Kenley Dean Squier (April 10, 1935 – November 15, 2023) was an American sportscaster and motorsports editor from Waterbury, Vermont.
He coined the term "The Great American Race" for the Daytona 500 and helped introduce the Australian-developed in-car camera for the 1982 running of the event.
Squier's father, Lloyd, owned and operated WDEV in Waterbury, Vermont, and Ken began his on-air work at age 12.
[2] Squier's racing-announcing career began when he announced a stock car race from the back of an old logging truck at a tiny dirt track in Vermont at age 14.
In 1960 he opened Thunder Road International SpeedBowl, the Barre, Vermont, quarter-mile oval, which was subsequently sold in April 2017.
Squier served as a pit reporter for the first live "flag-to-flag" coverage of the Greenville 200 on ABC in 1971[citation needed] and he joined CBS Sports a year later.
Richard Petty won the race, but a fight between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough made headlines throughout the United States.
For the next 20 years, beginning in 1981, various TV stations would get NASCAR coverage on various tracks: CBS, TBS, TNN, ESPN, ABC, and NBC.
Squier announced CBS Sports' occasional CART IndyCar broadcasts in the 1990s as well as hosted the 1982 Individual Speedway World Championship from the Los Angeles Coliseum alongside four-time Speedway World Champion Barry Briggs of New Zealand and pit reporter Dave Despain.
Squier hosted CBS' "live flag-to-flag" coverage of American Formula One races in the 1980s (e.g. Detroit, Dallas) along with David Hobbs and pit reporter Chris Economaki.
[9] Squier also announced a wide range of sports outside of auto racing, including ice skating, golf, and tennis.