December 28, 2011

Our friend MotorMouth (famed Great Race announcer Brian Goudge) probably wouldn’t want me telling you this, but reports from Canada say he was seen doing his impression of Santa Claus on Christmas Day, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop. But this story doesn’t end with him sliding down the chimney with bags full of toys for good little girls and boys.

MotorMouth actually fell from his ladder and hurt his back and is laid up at his home in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata.

I spoke with him briefly today and he was still a little out of it from medication. I am sure he wouldn’t mind some get well emails from his Great Race friends (bgoudge@bell.net).

If you don’t know the story, MotorMouth is from Canada and has been the Great Race announcer since 1995. The late Tom McRae heard MotorMouth announcing at his race track in Ontario and said “I want that guy to be the Great Race announcer.” Well, anyone who knew Tom McRae knew he rarely took no for an answer. And Motormouth became the voice of the Great Race for nearly 15 years. When Corky Coker bought the Great Race in 2010 and announced the 2011 event from Chattanooga to Bennington, Vt., one of the first things he wanted was MotorMouth to be on the P.A. (Corky rarely takes no for an answer, either).

Seriously, we were very fortunate that MotorMouth agreed to be a part of the event last year. It was a big part of the desire of the Great Race to show it was embracing its roots as it moved to the future. And we are all the winners because MotorMouth has agreed to be part of the event again in 2012. I think he is the most excited of everyone that we are going to be in Canada for four and a half days.

I knew MotorMouth lived in Canada near Ottawa, but I had no idea he lived in Kanata. If that town sounds familiar, it should because it is one of the overnight stops on the 2012 Great Race. And, just by luck, the stop at Hazeldean Mall in Kanata is just a couple of blocks from MotorMouth’s home. “I can walk from my house to the mall,” he told me.

Kanata is going to be one of 19 incredible stops on the 2012 Great Race, and I think it will be MotorMouth’s favorite.

Get well my friend.