NBC’s Rick Allen says his name is Rick Allen because he took the advice of a legend and didn’t use his legitimate last name in broadcasting.
Allen, NBC’s lead NASCAR race announcer, joined the Announcers Schedules podcast and told the story of how he went parlayed being a public address announcer at the University of Nebraska into being the most recognizable lead announcer in the sport.
A donor to the university bought a dirt track outside of Lincoln and asked Allen to announce at the track. At the time, Allen had no background or knowledge of racing. After two years, a NASCAR official said NBC and FOX were looking for “fresh-faced, young guys” to be a pit announcer and encouraged Allen to submit a demo tape.
When he finally did, both networks called. FOX auditioned him in Charlotte with Darrell Waltrip. That’s when things changed for Allen.
“When I introduced myself, I said ‘Hello Mr. Waltrip it’s an honor to meet you and be sitting beside you. My name’s Rick Schwieger’. He shook my hand, looked down and about three seconds later he turned back around and said, ‘Schwieger? There ain’t no Schweigers in NASCAR”.
“Right away I was like, well this is probably not the start I was looking for”.
FOX did eventually hired Allen two years later beginning with Craftsman Truck Series races.
