BOB  JENKINS   -   09/04/1947 - 08/09/2021

Bob Jenkins was born in Richmond, Indiana, and grew up in the nearby town of Liberty. He graduated from Short High School in 1965 and Indiana University in 1969. A music aficionado, Jenkins wanted to be a radio disc jockey, but instead found work as a radio news reporter. During this timeframe, Jenkins befriended Paul Page, who worked at 1070 WIBC-AM. Page helped Jenkins get his start in motorsports broadcasting, inviting him to serve as a pit reporter for Indy car races on the radio, as well as on television. Jenkins was one of the first anchors on ESPN when it debuted in 1979, working there as one of the most senior members of the network until 2003. Despite his status, he rarely, if ever, visited the Bristol, Connecticut studios. Nearly all of his work with the network was at the race track, or at satellite studios in Indianapolis or Charlotte. His primary duty was anchoring NASCAR on ESPN from 1979 to 2000. His first booth partner was Larry Nuber. Later, he was teamed with Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons. The trio was one of the most popular announcing crews in NASCAR. By the early 1990s, the crew (sans Jarrett, who was contracted with CBS) would also 

cover races on ABC Sports, including the Brickyard 400 from 1994 to 2000. During the 1980s and 1990s, Jenkins also called CART series races, IMSA, Formula One, drag racing, and various other races on ESPN and ABC. By the late 1980s, Paul Page took over as anchor for Indy car racing on ABC/ESPN, with Jenkins focusing primarily on NASCAR. Jenkins hosted the weekly racing magazine show SpeedWeek during most of his tenure at ESPN. Concurrent to his work on ESPN & ABC, from 1979 to 1998, Jenkins worked on the IMS Radio Network. He reported various positions, including the backstretch, turn four, and served as chief announcer of the Indianapolis 500 from 1990 to 1998. In the 1990s, Jenkins also narrated the annual Indianapolis 500 official highlight films. By 1999, Jenkins quit the radio crew to focus on television full-time. The ongoing IRL/CART split saw changes in the announcing crews at ESPN/ABC. In addition, ESPN/ABC would be losing NASCAR rights at the end of the 2000 season. Paul Page was assigned to the CART series broadcasts, and Jenkins was moved exclusively to the chief announcing position of the IRL and Indianapolis 500 broadcasts. The arrangement would continue through 2001. For 2002, with CART floundering, Page was moved back to the IRL, and Jenkins was shifted to the lesser host position. The arrangement created a "crowded" booth with two veteran announcers. At the end of the 2003 season, Jenkins was released from ABC/ESPN. After being released from ABC/ESPN in 2003, Jenkins joined the Indianapolis Motor Speedway staff in various roles including public address announcer and designated emcee of various events and press gatherings In 2004, he had a short stint as an announcer for Champ Car on Spike TV but was soon fired by the production company. He joined SPEED and was an anchor for Speed News for a little over one year. In 2006, Jenkins was the chief announcer of the IMS Radio Network for the U.S. Grand Prix, and in 2007, called Indy Pro Series broadcasts on ESPN2. He anchored the Allstate 400 on the radio, his first NASCAR race call since November 2000. For 2007–2008, he returned to the IMS Radio Network for the Indy 500, reporting from the turn two position. In 2008, Jenkins returned to the ESPN booth for two IndyCar races, the Rexall Edmonton Indy and the Gold Coast Indy 300 at Surfers Paradise. Regular play-by-play announcer Marty Reid was unable to broadcast because of prior engagements. In 2009, the IndyCar Series started a new television contract with Versus. Jenkins was signed as the chief announcer, and returned to Indy car racing full-time for the first time since 2001. He opted out of reprising his turn two role on the radio network, but recorded segments for air on the radio broadcast, as all three living "Voices of the 500" In 2011, Versus was bought by NBC Sports Group, becoming NBCSN. NBC inherited the IndyCar rights and hired Jenkins to continue as lead announcer for IndyCar on NBC. During the month of May, and on race day at the Indianapolis 500 (which ESPN/ABC still had the rights to), he continued his part-time work on the public address announcing team. Jenkins was involved in NBCSN's practice and qualifying coverage at Indy. In 2012, he announced he would retire at the end of the season, in part due to his wife Pam, who had terminal cancer. She died shortly after the season ended. For 2013, he worked on the public address system at both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the United States Auto Club's Silver Crown Series. Jenkins made a one-time return to NBCSN in a substitute role during Indy 500 Carb Day coverage, as Leigh Diffey was covering that weekend's Monaco Grand Prix for NBC. Jenkins also had three movie credits, one of which was an on-camera appearance. In order to be realistic, the race announcers in the movie Days of Thunder were the actual ESPN crew of the time, which meant Jenkins was the announcer in several voice-over scenes. Jenkins was a colon cancer survivor and resided in the Indianapolis area. His wife Pam died from complications of Primary peritoneal cancer in Carmel, Indiana on October 25, 2012. Jenkins revealed on February 16, 2021, that he himself had been diagnosed with brain cancer following a suspected stroke he suffered on December 25, 2020. In the interview, Jenkins stated "I had colon cancer in 1983 and I survived that, and with God's help and my beloved race fans, I'm gonna make it." Jenkins died of brain cancer on August 9, 2021, aged 73.