airplanes. And he had a parachute in a lard can. And that was for a fair. And he'd come down and open it on the way down. Huh? Crazy. I didn't know that. Well, go talk to him about it.

Daredebels. And they were. And there was no question about it. And Dale was one of the ones that you could be sure his intention was to use whatever he did to make it work. So you mentioned Kale Yarborough jumping out of an airplane and these guys being daredevils as race car drivers. Was a car another thing Kale could do? Was it something that fit his personality already? Ask him.

Yeah. But I think you're right. I mean, to put together or to work with people that could put together a car that could run 300, 400, 500 miles and still be at the end. Hey. And that originally was not out of Detroit. That was right out of the barnyard over and over again in the south. And they were so proud of it. That was their people doing what they do well.

Nobody paid attention to the Northeast, you know, because we got all those fancy colleges and all that. But underneath all of that were people that cared just as much about proving that they could do something that others couldn't. That's a big part of it right there. And they could and made some money at it. What's wrong with that? Yeah. It comes down to the, you know, your famous quote, it's common men doing uncommon deeds. Which was all of World War II.

And nobody ever made, well, I guess they did, that much out of it. But the common man doing uncommon deeds is why we were so successful in the Pacific and punching into Germany in World War II too. They wouldn't be denied. They'd stick with it and fight with it as long as they had breath to breathe. breathe. On the plane ride here, per your daughter Ashley's suggestion, I watched the movie Rush, which was about the, you know, 1976 Formula One championship with James Hunt, Nikki Lauda. I heard you were all around that season and even went to Japan for that championship race.

I did. Yeah, I stole him out of the press conference because we had to get it on CBS. I wasn't a very good person. But it was CBS News, wasn't it? Yeah. Well, that's what we said it was. So why'd you say that way? Well, because we weren't supposed to be there. And we developed the theory about why we could be there

because it was news. And my God, it was. And we didn't use that much two or three minutes but enough to tell the story. But you have to be on your toes and working on making sure you get it, whatever the job is, done and done right. And I love CBS for that. Yeah.

I always will. Because they had such a determination to do things better with everything they did. And when they bid into sports, they did it. And they had people and producers and directors that were so talented. And I was just lucky to come along at the time when they decided, oh, we need to look at that and that. Well, we'll try that. And they put a team together for Daytona.

It was unbelievable all the way. The audio guy, all of them, producers, directors. And that's what America's supposed to be about. It gets lost. But it doesn't get lost at Thunder Road. By God, when that guy crosses the finish lane, you know he's done the job that day. I wanted to cut in real quick on our conversation with Ken

to set up the story that is coming next. And I tease at the beginning that we're going to talk about in-car cameras. And I wanted to provide a little backstory before we hear Ken's answer. So Ken Squire finds himself in Australia with CBS. He's shooting the world's strongest man. And Chris Akonamaki also happens to be there covering a motorsports event. that is going on in Australia.

He comes across the in-car camera and here is his reaction to it. We've got to do this and we've got to do it quick because he was there at the same time in Australia. I don't know why he was there, but he was. And I said, you can't around. We gotta get this done. And we've got to own it, that in-car camera,

because this is gonna change everything. They bought it, we got it done. With the ink-car camera. camera, I remember reading articles saying that the original versions were really heavy, boxy, maybe even dangerous, right? Yeah, they totally turned over and then the thing would kill them. Oh my gosh. So how did you get them in the cars? On their faith in my good word.

And it seemed to be enough. Yeah, they got by that time. It wouldn't for long because that, When you look at those cameras and the way they were set up in there, geez, but it did. The problem that we had before that was what did it mean? Nobody knew. They couldn't understand why that was so important. Car running around in circles. You put the camera in there and they'd pull up and something would come by them or they

would go by them. And it changed the whole attitude about the drive. before it was just some bozo from South Carolina driving around in circles but take that out of it and consider it as a sailboat race and it was everything because now the opportunity was there for the viewer to see what the hell they were going through yeah and the best part of that story is the, uh-uh. So yeah, who's that? Who's at doing that? That was the mystery of the year at Daytona. So tell me this, tell me that story. We had the best sound guy in the business that worked for CBS. And he had done everything for them. And he said, I've got a problem.

he says we pick up a harmonic out of Cale's car and we can't get rid of the fucking thing you got to help us with it because we don't know what to do so they fussed and fooled around for a while and they couldn't fix it he'd get up in the banks and this would be in practice toward the race

and all of us and ah you know and then go on for eight or nine seconds and then stop. And then it started again. And finally, after a while, I got to think of that. I should know his name because I like the guy. The audio guy said, I think I got it.

