ABOUT US
Rowdy.com is the place NASCAR fans can express themselves, meet others and can stay current on the sport's hot issues and talk about racing...or anything else.
We aspire to be a next-generation social networking site where we make it easy for fans to express themselves on what they love most--racing, and most importantly, be themselves. Fans can blog, show off their favorite photos and videos, engage in heated but friendly (and we mean friendly: disagree all you want but respect is a must) discussions, meet other fans, start groups (we call them crowds), read up on drivers and tracks, buy merchandise, and of course, listen to the Rowdy take on the sport, either via podcast or streamed on the site.
The Rowdy show is a daily racing radio show devoted strictly to NASCAR racing. For 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week, fans listen in on their MP3 players, computers, or cell phones as hosts Reginald "Buck" Fever and Leonard "Bass" Masters deliver the latest news on America's most popular motorsport. Joining Buck and Bass to deliver expert commentary and analysis are award winning broadcaster Mark Garrow, former Cup driver Rick Mast, championship-winning crew chief Barry Dodson, and veteran print reporters David Poole of The Charlotte Observer, and Steve Waid of NASCAR Scene. We also have a few regulars that make Rowdy the coolest racing show on the planet. We hope you enjoy the insights of "Buzz" Culter, Linda B and the Perfesser Mrlon Fescue. If you listen a lot, you may even enjoy Randy Bunn's very unique style.
Rowdy's goal is to create the one place where a fan can visit and in a few short moments understand all the important topics of the day. Buck and Bass deliver the news in an informal, interactive way, just like you'd expect from two race fans. Our take on the day's events is intended to spark debate, insight passions and bring out the best in our community members. While Buck and Bass always have an opin ion about what's happening in racing, they are always open to a new view or a new take on the sport. Well, almost always!
Rowdy also delivers an exclusive pre-race show for race fans at the track through a partnership with scanner provider Racing Electronics and provides a weekly one-hour radio show to several stations around the country. Listeners can download Rowdy and listen whenever they want so they never have to miss an episode. We are also very proud that we are the highest-rated NASCAR podcast on iTunes, wit a perfect 5 star rating. Thank you fans, we genuinely appreciate the support. You are why we do the show and have the community.
Rowdy is created by Labrador Mobile, Inc., which has an office at Delaware Corporate Center, One Righter Parkway, Suite 130, Wilmington, DE, 19803 and its production studios at 213 East Water Street, Charlottesville, VA , 22902.Our Team
We have a great team of folks here at Rowdy, and without them the show would, well, suck. They are also great contributors to the Rowdy community and Rowdy.com. You can read a little of everyone's history below, and then we hope you'll dig into their Fan pages, blogs, picture and video archives, and add them to your list of friends here on Rowdy.com.
Buck Fever and Bass Masters
Buck Fever and Bass Masters In 1978 Leonard Masters' dad was transferred to a new GM-owned rubber valve plant outside Galax, Virginia. Their house was up the road in Troutdale. Since it was mostly farm country, the yards were big but neighbors still came over. No door was ever locked and summertime found two pastimes--scooping for trout and fixing up racecars for the season. Bristol is an hour away. In early June 1978 Leonard Jr., who you know as Bass, sat on the stoop. He was 13, new to town and very bored. That's when Buck Fever came along. Young Reginald Fever lived next door. His dad was a big bow hunter.
Little Buck was born mid-season...in October. Buck took one look at Bass Masters' brand new “AMF Electric Racer Set” and a friendship was born. Leonard's Dad gave the set to little Bass in hopes it would help him get over the move. From that day on Bass was the “Silver Fox”, David Pearson, and Buck was “King Richard.” The set only came with a number 21 and number 43. Years later in 2001, Buck and Bass hatched upon an idea. Buck had just lost his job and Bass was none to pleased with trout farming. They converted Leonard's four-car garage into the international headquarters of Rowdy.
Broadcasting racing shows and weird things they think are funny, Buck and Bass stumbled upon what they always knew. They have a lot of fun together, especially when they are talking racing.
Mark Garrow
Mark Garrow has been covering the racing beat as a reporter for over twenty years. However, his introduction to stock car racing was even more unique than that of Jeff Gordon or Richard Petty. His father was hired by track owners up North to stop angry drivers from beating up track officials. Mark's Daddy was a boxer. Mark is too ... almost an Olympian.
