They are loud and proud.

When the ADRL partnered veteran announcers Al Tucci and Brian Olson on their announcing deck, they must have known the combination would bring together two emcees with an equally overwhelming passion for the sport.

One guy provides the meat and potatoes and the other serves as the dessert. In the end, their love of the sport and of announcing, wonderfully conveys the intensity of the drag races they announce.

“Here’s the thing, Al Tucci is one of the greatest funniest one liner guys in the world,” said Olson, who served as a color commentator on SPEED’s race coverage before joining the ADRL. “One of the greatest individuals I've ever met and a guy that I've become a very close friend with.  He came up with a saying about eight months ago, he says "I am the flour and you are the water and together we make the dough.” 

They are loud and proud.

When the ADRL partnered veteran announcers Al Tucci and Brian Olson on their announcing deck, they must have known the combination would bring together two emcees with an equally overwhelming passion for the sport.

One guy provides the meat and potatoes and the other serves as the dessert. In the end, their love of the sport and of announcing, wonderfully conveys the intensity of the drag races they announce.

“Here’s the thing, Al Tucci is one of the greatest funniest one liner guys in the world,” said Olson, who served as a color commentator on SPEED’s race coverage before joining the ADRL. “One of the greatest individuals I've ever met and a guy that I've become a very close friend with.  He came up with a saying about eight months ago, he says "I am the flour and you are the water and together we make the dough.” 

Tucci, has aspired to be a drag racing announcer since childhood. He gets emotional because every time he picks up a microphone, he's living out that childhood fantasy.

And then there is the mean Elvis impersonation he would do as a child, in between calling the imaginary drags.

“It started with the middle of a toilet paper roll as a young kid, I called it a do-do,” Tucci admitted. “I used to go around the house and I would do Elvis Presley.  I did all types of things, you read the stories.  I just love being, not the center of attraction but the entertainer. It's like something that's a gift.

“I have the best time of my life,” said Tucci. “That's what it is.  It's a passion and that's what it is to all of us. I wanna put that out to the world. I just received an award in Canada, they came to me saying blah-blah-blah he's the greatest entertainer for drag racing in the world. I got the award and I gave that to each and every one of us.  To the guy who rubs the track down, I get choked up man because I love all you people.”

Announcing is not Olson’s day job. Instead, he’s a talented race car painter and auto body wiz, who just happens to have a knack for calling the races. His resume includes stints with the IHRA and Super Chevy, as well as a score of special one-off events.

 

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“We've both been gifted by our parents with deep pipes,” Olson said with a smile and speaking in that tone. “We've got big ole deep pipes and we can carry on all night long. Are we like the guys in the other sanction and bodies? No we're not.

“We like to have a good time,” Olson explained. “Right now we've got to understand that we are the entertainment business.”

Tucci knows how to keep the race fans entertained. His one-liners on the announcing deck often resemble the great ESPN announcer Chris Berman in that he often gives racers special nicknames, which has created some memorable one-liners.

The practice began at the very first ADRL event in 2004.

“One of my favorites is it looks like this guy brought a pigeon to a cockfight,” Tucci recalled. “Roy Hill, I remember at the House of Hook [Carolina Dragway], it looked like he had three chimps in his stomach at that time. That guy looked like he was getting pretty big at the time. He was walking around like there was no one that could take him out of the south that night. I love those one-liners, they come naturally.  It's not something that I plan, I don't write them. They come naturally.”  

That kind of announcing style was something that didn’t initially bode well for Olson when the two worked together years prior to the ADRL gig. He had aspirations of becoming an NHRA announcer.

“In that particular sanctioning body there are certain perimeters you've got to meet, political correctness being one of them and going over the edge is not one of the things that their usually familiar with,” Olson recalled. “As a result, that's what my goal was at that time.  It takes a certain person to be there at that time. There are certain people that are cut out for certain positions and I wasn't one of those for the NHRA.”

For Olson, who carries competition licenses in his back pocket, it’s the exhilaration of the announcing deck that shifts his gears.

“At the end of the day man, we've both been blessed and we both know that.  We've been blessed to be a part of this sanctioning body.  I have found me a home right here and a new best friend as well.”

Tucci adds, “And I’m willing to bet that Olson is glad he didn’t take that gig as the sword swallower with the circus.”

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