It's not the car. It's not our equipment. It's K-O. And it was. He'd get up on the wheel and he had his hands and, He used one hand on the left side, and when he, ah, and then he'd go away. And we discovered that our problem was that we had to get a new driver in there. I'd also muffle him because he couldn't hear it.

Why did he do it? Huh? Why did he do it in the first place? Subconscious thing that he didn't even know he did. He had no idea. He had no idea? I don't think he had an idea in the world that he did that. Wow.

That's pretty crazy. Kale Yarbrough making race car noises in the turns. It wasn't meant to be a noise. It was just like a humming? Yeah. And it was a strange harmonic. And nobody thought of it as a human voice at the time. Did the camera guy, like did he inspect the camera when Kail wasn't in the car?

be like, yeah, there's nothing wrong with it. Like, did he, is that how he figured out it was kale making the noise? No, yeah. But it didn't happen overnight. Oh, so this wasn't a, this didn't happen in a day. Finally, they admitted that as good as their audio was, they couldn't control Kale. Don't want to hear it, turn it down. Yeah, yeah, that's it.

Not many people can control Kale Yarbrough maybe. Nobody could. Nobody couldn't. Remember he used to fly with that bear? They finally took him out of the air because he had that little plane and Susie the bear would end up in Atlanta or somewhere with him in the cockpit flying with the bear sitting beside him. Oh my gosh.

Oh Jesus. And he thought that was so cute and so much fun and Susie, the bear, never got much publicity. We're talking about like an actual bear, right? A real bear. Where'd he get it? Where do you get Susie the Bear from? Bees of a shit out of me. One of the mysteries.

He got the greatest delight. He loved animals. And all of his life he's loved animals as much as his girls. And so Susie the Bear got taken for rides in the airplane. And he got caught. And of course, you know where he landed, but it was in an airport. large enough and they had people there that understood that you didn't take animals and put them in the co-pilot seat and fly with them didn't bother him any seriously like to fly and uh so that

lasted a while and susie got too big so he got she got eliminated from that he got taken out of the air but he was content with that and and that spirit that's a different attitude than most people have with a bear yeah Susie the bear Susie the bear how about that that is right where we stopped recording at the end of day one we're like there's no way we can top this story we're gonna have to regroup and figure out where to go from there because Kale Yarbril and a bear and honestly I did not know anything about this and we honestly we were going to rap

And you actually might hear one of our producers, Micah, he was actually telling me, all right, we're good, we're going to cut it there. And then Ken jumps in. He's like, didn't he have that bear? And we're like, all right, we're going to keep the tape rolling because this is great. And we got that story out of it. And right after we cut, I asked Ken, how did, how do you even control a bear like that? And this was his answer.

How do you even control a bear? That's amazing Well, up in the air Yeah, you have to be quiet You gotta be quiet Yeah, yeah I'm gonna go really fast now I'll be quiet

Yeah, exactly I guess that's one way To control a bear I don't know if the bear Would listen to you if you say that But I guess Cali Yarbrough Has the guts that I don't have To fly in an airplane

With, let alone an animal, a bear So, and there are going to be More Cali Yarbrough's stories, by the way This is just the beginning of it And apparently there's more animal stories With Kale Yarbrough A bear is very far from The only thing that he has tried to tame

In his lifetime And we're going to be getting that A few episodes down the line But coming up next There is a fight Between Kail Yarbrough and Donnie Allison Tempers Overflowing The 1979

Daytona 5 We're going to dedicate an entire podcast episode just to that very moment. It's going to be a special one because I had a conversation not only with Ken, as you know, but with David Hobbs. And we talked for 25 minutes. Get ready for a mega episode coming next. And it's all about the 1979 Daytona 500, the race that put NASCAR on the map changed everything. And the voice behind it. the one, the only, Ken Squire.

There's nothing I can do to hype it up more than that. Get ready. It's coming next on next level. Thanks for listening. I've been Andrew Curlin. We've got more Ken Squire coming up soon. Check out Dirty Mo Media. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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