Conducting Podium Interviews, Commentating Live Race Action and More
From GNCC mudders to Arenacross under the lights, Zac Herrin has built a career giving motorsports athletes a voice — and he’s doing it across some of the biggest stages in off-road and stadium racing.
In this episode, host Heather Wilson Schiltz chats with Zac about how he unexpectedly had a microphone put in his hand, what it’s like calling GNCC with 45-minute lap gaps versus 20-second Arenacross laps, and how announcers balance storytelling, professionalism and real emotion when races don’t go to plan. They also dig into podium interviews as a skill riders should practice just like starts and corners.
🎧 What You’ll Hear:
• The moment that launched Zac’s announcing career
• Why GNCC families endure tight turnarounds and brutal conditions
• The key differences between calling GNCC and Arenacross
• Why riders should practice interviews like they practice racing and how that ties directly to value for sponsors
• The behind-the-scenes reality of live production: what’s in the headset, what’s on the screen, and what’s not
• How announcers can influence perception and why personality matters
• How Zac protects his voice and energy across long race weekends and a heavy travel schedule
📲 Connect with Zac Herrin on Instagram
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“You’re practicing starts. I know you’re practicing corners and jumps and scrubs. On the way to and from the track, why aren’t we practicing interviews? You know, you shouldn’t be reading off that list of sponsors — you’re looking down at your paper.
Practice. Get those repetitions out there as well, because that’s just as much what our manufacturers and our personnel in the industry are looking at as anything else. I joke all the time — “everyone else” is the number one sponsor thanked on the podium. It never fails, they get nervous, they start stuttering a little bit, and they just go, “Everyone else. Thank you.”
And “everyone else” isn’t somebody.
So these these companies, whether they’re giving you gas, whether they’re giving you tear-offs, whatever it is, even just showing support at all — they’re waiting for that thank you. And they deserve that thank you, so I encourage people for the younger athletes to get those repetitions. Practice the interviews just like you’re practicing the craft of racing.”
-Zac Herrin, GNCC/Arenacross Announcer
