By Eric Powell
allstate400atthebrickyard.com
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Bill Weber grew up in New Jersey and has spent the past 15 years in the southeastern United States, but coming to Indianapolis for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard is a homecoming for the NBC broadcaster.
Weber, who will anchor NBC Sports' broadcast of the 12th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Aug. 7 as play-by-play announcer, spent the better part of 15 years in Indiana, first as a student at Butler University in Indianapolis followed by stints at television stations in Terre Haute and Evansville. Weber's broadcasting career began while he was in college, as a sports reporter at Indianapolis CBS affiliate WISH-TV.
"It is a homecoming, it's great to be back," Weber said. "First off, to be able to call a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, just a few miles from where I attended college, after a few days with some of the best friends you've had your entire life, it's a magnificent feeling."
Weber grew up in Middletown, N.J., a mere 40 miles from Manhattan, the heart of the world's greatest media market. But Weber wanted to experience a new part of the country in college, and given Butler University's reputation for excellence as a broadcast communications school, Indianapolis became his new home.
"I knew I wanted to get into broadcasting because I was a lousy athlete and had to figure out how to get into games for free," Weber said. "I tracked down some of the top broadcasting schools in the country at the time, and somehow I snuck into Butler."
Give Weber credit: He traveled 700 miles from home as an 18-year-old to a brand-new city and brand-new school without a single visit beforehand.
"Not one day," Weber said, of the amount of time he spent in Indy before arriving as a freshman at Butler. "I'd never been to Indiana and went to campus orientation for freshman sight unseen. I had a cousin that lived in Indianapolis and a family friend that had gone to Butler.
"I researched Butler's (broadcast) program, and it was in a major market, which was huge. And they had a great internship program your senior year, which were major plusses."
A member of the Butler faculty that had a tremendous impact on Weber's tenure at the small, private school also had a significant role at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for five decades.
Jim Phillippe, a professor at Butler who served as chairman of its Department of Radio and Television, was most well known during each month of May at the Indianapolis 500 for his interviews with drivers immediately after their qualification runs, a program he helped develop.
He also narrated pre-race ceremonies for the Indianapolis 500, delivering the stirring tribute to all Armed Forces veterans before the playing of "Taps," and served on the public address team during the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
Phillippe joined the IMS public address team in 1950, at the request of friend and legendary IMS public address announcer Tom Carnegie, who is in his 60th year of p.a. duties at the Speedway. Phillippe passed away Dec. 15, 2003 after a long illness, at the age of 84.
For Weber, the beloved Phillippe was a mentor and friend.
"He was my advisor, and we could talk from now until the green flag on Sunday, and I wouldn't be able to tell you enough nice things about Jim Phillippe," Weber said. "The last thing you wanted to see on his office door was a note saying, 'Weber, see me, JRP,' for James R. Phillippe. If you saw that, 95 percent of the time it meant something had gone wrong and you were responsible, but that's how you learned, and he'd point those things out to you. When you did well, he also gave you unbelievably positive encouragement.
"One of the biggest thrills I got every year was coming back to see him, and not seeing him last year was pretty emotional."
Growing up in New Jersey, Weber was a "stick and ball" fan, with baseball among his chief loves in sports. Attending school and working in Indiana is where his love for motorsports developed - rapidly.
"The first time I went to the Speedway, to be honest, was to study for finals (in May)," Weber said. "The library was packed, so you'd take your stuff and go sit in the infield and study, then if you wanted to take a break you could get up, walk around, look at the cars. Once finals were over, though, we were among the first people in line on (Pole Day)."
Weber graduated from Butler in 1979 and went to work at Terre Haute, Ind., television station WTHI as assistant sports director. He then moved to a larger market, Evansville, and worked at two stations there for several years before taking a public relations job with Miller Brewing Company in 1987, doing PR work with unlimited hydroplane boat racing star Chip Hanauer.
When Hanauer's team owner and sponsor parted ways, Weber returned to Evansville briefly, then headed south in 1990 for Charlotte, N.C., to work in television production and broadcasting. His career covering motorsports - NASCAR, in particular - then gained momentum.
Weber started with ESPN and ESPN2 as a motorsports commentator in 1994, working on the popular "RPM2Night" from 1996-2000. In 2001, Weber was hired as pre-race host and pit reporter by NBC and TNT for its coverage of NASCAR. He became the play-by-play anchor for NBC and TNT's telecasts of NASCAR this year.
Weber flew into Indianapolis from his home in the Tampa, Fla., area for the 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Wednesday, Aug. 3 - a day earlier than he would at other NASCAR venues. He arrived early not only to visit with old friends but because there is so much to take in and prepare for in advance of the race, which NBC will cover beginning with a pre-race show at 2 p.m. (EDT) Aug. 7 and the race broadcast at 2:30 p.m.
"Once you get to Indianapolis, it does not stop until the checkered flag on Sunday," Weber said. "And really, it doesn't (stop) there because you have all the pomp and circumstance, Victory Lane, the laps around the track, the kissing of the bricks, and all that. A lot of tracks could learn from the excitement generated at Indianapolis. Unfortunately, a lot of tracks don't have the historic meaning and excitement that Indianapolis brings to racing."
Weber also credits the city of Indianapolis for the way it has reinvented itself since he left college and how the city gets behind the events at the Speedway.
"In '79, you could have shot a cannon in downtown around 4:30 (in the afternoon) and not hurt anybody, and now, downtown, it's a joy to stay there," Weber said. "You can feel that (the energy of the city) when you're downtown. We walk to dinner. The pennants are on the light posts, people have flags on their cars, you can feel the atmosphere, and that's the thing about Indianapolis - the atmosphere. (It) generates even more excitement for the race."
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Allstate 400 at the Brickyard tickets: Tickets for the 12th annual Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Aug. 7 are on sale.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com or by calling the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700 or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area. Parking and camping information also can be obtained through the ticket office.
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