Introduced to Buck and Bass by Cup Driver Rick Mast, Mark serves as Rowdy's official member of the press. He's been writing and talking about racing since Buck and Bass were in Huggies. Rick figured that if Buck and Bass were gonna jaw about racing all day someone needed to get the stories and facts straight. Or ... at the very worst spend some time with a reporter who'd covered racing live. Plus Mark knows all the drivers. That helps too.
A veteran broadcaster, you'll find Mark calling races on the radio and Fox. He's won the 2003 Barney Hall Award and even penned a few books and a CD or two about racing. If he's one thing he's a fast mover ... especially given his age. Buck and Bass enjoy picking on Mark cause he's a bit of an elder statesman. Truth is, he's a vault of racing information that just has to be tapped. Plus he's not that old. Mark lives in Lexington, NC with his wife Lynne, and daughters, Breanna and Marissa Elizabeth.
Linda B.
The B stands for Bumgardner. As an independent filmmaker and director, she stumbled upon Buck and Bass at the Bristol Motor Speedway...sort of. When Buck found out that Linda was making a documentary on NASCAR fans, he sent her Hershey Chocolates, flowers and an autographed picture of DJ he bought off eBay.
Linda grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina where her mom taught school and her Daddy drove a Pepsi truck. Her way with words makes even DW take notice; her mom taught her how to turn a phrase. When she says "um," people listen. She used to find the three hour drive from Charlotte to Troutdale a bit long, but she did it twice a week 'cause she says "she was the only professional on the crew" and "it's charity work for the boys." Later, she just made it easier by marrying Buck.
Rusty the Engineer
Rusty "Waldo" Speidel is actually the most accomplished professional at Rowdy, responsible for "creating talent where none exists." In his formative years he was in a band that toured throughout the East Coast. The band Speidel, Goodrich, Goggin and Lille still tours today. Since Buck and Bass couldn't find a recording studio if it bit them in the face, Rusty was solicited to set up and run the studio above Bass Masters' garage. Getting Rusty to actually set the studio up is where the fun started.
When Buck and Bass started Rowdy, naturally Rusty was called in. As head studio engineer and keeper of the CD collection he makes sure all the shows are produced. Buck warmed up to the idea of having Rusty run the studio after Rusty promised to teach him to sing. Rusty is still trying to help Buck sing and Buck is still trying to figure out how to turn a microphone on.
Rick Mast
On January 23rd 2003 Rick Mast made it official. Due to carbon monoxide poisoning he was retiring from Nextel Cup racing. In an odd twist of fate, a man whose hard-nosed driving had made a significant impact on the track was making much more impact by being off it. Rick was tough. If carbon monoxide could take him down, others could easily wither. NASCAR listened. So did many fearful drivers who knew that their routine dizzy spells did not come from driving fast. It came from too much CO in the cockpit.
Rick made 364 starts over a 15-year Cup career and holds the record for the most starts without a win. He won the pole for the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 and finished second by a hair to Dale Earnhardt at Rockingham. He also drove for the legendary A.J. Foyt. Rick counts Kenny Schrader, Tony Stewart and Sterling Marlin as good friends and calls Dale Earnhardt his hero and one of the nicest friends he ever had.
He’s full of memories and stories that are frankly unmatched in NASCAR. Including the fact that he traded a cow for his first racecar and while racing for Skoal managed to insult the entire Northeast of the United States. We’ll let him tell you about hanging with the fans at Watkins Glen.
Barry Dodson
Buck and Bass think they know a lot about racing, but in the end they get a lot from Barry Dodson, former championship crew chief. Barry started as a jackman and ended up as the crew chief for Rusty Wallace in 1989 when Rusty won the Nextel Cup Championship. You also may have seen Barry on Fox Sports and the Speed Channel talking about springs, swaybars, and setups.
Now Barry is the main man behind Key Motorsports truck program. Barry gives us the ins, the outs, and the upside downs of racing technology and takes us "behind the wall" for insights you just can't get anywhere else. Plus, he keeps Buck from making up too much junk on the air.
