Sun Sentinel Article On Marty Little

Race Announcer Marty Little Dies at 67
By Robert Nolin, Sun Sentinel

8:43 PM EDT, April 15, 2014

For decades he rubbed elbows with, reported on, and broadcast the exploits of stock car racing’s greats. Saturday, Martin “Marty” Little of Plantation, racing historian and announcer, died of pancreatic cancer at Florida Medical Center. He was 67.

“His passion was auto racing,” said Mr. Little’s wife, Janet. “He was big into the history of the sport.”

Mr. Little, whose family once operated a stock car racing team, was born in Minnesota and moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1960. He attended Broward Community College, as it was then called, and served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War era.

In the early 1980s, Mr. Little sold the Fort Lauderdale print shop he owned to devote more time to his work as track promoter at Hialeah Speedway. He became friends with such racing heroes as Bobby and Donnie Allison and Red Farmer.

A writer of freelance stories for several racing magazines, Mr. Little also covered races thoughout Florida for the Charlotte, N.C.-based National Speed Sport News. “He worked for them for many, many years,” Janet Little said. “That was his fun work.”

Mr. Little’s “real job,” his wife said, was as an aftermarket sales manager for a marine industry firm in Pompano Beach.

Mr. Little was also a popular announcer for races at the Hialeah Speedway from 1992 until it closed in 2005. “He had a good, booming announcer’s voice, authoritative,” Janet Little said. “He could even make a dull race look like it was great.”

Drawing upon a broad knowledge of racing, Mr. Little became the sport’s unofficial historian. “People from all over the country would call him for information,” his wife said.

Mr. Little was the only non-racer to be inducted into the Hialeah Speedway Hall of Fame.

Besides his wife, Mr. Little is survived by a brother, David, Mooresville, N.C., a son, Richard, Hollywood, a daughter, Suzanne, Davie, and a grandson.

A memorial service will be 7 p.m. Friday at Fred Hunter Funeral Home, 2401 S. University Drive, Davie, with visitation from 6 to 9 p.m.

This certainly covered the essence of the man. Thanks for sharing this post with all of us.

Like Marty, I am also an auto racing journalist from Melbourne, FL (where Marty lived as a boy). I am honored to have the opportunity to write a tribute article, looking back over Marty’s life. The article also includes some stories from a couple of his friends.

Richard Golardi, Hoseheads.com
Florida Open Wheel column

http://www.hoseheads.com/richard.html