View Bill Brodrick
Bill Brodrick
By Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
“The Hat Man”
Algonquin, IL
“The Tavern at the Bridge”
On the Fox River NW of Chicago
34 Years of Racing Experience
1969-1997 with UNOCAL
Grew up in Cincinnati, OH
Saw his first race at age 9 in Elyria, OH
Was a Motorcycle guy in high school
Drag raced a flat head Harley
Owning a 1960 Corvette made him a “car guy”
Started working at WNOP, a 1,000 Watt Jazz radio station just across the Ohio River in Newport, KY
Did PR work for local Corvette Club…the station let him do a 15minute motorsports show on Saturday since he sold the advertising for it
Wrote a motorsports column for the Cincinnati Enquirer
In 1968, went to WKRC (50,000 watts) Did an evening drive motorsports roundup sponsored by STP (He said it was like the TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati”)
In 1969 he took a PR job with Union 76…moved to Chicago
First race was the 1969 Daytona 500
Drove beautiful “Race Stoppers” Linda Vaughn and Winky Louise around in convertible
Credit or curse Goodyear at Indy for starting “The Hat Dance”
1970 First “Hat Man” duties. Started with 5 or 6 hats, then went to one for every decal on the cars. Bill basically tried to organize the chaos in victory lane…so the photographers could get their photos…keeping sponsors and NASCAR happy.
Bill did PR and organizational work for other organizations and sanctioning bodies
CART at Long Beach
F1 at Caesar’s Palace
20 years at Le Mans from 1981-2000
20 straight Super Bowls from 1981 Detroit to 2000 New Orleans
Ran 3 Cannonball Runs (in a motor home)with NASCAR co-driver Joe Frasson (1971, 72, 75) Best time NY to LA: 44:42:00
Was at Evel Knievel’s Snake River jump
Toured the Ferrari factory at Maranello
Worked for AP at George HW Busch’s inauguration
Broke Valvoline’s stranglehold at Indy by sponsoring Dan Gurney’s effort in 1975
Bobby Unser won the race with Union 76 (It was during the Energy Crisis and 76 was on an advertising hiatus…no budget…all it cost them was a set of tires, oil, and a few tanks of methanol) Gurney gave Brodrick an Indy Winner’s Ring…one of his most prized possessions.
A few of Bill’s favorite races:
The 1976 Daytona 500 crash with Petty/Pearson 2-15-76
Richard Petty’s 200th win in 1984’s Firecracker
Ernie Irvan’s win at New Hampshire in 1996 after his horrible crash at Michigan.
Some of his favorite tracks: Charlotte, Laguna Seca, Le Mans