NASCAR Track Communications veteran Matt Humphrey joins Davey (6:25) this week to discuss his career in motorsports and working for the sanctioning body for the last decade plus. Humphrey played an intricate role behind the scenes in the marketing and planning of the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and explains how the one-of-a-kind event went off without a hitch. He also outlines what his day-to-day entails from a track communications perspective.
Humphrey recalls how the trajectory of his life changed at a young age, as he chose to drop out of college in his first year (where he was on a music scholarship) when he started a family. Forced to make a living to provide as a teenager, he picked up a job at the local sewage plant that he kept until he got sick of it...and from it. He explains how a trip to the hospital made him decide to pursue journalism full bore, which led him all over the country and eventually to Orlando, where he forged a relationship with a young, up-and-coming driver by the name of Jimmie Johnson.
Plus, how he's learned to be adaptable to the ever-changing media landscape, the story of how a webcam helped him land a job at NASCAR, his transition from journalism to PR, meeting his now wife at Daytona, moving out West in his new role, his passion for traveling and what Humphrey's long-term career goal is in the sport.
On site at The World Center of Racing, Davey also gives a preview preview of the Daytona 500 this weekend, chats about his experience in Los Angeles at The Clash and Papa Segal pays homage to a racers racer.
