NASCAR broadcaster Hill Overton, a ‘stalwart in the motorsports world,’ has died
Hill Overton was a 13-year-old from Matthews when he coaxed his dad to take him to the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race, in Charlotte in 1949.
With grandstand tickets sold out, father and son watched the speeding cars from the side of a hill outside Turn 3, Overton told The Daytona Beach News-Journal in 2020.
The experience hooked him on the sport for life, Overton said.
“I told myself, ‘This is so novel and neat seeing cars compete like we see on the street,’ ” he said.
Over 53 years, the East Mecklenburg High School grad did radio and public address work from Charlotte Motor Speedway for countless programs and stations, many of which no longer exist, The News & Observer reported in 2020.
For years, he interviewed the winner from Victory Lane over the PA system.
He also announced at other tracks, and his “Let’s Talk Racing” show has aired on Monroe station WIXE 93.1 FM and 1190 AM since the station started broadcasting in 1968.
“53 straight years!” WIXE management posted on Facebook on Dec. 26 in announcing Overton’s death at age 85.
“We will miss our friend and fellow Broadcaster, his deep knowledge of the sport and his deep booming voice with which he announced it,” the station said in its “loving tribute” that day.
60 straight 600 races
Broadcasting was “a side gig” for Overton, according to the station. He was a longtime salesman for machine tool builder Haas Automation.
“Racing, though, (was) his passion,” WIXE officials said in their Dec. 26 post.
Until the COVID-19 pandemic ended his streak, Overton attended all 60 of the 600-mile races at Charlotte Motor Speedway since the track opened in 1960, media outlets reported in 2020.
Sometimes, the first 600 didn’t seem so long ago, he told The News & Observer. He could still see Fireball Roberts winning the pole in a black-and-gold Pontiac. And he remembered the speed: 134 mph.
“Man,” he recalled thinking at the time, “they’ll never go faster.”
Overton “long ago became a part of the culture of the 600,” The News & Observer wrote. “Drivers have come and gone. Generations of fans. Overton has always been there.”
Even when his health began to fail, he kept up his WIXE show, daughter Melanie Vicars posted on the station’s Facebook page.
“He loved WIXE and everyone he worked with,” she said. “He always wanted the show to go on no matter how bad he was feeling, especially towards the end. ‘Lets Talk Racing’ gave him something good to look forward to every day. I’m pretty sure he still did the show from the hospital some days.”
‘Welcoming, helpful’
Overton attended N.C. State University and served in the military, The News & Observer reported in its 2020 story. After growing up in Matthews, he lived most of the rest of his life in Monroe.
On social media after Overton’s death, friends and colleagues recalled a man who knew every in-and-out of the sport and had a warm, approachable spirit.
”Hill was one of the first broadcasters I met when I started with (Motor Racing Network) mid-1970’s” Mike Joy, longtime lead voice of FOXSports auto racing coverage, wrote on Twitter. “He was welcoming, helpful, and a constant presence on the Universal Racing Network and the PA at tracks throughout the Carolinas.”
“Hill was a stalwart in the motorsports world,” Charlotte Motor Speedway communications director Jonathan Coleman posted on Facebook. “His knowledge was as deep as his voice, bringing stories to life and making everyone he interviewed feel like someone important.”
Overton was “truly a walking encyclopedia of NASCAR,” John Phillips posted on Facebook. The pair teamed up on NASCAR broadcasts on WNDB in Daytona Beach the past 15 years, Phillips said.
“His relationships are what made our show so successful,” Phillips posted on Facebook, adding that “from the day we met, I felt like we had been lifelong friends.”
Jim Utter, NASCAR editor at Motorsport.com and a former Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter, called Overton “a wonderful friend and mentor” whom he always looked forward to joining on the radio during Daytona Speedweeks.
“You will be missed, my friend,” Utter posted on Facebook.
Sheriff loved show
Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathay was among the many devoted listeners to Overton’s “Let’s Talk Racing” show.
“I felt like I knew him just from listening to WIXE,” Cathay posted on Facebook.
Dozens more listeners posted how much they, too, enjoyed his show and how much they’ll miss him.
“You could hear the passion he had for sports in general as you heard him each morning,” Waxhaw resident Nick Painter posted. “There will be another deep voice, but there will never be another Hill.”
Overton’s funeral was Thursday.