DR. PAT SULLIVAN HIRED AS USAC SPECIAL PROJECTS & MEDIA CONSULTANT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (May 10, 2023)………Dr. Pat Sullivan, a 2017 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee and a man who has announced more USAC events than any other individual, has been hired by the United States Auto Club to serve as a Special Projects and Media Consultant.
Sullivan, of Carmel, Ind., will retire, effective July 1, from his full-time job at Indiana University where he has spent the past 30 years as a Chancellor’s Professor and an Associate Dean at the School of Social Work.
The accolades for his “day job” are numerous. He served as the Director of the Division of Mental Health and Addictions from 1994 to the start of 1998 and was honored with the Distinguished Hoosier Award from Governor Frank O’Bannon in 1997. He was the recipient of the Sagamore of the Wabash from Indiana Governor Joe Kernan in 2004 and was the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare Outstanding Alumni award winner in 2004.
On the racing side, Sullivan has been tabbed as the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame National Media Member of the Year on six occasions and is also a member of the National Association of Auto Racing Fan Clubs Hall of Fame. At USAC’s Night of Champions, Sullivan received a Special Contribution Award in 2003 as well as the Dick Jordan award in 2021.
Throughout the decades, Sullivan has been mightily successful in multiple realms and has managed to balance his passion for teaching with his passion for auto racing, where he has long been an award winning track announcer and author for several publications, papers, magazines and books along with being one of the most knowledgeable and thorough historians in the racing world today.
Now, with his retirement from the university imminent, he’ll be able to devote more time to his racing endeavors. It’s a dream scenario for Sullivan.
“When I knew I was going to retire from the university several months ago, on sort of whim, I reached out to (USAC President & CEO) Kevin Miller and thought, ‘what’s he going to say? I already do quite a bit of announcing.’ He responded very quickly. He asked me on the phone if I’m in, and I said, “oh, I am so in.”
“I’ve been in an administrative position at the university for a while, and there’s a fair degree of stress with that,” Sullivan added. “I even have some anxiety when I’m announcing a high profile race, but it’s nothing like the anxiety I feel when I’m in my administration role. To shed that, and to be able to devote that time to racing, including the research which I love so deeply, is incredibly liberating, frankly. It’s still work, and it’s still a job which I’ll take seriously, but it’s still very much an avocation.”
As a young man, Sullivan did not grow up in a particularly racing-oriented family. Like many families, it was a Memorial Day weekend tradition to gather around the radio and listen to Sid Collins call of the Indianapolis 500, which he did with his father at his Kansas City home. Sullivan attended his first USAC event when he was in his 20s and can still recall the fierce supermodified battles waged between Emmett Hahn and Ray Crawford at the Tulsa (Okla.) Fairgrounds. It was a watershed moment that turned the tide for him, so to speak, and led him toward his fanaticism with the sport of auto racing that he retains stronger than ever to this day.
Sullivan later moved to Missouri for his work at Southwest Missouri State University, and on the side, did a little bit of writing before receiving an opportunity of a lifetime, which led him to being front and center at a seminal moment for one auto racing’s utmost superstars during his early years in 1992.
“I moved to Missouri and was already a great fan,” Sullivan recalled. “I had written some articles for a local racing paper and Bill Don Willard, who owned I-44 Speedway and Bolivar Speedway, called me and asked me if I thought I could announce, and I said, ‘I have no idea.’ Of course, that’s stock car country, but I was immediately thrilled because we were going to get a USAC race that year. Ultimately, I interviewed Tony Stewart after his very first USAC win, then Tony and I became friends. The announcing part started right there.”
Three decades ago, during the early part of the 1990s, Sullivan received a job offer from Indiana University that allowed him to make the move to the Hoosier State. Simultaneously, Sullivan immersed himself in the state’s rich racing scene with the UMRA TQ Midgets, Bloomington Speedway, Indianapolis Raceway Park and a number of races from a variety of sanctioning bodies, including a lengthy and successful stint in the pressroom at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
His first job at the Speedway, which Bill Marvel helped arrange, was on the certification team as a USAC official. The first duty of the job involved an induction ceremony that was held upstairs at USAC’s office, which was led by Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles’ father, Judge Jeff Boles. Boles arrived in a judge’s gown, and he administered an oath, all in fun, but the whole process was a prideful moment for Sullivan.
“I had a shirt that said, “United States Auto Club” on it, and I was really proud of that,” Sullivan beamed. “Just because of the history, I’ve always felt that USAC really emphasized professionalism. I was able to have a long association with (former USAC Communication Director) Dick Jordan, I’ve gotten to announce all these races. I really care a lot about the club, so this is really, really exciting.”
The on-track aspect of the sport needs no further explanation, as it tells the story itself. What Sullivan relishes most in the sport are the relationships he’s developed with the individuals inside the arena, relationships that have endured a lifetime.
“We think we know who Peyton Manning is, or Patrick Mahomes, or anybody from a major sport, but we really don’t,” Sullivan explained. “This is a sport where you really have the opportunity to get close to these people and talk to them and know a little bit more about their lives. There are always interesting characters to some degree, then when you’ve developed respect for them, when they respect what you do and appreciate what you do to try and help them, that means a lot.”
“The fact that, at last year’s banquet, Justin Grant asked to have his picture taken with me,” Sullivan continued. “It’s a simple thing but it meant a great deal to me. I’ve known Justin since he was a kid, and I appreciated all it took for him to get to that moment. This one really meant a lot to him, and for him at that moment to ask me to join him on the stage, that was really touching to me. The thing is, I like all of them, and I’ve always appreciated the grassroots nature in what we do with USAC.”