LEARNING FROM THE BEST
MILTON Adey was a powerhouse. He raced, he was ANDRA divisional director, and lead announcer at Surfers Paradise drags. He also held down a job and raised his family. When I started learning the announcing craft under him, there were no computers, so every car was written down by entrant number. Those lists were generated by the girls in scrutineering and taken up to the tower, where about half an hour before racing started Milt and I would pin them to a board set up on a bench in front of us.
The startline would radio the race numbers up to the tower, one of the girls would place the numbers in front of us and we would run down the lists, find the details, tell the story, and call the race and the times. Gee I’m glad the cars were a little slower back then!
Anyway, it was the Ampol Series, and Milton decided he was going to race. Now that in itself didn’t worry me, he’d done that before. But this was the first round of my first Ampol Series, and he’s out the door and racing! I mean, we’ve got Yanks and Keith Williams the track owner all there, and I’m on my own. Panic wasn’t just the name of Bruce Phillips’s Torana funny car – it was my state of mind! Must have done okay though, because when Milt did finally come back into the tower, I received that little smile that only he could give, and we were away.
Milt was always mentoring me; he passed on so many important lessons. His first golden rule was to remember to look at him, to make sure we weren’t talking over each other. Many times I would feel the lightest touch on my shoulder, which meant: You are becoming too loud, too fast, too excited. Most importantly, you are not telling the story. He always was the calming voice. I was the yang, the winder-upper, so to speak. But he never let you lose control; he was the master, the best I’ve ever worked with.
Even today – and Milt is no longer with us – I still get that light touch every now and then. I must confess that I’m not the teacher he was, but I try my best.