AutoSportRadio.com 2024 Show for May 7th

AutoSportRadio.com 2024 Show for May 7th Guests: Mike Hull and Mark Jaynes
The AutoSportRadio.com 2024 Show was recorded in front of a live audience at Green Street Pub and Eatery in Brownsburg, Indiana on May 7th. Stay tuned for the next live recording and join us if you can. If you can’t, that’s okay you can stay tuned for information on the next broadcast release of the AutoSportRadio.com Show. Enjoy this installment of the Fastest Hour in Motorsports.
Mike Hull - Target Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director
Target Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull has “been there and done that” in the world of auto racing. Hailing originally from Los Angeles, he became involved with the sport in his youth and displayed plenty of ability behind the wheel in the early days of Formula Ford before realizing his calling lay elsewhere. An accomplished mechanic, Hull began plying his trade in a variety of junior open-wheel categories, including Formula Super Vee and Indy Lights, before moving up to the Indy cars and eventually joining Ganassi in 1992.
He was promoted to the role of team manager in 1996, at which point the organization could boast a mere two race wins. Over the course of the next four years, Hull presided over 30 race wins as Ganassi became the first team ever to win four consecutive championship titles – one apiece with Jimmy Vasser and Juan Pablo Montoya sandwiching a pair for Alex Zanardi.
The team has since added five more INDYCAR titles under Hull’s stewardship, two with Scott Dixon (2003 and 2008) and three straight with Dario Franchitti between 2009 and 2011. Its tally of 89 race wins, including four Indianapolis 500 victories, ranks second only to Penske Racing. Hull also has overseen an astonishingly successful foray into sports cars, claiming six Rolex GRAND-AM titles in just nine years.
“Proven long-term success in motor racing defines a true team sport – it’s the ultimate people business,” said Hull. “It can be a lot of fun but also requires real dedication and an unselfish trust in others. I have been impressed by what the RRDC has been doing with SAFEisFAST.com and am delighted to have been asked to provide some feedback to anyone who is willing to commit themselves to a career in the sport.”

Mark Jaynes - Lead Announcer – The Voice of the Indianapolis 500
Longtime broadcaster Mark Jaynes excels at sharing the airwaves with colleagues, and he did that in spades Sunday April 7th 2024.
On this occasion, Jaynes wanted the largest banquet gathering of the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association to know that he couldn’t have earned induction in the group’s Hall of Fame without the help of so many along the way, including members of his family.
Thus, with a host of fellow broadcasters, high school coaches and friends in the room for his induction, Jaynes listed a virtual Who’s Who of his life.
“Came in around 50,” he later said of the list of people he credited and thanked in a 20-minute acceptance speech at the Valle Vista Golf Club in Greenwood, Indiana. “Humbling day, for sure.”
Jaynes said he achieved a lifelong goal in 1996 when he joined the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. Jaynes later became the sixth person to become the “Voice of the 500” in 2016 in addition to being the chief announcer for the INDYCAR Radio Network, which broadcasts all NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone races.
Jaynes grew up in Monrovia, Indiana, the adopted hometown of the Bettenhausen family. He began calling mock Indianapolis 500s into a cassette recorder. His voice was so booming even at a young age that a school official referred to him as “Howard” – as in Howard Cosell.
In 1987, Jaynes began working in Terre Haute, Indiana, the home of the Hulman-George family. His first job was at WTHI, where he met longtime IMS Radio Network announcer Mike King. Together, they called races at the Terre Haute Action Track and worked high school and college games. Jaynes spent 20 years as a pit reporter and turn announcer on the “500” and NTT INDYCAR SERIES races before moving into the anchor chair.
Jaynes credited King, Bob Jenkins, Gary Lee and John Royer for their early guidance in his motorsports broadcasting career. Jaynes also broadcasts a number of Indiana high school events for the IHSAA Champions Network and ISC Sports Network.
Jaynes teaches communications at Monrovia High School. He also has been a longtime football coach in the school system.
“This is unreal, obviously,” Jaynes said of his Hall of Fame induction attended by IMS President J. Douglas Boles, INDYCAR President Jay Frye and fellow radio broadcasters Davey Hamilton, Jake Query, Dave Furst and Michael Young. “A lot of emotion from me, believe me.”
Jaynes went on to say that being “an educator, the ‘Voice of the 500’ and a Hall of Famer is all second to being a dad and a (grandfather).”
Jaynes showed his biggest appreciation for his wife, Desiree.
“We just had the 38th anniversary of our blind date,” he said. “I hope it works out.”
It has and more. Jaynes is now a Hall of Famer.