McMillan lends a voice to NASCAR weekly on PRN

Veteran broadcaster Brett McMillan is in his 11th year as host of The Pit Reporters, a nationally syndicated, hour-long, weekly radio show during which he tackles the topics of the day with fellow members of the motorsports media.

He talked recently about what led him to his current job with the Performance Racing Network and what makes covering racing different than some of the other major sports he has covered throughout his long career in radio and television.

Q: Tell us a little about your background ...

McMillan: I grew up in Colorado, outside of Denver, more than anywhere else. Then, right before high school, my family moved to the Washington D.C. area., and I ended up going to college at Virginia Tech. I worked in Columbia [S.C.] for two years at WIST television, and came to Charlotte in 1980 to work at Channel 9 [also in television]. I was there 13 years and then got caught in a budget cut. I went to WBT [radio] after that and have been full-time freelance since 2000. I also now do some corporate training and leadership video stuff for Bank of America.

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Q: When did you get bit by the racing bug?

McMillan: Probably the first race I went to. When I was in Columbia, obviously we covered the race at Darlington. And the first race I ever saw was the 1979 Rebel 500, which is still one of the greatest races I've seen. Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip traded the lead like four times in the last lap. Waltrip won the race. It also was the last race David Pearson ever ran with the Wood Brothers.

When the track was turned around [before it was reconfigured], there was a little VIP suite at the end of pit road, a little blue building. We were shooting [TV highlight footage] from the top of that and Pearson was pitting right below us. They were doing some weird thing where they were loosening the right-side [tires] and then they would come around and jack up the left side and loosen those tires. Well, they tightened the right-side and lowered the jack -- and I guess the jackman was coming around but [Pearson] thought it was a two-tire stop. As soon as they dropped the jack, he took off and those two [left-side] tires just fell right off.

Q: Did you grasp the significance of what had happened right away?

McMillan: It was one of those moments I didn't understand at the time because I wasn't that familiar yet with the history between the Wood Brothers and Pearson. I thought it was hysterically funny.

But at the end of the day with Petty and Waltrip, I'll never forget the old, gravelly voiced guy who used to do PA [public-address announcing] over there. I just remember him saying in that voice, 'You can't do that at Darlington! You can't pass like that at Darlington!' And I'm saying to myself, 'Well, I just saw it. This is great. Are all the races like that?' I was hooked right then and there.

Then, when I came to Charlotte [to work in television], we did the races in Charlotte and at Rockingham. I immediately and always liked the people. I mean, they're real people. The drivers are accessible, the crews. They're nice people and good people and for the most part they're a joy to be around. That's really what struck me as I became more and more involved in racing.

Q: What all do you do now from race day to being involved with The Pit Reporters radio show?

McMillan: We do The Verizon Pit Reporters every week, about 40 weeks during the whole season. That's syndicated and we're now on about 200 stations nationally. Then for PRN, there are 13 races where I'll be a pit reporter [on the radio broadcasts]. Then I cover some other races selectively. At PRN we staff every race, because between Mark Garrow's daily Garage Pass show and my show and the Monday night show Doug Rice does called Fast Talk, the sound [from taped interviews gathered throughout a race weekend] will get used somewhere.

(Editor's Note: Listen in every Monday on NASCAR.COM for Fast Talk.)

Q: You covered many other sports while working in television and radio. What makes racing different?

McMillan: I think it goes back to the fact that the people in racing are real people. ... Part of it probably has to do with sponsorship obligations, but they're very accessible. I tell guys in the garage all the time: when you're covering the NFL, you don't get the chance to ask a quarterback what happened right after he threw an interception.

These guys, if they're in a wreck or something, you're able to talk to them about it five minutes after they climb out of the car. I think that's one of the unique things about the sport. I mean, you can listen in on the scanner and you're eavesdropping on the conversation between the coach and the quarterback. It's behind-the-scenes stuff you just don't get anywhere else. And then NASCAR, there is just that feel of speed. It's an event at every track you go to. There is that raw feel of speed and power. I still love the start of every race, when they take the green flag and you can feel it in your bones and you feel the ground shake under your feet. That's just great.