According to the fans in the stands at All American Speedway in Roseville, race announcer William “Spence” Spencer is the man. He is the person that keeps the fans engaged and involved, and lets them know they are an integral part of the show.

Spencer is the regular Saturday night race announcer at the speedway, but nothing about his announcing is very regular.

He does not just sit in the booth and announce the race, but regularly moves around the grandstands among the fans between races, talking to them, giving them mic time, and joking with them. He likes to make sure they are having a good time.

Another thing he does is announce part of the racing from the infield and once in a while, he goes so far as to announce the race while riding shotgun in a Bomber car during a race.

He believes in the fans and in giving them their money’s worth. He is their champion.

Spencer has always been a motor head. He got a stingray bike at 8 years old and loved tinkering with it. He also loved taking the family’s lawnmower apart and putting it back together, and he was a slot car fanatic.

His grandfather owned Norm’s Garage and Car Repair in Sierra Madre, and after he died, his grandmother gave Spencer his 1966 Mustang because she believed he was the only one that would take care of it. He still has the car today. After it had 275,000 miles on it, he rebuilt the motor.

He said it feels like working on cars is a natural part of him. He loves the smells and the grease and everything associated with cars.

He worked at Tognotti’s for four years, beginning in 1987. In 1991, he accepted a job offer from a family friend at Litton Engineering Labs in Grass Valley.

He worked there for 12 years before moving over to work at his family’s property management company in Nevada City, where he is still employed.

His first announcing job was at the BMX track at the fairgrounds in Grass Valley. His brother was racing a BMX bike there, and it became a family affair. One day while watching his brother race, Spencer was listening to the track announcer. There was something about the way he was announcing that he did not find entertaining. Since the announcer was a family friend, he went up to the booth and asked if he could announce a few races. He proceeded to announce about 10 of the 200-plus motos they had that day. The announcer came back and jokingly kicked him out of the booth. Spence was stealing some of his “glory.”

Soon after, the BMX announcer quit, and Spencer was asked to finish out the season. He ended up being the regular announcer for the BMX races in Grass Valley from 1984 to 1988. While cutting his announcing teeth doing BMX, Chris Shelton, a mother of one of he BMX riders, who also worked at the local Sprint Car track at the Fairgrounds, asked him to try out for the announcing position at Ernie Purcell Memorial Speedway. Four people were trying out for the position, and even though Spencer had no history of announcing car races, he got the job.

To help him get his feet wet and learn the ropes, the public relations man for the track, Sherman Toller, took Spencer to the Sprint Car track in Placerville and introduced him to his very first Sprint Car race. A few weeks later, EPMS had its first race. To show Spencer the ropes, Tim Gilbert was brought in to announce the first four shows. Spencer sat in the booth and watched Gilbert run through the shows. He watched and learned how a Sprint Car program was run.

The fifth week Spencer went solo and announced his first Sprint Car race. He did it his way, and has been doing it his way ever since. He announced races at EPMS for seven years.

In 1990, while Spencer still announcing at EPMS, he attended the Autorama in Sacramento and saw the All American Speedway booth. He asked the person staffing the booth if they needed an announcer. The man said they might need someone part-time. Spencer was invited to meet with some people out at the fairgrounds. On a rainy Saturday morning, Spencer met with fair board members and some people on the race committee. After about an hour of discussions, it got down to the practical details and Spencer pitched what he wanted as far as pay and perks. A deal was made. EPMS changed their race night to Friday night so he could still announce their show as well as All American Speedway on Saturday night.

While Spencer continued to announce at All American Speedway, he also made connections with other tracks, fairgrounds and promoters. In 1989, he filled in for Tim Gilbert and announced his first Demolition Derby at the Dixon May Fair for Dutch Holland Racing Promotions. He still works for Fran Holland (Dutch Holland passed away in 2009), and continues to do their Destruction Derbys. 

Spencer is a flexible announcer. He has announced speedboat races at Camp Far West, motorcycle races at Sacramento Raceway, and Speedway races at the Rodeo Arena at Cal Expo. He has also donated announcing time to non-profit organizations in the Grass Valley and Nevada City areas.

It is not easy to announce in front of so many people, but Spencer says he’s a different person at the track. He said he puts his announcing uniform on and becomes an announcer. He said he is different in his everyday life when he doesn’t have to “entertain” as he calls it. For him, announcing is a way for him to show self-expression.

Spencer announced at All American Speedway from 1990 to 2005. He returned to the speedway this year as the regular race announcer.