The Official Site of Area Auto Racing News Area Auto Racing News
– Long-Time Announcer, EMPA Press Assoc. Founder; Sponsorship, Public Relations Specialist –
By EARL KRAUSE
Ernie Saxton, a nationally known auto racing columnist with Area Auto Racing News, long time “Voice of Grandview Speedway”; and specialist in the art of public relations and sponsorship in the sport, passed away on August 17 at age 84 after a brief illness that had hospitalized him the previous week.
Saxton, a long-time resident of Langhorne, PA was predeceased by his wife Marilyn in 2022. She was the “right hand person and rock” with his Ernie Saxton Communications business while they also enjoyed 47 years of marriage and friendship.
AT THE TYPEWRITER, THEN LAPTOP: First attending a Modified race at Pa.’s Reading Fairgrounds at age 13, Ernie began his career in racing in the mid-1960s as a reporter and columnist with the old Illustrated Speedway News; then joined the staff of Area Auto Racing News.
His AARN column, which he personally named “My Two Cents Worth,” was a “must read” on page six every week… containing his often strong, sometimes controversial but always fair, views on the latest topics in the sport.
Not wanting to miss an edition, Saxton asked his son Richard to send a column he had been working on for this week’s issue on Friday while in the hospital. That column is found on page six of this issue.
He also wrote race results for AARN, including coverage for many years of the February NASCAR and ARCA Speedweeks at Daytona.
His byline on auto racing and sponsorship stories also appeared in region daily newspapers, and national magazines and websites.
ON THE MICROPHONE: With a voice booming with authority and knowledge on the racing microphone, especially at his “home track” Grandview (Pa.) Speedway, Ernie was, by his own admission, “not one to stand up in front of the class and speak in school as a youngster.”
But one night he was covering an ATQMRA TQ-Midget race at N.J.’s old Pleasantville Speedway in Atlantic City and the regular announcer couldn’t be there. He was asked to take over the microphone for the TQs, initially refused, then accepted… with humorous results, as Ernie would tell the story years later:
“I was doing okay, getting used to the idea of announcing. But in the midst of some exciting moment on the track, my mouth was wide open and a bug flew right in! I started choking and gasping… didn’t turn off the microphone, and the fans all turned around to look at me in the tower in amazement! But I caught my breath, the bug flew back out, and I kept on announcing! I found out that I liked it, and it became a great part of my career in the sport.”
From then on, Ernie announced at 150 tracks, locally and nationally, including a visit to California’s legendary Ascot Park Speedway. He was asked to return to call more races there, but decided… “the commute from Langhorne to California would be too tough!”
That’s because he had found his passion at Grandview Speedway each Saturday, where he became its “Saturday night voice” while working closely with the promotional team of Bruce Rogers and his wife Theresa. And, Ernie and Marilyn became their close friends.
Indeed, Ernie was behind Grandview’s microphone beginning in the 1960s until “retiring” in 2014 due to ongoing back-related health issues. During those years, he was also track public relations director and produced the weekly Grandview Groove program magazine with Marilyn at his side as editor and story/photo specialist.
Marilyn was a travel agent by profession, and would coordinate the Grandview Speedway Champions Cruise that became a yearly highlight for the staff and racers.
Although Ernie had stepped away from announcing at Grandview, he continued his long affiliation with the track as its media director and marketing representative until his full retirement from that role at age 79 in 2021.
Overall at Grandview, he announced for 45 years and did its media work for 55 racing seasons.
In a statement from Grandview,… “The entire Rogers Family and the staff of Grandview Speedway extend heartfelt condolences to Ernie’s son Richard, his family, and all friends of Ernie Saxton on his passing.”
PROFESSIONAL IMAGE: Ernie was a founding member of the Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) in 1969 and served as its president for nearly 40 years before stepping back from that role. Marilyn was EMPA’s executive secretary, handling its business details year round including the annual convention.
As president, he emphasized professionalism in the media, especially on a local level. That included emphasis on “professional manners and appearance” when attending award banquets and special events. Ernie’s view was that an auto racing media person should represent their sport as a professional at all times.
“It was Ernie’s vision, over 50 years ago, to assemble an organization dedicated to the motorsports media that became the Eastern Motorsport Press Association,” said EMPA president Dino Oberto.
“He built EMPA to be one of the most respected auto racing media groups in the country. His commitment was to bring together members of the working press as professionals with core values through a respectful, honest, and unbiased manner. He did so to ensure the absolute finest news… print, video, photography and public relations. To this day, that remains the principal credence for the members of EMPA. May he rest in peace.”
MEDIA AND SPONSORSHIP: Along with his public relations role at Grandview, Saxton shared that media knowledge to “Saturday Night Short Track” racers, in all divisions on dirt and asphalt.
Originally, Ernie had a successful management career at Chilton Book Publishing while still essentially “full time” with racing-related sponsorship and marketing. Ultimately, with the full support of Marilyn, he left Chilton and formed his own Ernie Saxton Communications business out of his home office in Langhorne. By the late-1980s, it was recognized nationwide with Ernie leading the way.
He taught the fine points of how to first find and secure sponsorship, and then how to best promote that product on the company’s behalf to build a long-term relationship. That was done through sponsorship seminars he would personally present in many states and each January at the Motorsports Show.
In the 1980s, he and Marilyn founded the Motorsports Sponsorship Marketing News, a subscriber based newsletter that offered direction and tips to racers on a local level on contacting and working with potential sponsors; along with stories on businesses that were involved in racing.
And always “just a phone call away,” Ernie consulted with racers and track/series promoters on a “one to one” basis to create proposals, contact letters and media releases.
MEDIA EXPERTISE: While Grandview was Ernie’s main focus, he also did announcing and media publicity for other region tracks and series; and in the early-1990s was Media Center coordinator at Pocono Raceway.
When Lenny Sammons promoted a winter indoor Micro Sprint race at the Philadelphia Expo Center in the late-1980s, Saxton “got the word out” to the city’s radio stations and daily newspapers with volumes of pre and post-event coverage; as well as “calling the action” over the microphone from the arena stage.
When the Motorsports Show began in 1986, Ernie was there to “get the word out” to the racing and local news media for the first show held at Valley Forge, Pa. Convention Center. And as lead announcer on the show floor at every edition that followed as it moved to Fort Washington (Pa.), Atlantic City and then Oaks, Pa. well into the 2000s, he always enjoyed wearing a tuxedo as Master of Ceremonies for the Saturday night Ms. Motorsports competition!
And when Len Sammons Productions began the current Winter Indoor Racing Series at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall in 2003, it was Saxton that contacted the media and coordinated event credentials as the event evolved.
FOREVER FRIENDS: For Ernie Saxton, auto racing was a way of life that he and his wife Marilyn shared. They were the ultimate best friends on that racing road they traveled.
“She was the driving force that kept me going for 47 great years of marriage,” said Ernie upon her sudden passing in 2022. “We made a great team.”
* * * * *
Saxton is survived by his son, Richard, and daughter-in-law, Jacki (Evans), along with his granddaughters, Courtney and Carleigh. The youngest of four children by 14 years, he was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Marilyn; his parents, