The voice of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tom Carnegie, passed away Friday morning at the age of 91.
Maybe as symbolic as the racetrack itself, Carnegie called the Indianapolis 500 from 1946 until 2006.
Born Carl Lee Kenagy, Carnegie started as a broadcaster in 1942 before Tony Hulman, owner of the speedway, asked him to come and broadcast the Indianapolis 500.
Carnegie worked at WRTV in Indianapolis, and retired from his position there in 1985.
Carnegie was widely known for two phrases from his announcing, one was “He’s on it!” a line for when a driver started his qualifying lap.
The other saying was “it’s a new track record.”
But Carnegie did more than just announce car races. He called the Indiana high school basketball State Finals for years, with his most notable game coming in 1954, when he announced the Milan High School upset that spawned the movie “Hoosiers”.
Carnegie is a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Indiana Associated Press Hall of Fame and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, amongst others.