Steve Waid
Steve Waid is the vice president for editorial development at Street & Smith's Sports Group, publishers of NASCAR Scene and NASCAR Illustrated. Being a vice president means, of course, that Steve doesn’t do a whole lot of work. He delegates it to others. Steve has been covering NASCAR since 1972, which doesn’t mean much other than he’s old. He started his newspaper career at the Martinsville (Va.) Bulletin. He spent 10 years as the motorsports writer for the Roanoke (Va.) Times & World-News before joining what was then known as Grand National Scene in 1981. He was given a beat-up metal desk and a portable Royal typewriter. Steve has won numerous state sports writing awards and several more from the National Motorsports Press Association for his motorsports coverage, feature and column writing. He won the George Cunningham Award as NMPA Writer of the Year in 1989. He is also the recipient of the Henry T. McLemore Award for outstanding lifetime contributions to motorsports. It can be said Steve has certainly done an outstanding job of bluffing over the years. Steve served as president of the NMPA for 12 years, during which he survived several assassination attempts. He is the co-author, with Tom Higgins, of the biography of legendary NASCAR driver/team owner Junior Johnson, titled "Junior Johnson, Brave In Life." Suffice it to say Tom did most of the work.
In addition to Rowdy, Steve can be heard weekly on “Raceday On Fox,” on XM Channel 142 and is also featured regularly on several syndicated radio shows.
Sonny Callahan
Born Walter J. Callahan at Lee Memorial Hospital in Downtown Norfolk during the autumn of 1932, Sonny was a fixture at the dirt tracks of southeastern Virginia. Raised during the heart of the depression, Sonny lived in Princess Anne County. Now whether he was pulling wrenches at the "Chinese Corners" Race Track or serving as the jackman at Norfolk Speedway, he was almost always working for his best friend and favorite driver, Little Joe Weatherly. Little Joe and Sonny met when Sonny took Joe's sister on a date to Ingram's Pharmacy in Virginia Beach. Joe thought Sonny was too flirty with his sister and punched him. They were best friends after that.
It was Sonny who put what he liked to call "Go-Go Juice" in Little Joe's gas tank in 1963, the year Little Joe won the championship driving for nine different owners. While Little Joe perished in a wreck at Riverside California in 1964, thankfully Sonny is still with us. His tales of old time racing and stock car lore serve as fuel for both Buck and Bass. Bass holds Sonny in the highest of esteem. Buck says Sonny is a long-winded air-bag who needs his BelTone tuned up. Secretly Buck admires Sonny. Sonny knows this.
Marlon Fescue
After hearing a speech by Alex Trebek on the importance of secondary education in early 1985, Buck sought a higher degree. At Wytheville Community College he met Dr. Marlon S. Fescue, the Perfesser. While the Doctor was not amused with Buck's GPA they spoke a common language...stock car racing. Plus, it was the only way Marlon could teach Buck math.
The Professor is a highly educated mathematician with a sharp eye for racing talent, although he hates Dale Jr. His keen dressing style and sharp wit is unmatched by no person he knows. He holds degrees from MIT, The University of Virginia and Phoenix Online. As the maestro of statistics it is his job to make sure Buck n' Bass get all the stock car math right. He takes this job very seriously. Marlin is the keeper of the "Stock Car Statistical Crypt" and master of the weekly "Top Ten." You can catch Dr. Fescue's arithmetic insight every week on his show, Do The Math.
Randi Bunn
Randy, Leonard's cousin, came to stay with little Bass in Troutdale during the summer of 1979. Randy's Mom and Dad ran a fishing operation in Alaska and Randy had few kids his age to hang around with. They thought a little southern sunshine might do young Randall some good. He took a room in the Masters' house above the garage. This is the very same garage that Rowdy is now broadcast from, except now it's much, much bigger thanks to Randy.
In his teen years Randy's hair was very important. His style and flair ushered in many unique and different cuts. As usual a business was born. Randy dropped out of high school to open Randall's - The Salon. Today it's still the place were all the girls go to gab. The modified mullet is out though, a casualty of Randy's experimental cosmetology days. The Gym came next. "Randy's Muscle Time" is a rare Troutdale treasure. Buck will not set foot in it 'cause he thinks the Gym features more girls than The Salon. But, occasionally Buck will get together with best friend's cousin for a beer or two. Buck does it just to make Bass happy. Bass likes to see his cousin Randy happy. Randy is happy when he parties. However, Randy is at his most happy when the world, life, water, streams and the mountains reflect the wonder that is his hero … Jeff Gordon. This drives Buck to the brink of insanity.
