Shannon Spake never got run over by a player as an NFL sideline reporter, but she did get hit in the face by a football during warmups.
That’s nothing compared to the dangers that lie in wait on pit road during a NASCAR race. Last Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, the TNT pit reporter came too close for comfort to winner Shane van Gisbergen’s celebratory burnouts while waiting to interview him.
“You’re worried about rubber flying up, and there’s smoke everywhere,” she said. “I was like, I’m afraid that something’s going to hit me.”
And that’s nothing compared to what colleague Danielle Trotta faced during the same race. As she was walking through a pit after a pit stop, a crew member was scraping rubber off a tire — that was on fire. A piece came awfully close to her ankle.
“I stopped, like, Oh, is my pant leg on fire or am I going to get burned?” she said. “[And] I almost got smacked in the face by a pit sign.”
But Spake and Trotta knew what they were getting into, and along with longtime pit reporter Marty Snider, they’ll be back on pit road Sunday, when TNT carries the NASCAR Cup Series’ return to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet with the eero 400 at 5 p.m.
It will be the first Cup race at the track since 2019. Declining attendance and the pandemic led NASCAR to remove Chicagoland from its schedule. But with the Chicago Street Race on hiatus, the circuit wanted to maintain its presence in the market.
And it’s hopeful that Chicagoland’s shorter track will lead to an exciting race.
“For a while, mile-and-a-half tracks were not in favor in NASCAR with the old-generation car,” said Snider, who has been in the pits for every NASCAR race at Chicagoland since it opened in 2001. “But with the new-generation car, the intermediate tracks have been by far the best type of racing — not even close.
“There have been some phenomenal races at Chicagoland. I think that this is going to be one of the best races of the year, with how the track has aged, how bumpy the track is.”
Snider has been a pit reporter for more than 30 years, the first five on radio for the Motor Racing Network and the rest mostly with NBC. He, Spake and Trotta joined TNT for its five midseason races that comprise NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge (Chicagoland is Round 2). Spake is pit reporting for the first time since 2013, and Trotta is in her second season on the job.
“My teammate Marty Snider makes it look very easy,” Trotta said. “I learned very quickly last year it is not. I’ve been [broadcasting] for 16 years in NASCAR; I’ve never had a job this hard. But that’s why I wanted to do it, because I wanted the challenge, and it certainly is one.”
Pit reporters can’t help but feel like they’re in the way. Crew members are lugging 100-pound gas tanks and hot tires. Reporters are essentially in the crew’s office, trying to get as close as they can so they don’t miss anything.
All the while, they’re wearing a headset and powerpack and carrying a microphone everywhere. And it might be hot or raining or really hot. Trotta said she has seen pit-crew members pass out. Spake admitted forgetting sunscreen and not eating enough Sunday. There’s a lot to think about.
There’s also a lot to listen for.
“You’re hearing three things at one time: [the] program, your pit producer and your scanner,” Snider said. “A lot of teams have three channels of communication. Your scanner will scan channels, so you’re hearing different voices, but it will lock on one once someone starts talking. You have to decipher whose voice that is.”
And when there’s information to report, a pit reporter must keep it concise. After all, there’s three of them.
“I like to say pit road is storytelling in a hurry,” said Trotta, who mostly has hosted pre- and postrace shows. “At the desk, I have over an hour; in the pits, I have eight to 10 seconds. So that’s been an adjustment for me.”
Pit reporting was one of Spake’s first jobs in sports broadcasting, and after sideline reporting, she has an even greater appreciation for the job.
“I worked sidelines for the NFL for eight seasons, done the NBA for two years, college basketball, college football,” Spake said. “Pit reporting for NASCAR is the hardest job for a reporter — period, end of statement.”
