He may be only 14, but Cylas Carter already has six years under his belt … as an announcer. The ninth grader calls the races along with veteran announcer Chris Walker at Mountain View Raceway in Spring City, Tennessee.
Another announcer, Brian Kyle, introduced Carter to the microphone at I-75 Raceway outside of Sweetwater, Tennessee.
“Brian saw me as a trying to live out his dream,” Carter, of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, said. “I grew up watching NASCAR and it was Michael Waltrip who drew me to becoming a race announcer. My mom, Jessica, went to the tower and asked that I be given a chance to announce. Surprisingly, he let me.”
Carter started by just calling out drivers’ names and car numbers in the thunder class. He later graduated to full-fledged announcing.
“At a small track, it is important to get the drivers’ names out there, and mention their sponsors,” said Carter. “But it is just as important for me to be different. I have to add my personality to what I am saying.”
That’s why he coined nicknames for various drivers, from “Mr. TikTok,” Kyle Shadden, to “Old Man Burrows,” Dana Burrows. Carter said he has studied various announcers, from coast to coast, and took snippets of what they do to create his own style.
“At the end of the day, I have to be different,” Carter said. “I’m working on my personality. I want to make people laugh a bit. Kyle Shadden became Mr. TikTok because I saw he was on TikTok all the time. Dana Burrows has been around a long time, so he’s the Old Man.”
Carter looks up to three announcers especially — Cody Earley, Ben Shelton, and Walter Tapp.
“[Co-announcer] Chris helps me a lot,” said Carter. “Cody helps me. I contact announcers and ask questions. It is most difficult to master the tones of voice and when to use them. I have to learn crowd control — that is how to entertain the crowd.”
Cylas Carter hopes to make announcing a full-time gig.
“My advisors and teachers [at high school] think it is cool,” Carter said. “It is not common for a student to say they select a career in broadcasting.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
