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Extraordinary Talent Makes Focus on Racing Radio an Entertaining and Informative Hour for Motorsports Fans Bob Varsha ... Bob Varsha did not take an ordinary path to becoming one of the more versatile hosts in sports television. A former world-class runner and practicing attorney, Varsha accepted an invitation from Turner Broadcasting to cover a footrace in his home town in 1980. That performance led to an offer of a part-time job from TBS, and Varsha soon found himself with a new career. Over four years at Turner Broadcasting Varsha handled a wide variety of duties for WTBS and CNN, including hosting a WTBS public affairs program, "Between the Lines", and serving as a weekday sports anchor on CNN. Simultaneously, Varsha gained experience in radio, handling sports news, reporting and call-in show duties for WRNG (later WCNN) and WGST in Atlanta. In 1982 he joined the cast of the first weekly motorsports program on television, "MotorWeek Illustrated." Two years later, he accepted a job with the show's production company, World Sports Enterprises, and began to cover motorsports full-time. It was auto racing that led him to ESPN in 1986. Over the next 13 years, Varsha's assignments for ESPN, and later for ABC Sports, included a healthy portion of motorsports, including Formula One, CART, sports cars, drag racing and motorcycles. But the relationship with an all-sports network allowed him to reach out to other sports, including alpine and nordic skiing, track and field, water-skiing, gymnastics and figure skating. Among the major events Varsha has hosted are the World Alpine Championships, the Indianapolis 500 Time Trials, the U.S. Olympic Trials, and the New York City and Boston Marathons. In 1999 Varsha moved on to Cable Network Services, the former Stamford, Connecticut, based holding company for the Speedvision and Outdoor Life Networks. Continuing his career-long role, Varsha has co-anchored the Sunday night motorsports program "Speedvision News Raceweek," and hosted Speedvision coverage of Formula One, The 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the 12 Hours at Sebring. For Outdoor Life his main assignment has been cycling, including America's biggest event, the Sea Otter Classic, and live daily coverage of Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. In late 2001 Varsha cast his lot with Speedvision when the two networks were split by new ownership; Speedvision was set for relaunch as Speed Channel by Fox Cable Networks Group in February 2002.
As noted, Varsha's entry into television
came from his involvement in sports. A varsity letter winner in
cross country and track at Dartmouth College, Varsha continued his
athletic career after graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in
foreign language in 1973. While attending Emory University Law
School, Varsha was a two-time Olympic trials marathon finalist. In
the 1976 USOT race he ran a personal best time of 2:15:50. In 1977
he graduated from Emory and began a law career. The recipient of a national public relation award from the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America), Billy's experience in many forms of media and racing is quite broad. Billy was a music major at Drake University, and has been a musician for 42 years. After college, he played with several touring groups, and has played drums for such names as Rodney Dangerfield, Leslie Gore, Maureen McGovern, Robert Goulet and others. He also was a percussionist with the Des Moines Symphony, Adrian Symphony and Toledo Pops Orchestra. A master at jazz, he was chosen as drummer for the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, as well. He also taught jazz and percussion at Adrian College and Sienna Heights College for eight years, while being sought after as a studio musician in Toledo, OH. He has recorded over 200 commercials and albums for various regional artists. Billy was also honored to be chosen to write original music for several specials on ESPN and TNN, and produced and performed an album of his own compositions back in the mid-80s. His hobby of autocrossing led to a heightened interest in automobile racing, and public relations for such events. His big break came when Ron Hemelgarn hired Billy as the public relations director for his (then) CART team. Several years later, he was working directly for CART in the PR department, and, with the assistance of Hemelgarn, started his own PR company. Clients include or have included ARCA, Kryderacing (IMSA), Ford Motor Company, Porsche Cars North America, Inc., and many others. As a writer, he has been a contributor to AutoWeek, National Speed Sport News, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Toledo Blade, and others. All this time, he was also pursuing his racing career. To date, Billy has 15 SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) championships to his name, and holds five national or international endurance driving records, as certified by ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America). Two of those records are for Porsche Cars North America. He is also proud to have set a track record on the Indianapolis Raceway Park road course in 1999. He now passes on his knowledge to others by instructing for various racing schools in the U.S. While working at CART, Billy met Focus On Racing Radio creator and senior executive producer, Ron Martin. A friendship was formed, leading to Billy joining the show as co-host some 11 years ago. The rest is history making.)
Billy attended Drake University and the
University of Toledo, majoring in Music Education. He is married
with one stepdaughter and one daughter. Ron Martin's venture into the world of auto racing began 18 years ago with the creation of Focus on Racing Radio. His career in broadcasting began in 1965 as a 15 year old sports reporter for WHBQ Radio in his hometown of Memphis TN. After a stint in the Army Ron returned to the airwaves covering regional sports in the Southeast as a freelance reporter until ABC Radio engaged him to cover Major League Baseball and the NFL. During that time he would return home to create and host special programs for the station that jump-started his career. It was during that time Ron was introduced to the legendary Sam Phillips, who owned a pair of radio stations in Memphis. A creative friendship developed which led Ron to forsake the role as a traveling reporter to return home to host a sports talk show for Mr. Phillips. "Mr. Phillips not only allowed me to create something new everyday, he ordered me to do it. At WLVS Mr. Phillips would always say, if you can't give them (the listeners) your best, your wasting their most valuable commodity, their time," recalled Ron in a recent interview. That encouragement led Ron to numerous state, regional and national awards, including two consecutive stories of the of year awards from the Association of Tennessee Broadcasters and then to strike out on his own and create Focus on Racing Radio. "Mr. Phillips still calls every once in a while to remind me of my obligations to the public, even though our professional relationship has ended, I still have to stay on my toes," said Martin. While producing Focus on Racing Radio Ron Martin is also the Executive Producer and Director of the University of Memphis Basketball and Football Network, which includes the Coach Tommy West Show and the Coach John Calipari Show. Recently Ron has created and produces the "Grizzlies Growl", a show developed for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, and the "Wright Stuff" featuring the NBA star, Lorenzen Wright. Despite a number of other projects Ron Martin's true love and passion is still with Focus on Racing Radio, "the people that surround me make my job easy and fun, I'm still amazed that after 34 years in radio broadcasting, I still have not had to get a real job, says Martin.
Ron Martin resides in the Memphis
Tennessee area.
Bill Stephens is a
life-long "motorhead" who became hooked on cars almost from birth.
After a 25-year career as a morning disc jockey in Boston, Hartford,
and Los Angeles, he moved to automotive television in 1989,
producing and hosting the award-winning series "Wild About Wheels"
for the Discovery Channel. Since then, he has been involved in the
production and/or hosting of numerous automotive programs seen on
CBS, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Speedvision, Outdoor Life, TNN, Fox, and the
Family Channel. He is currently a member of the ESPN talent team
that covers NHRA POWERade Drag Racing, hosts "NHRA2day" on ESPN2,
and covers the NHRA for ESPN Radio, espn.com, ESPN Magazine,
Autoweek, and Drag Racer Magazine.
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