Darrell Waltrip gets most votes in ‘Worst NASCAR Announcer’ poll
NASCAR fans are pretty opinionated about everything, but when it comes to broadcasting, a lot seem to agree on the same things. Mike Joy of FOX and Allen Bestwick of ESPN are the best announcers. But who’s the worst?
According to a recent fan poll done by Sporting News’ Bob Pockrass, Darrell Waltrip received the most votes as the worst announcer out of the three broadcasts (ESPN/ABC, FOX and TNT). Coming in second for the worst announcer spot was his brother, Michael Waltrip.
Fans were able to vote on the best, and the worst. Contrarily, Darrell Waltrip placed 4th as best announcer.
Sporting News conducted the poll over the span of the month, and racked up 5,247 total votes. They ranked the commentators by awarding 3 points for those voted best, 2 points for second best, and 1 point for third best. They did the same for the “worst category.” They then divided the number of “best” points and divided it into the number of total points to give a best-to-worst ratio.
Here are the results:
| BEST (points) | Announcer | WORST (points) |
|---|---|---|
| 6,011 | Mike Joy | 430 |
| 4,290 | Allen Bestwick | 1,056 |
| 4,057 | Larry McReynolds | 1,111 |
| 3,612 | Darrell Waltrip | 5,302 |
| 2,912 | Dale Jarrett | 566 |
| 1,620 | Rusty Wallace | 2,942 |
| 1,382 | Kyle Petty | 3,862 |
| 1,294 | Jeff Hammond | 856 |
| 1,260 | Ray Evernham | 647 |
| 1,113 | Andy Petree | 656 |
| 987 | Wally Dallenbach | 2,374 |
| 955 | Kenny Wallace | 1,348 |
| 501 | Michael Waltrip | 4,737 |
| 446 | Adam Alexander | 1,592 |
| 367 | Brad Daugherty | 2,960 |
Quotes from fans that voted for Waltrip in the "worst" category:
- “All he talks about is Danica, Danica, Danica, Junior, Junior, Junior and makes excuses for Danica when she crashes out. And that crap he says when the race starts, I turn the sound off. He says what NASCAR wants him to say, not what the fans need to hear.”
- Three words: boogity, boogity, boogity.”
- “When he worked Nationwide races for TNN in the late 90s he showed tremendous potential as the next Ned Jarrett or Benny Parsons. Fox has ruined him.”
- “Over the top … corny, unprofessional, gets excited for no reason.”
- “… So tired of hearing ‘boogity, boogity, boogity.’ I loved him as a driver, can’t stand him as an announcer.”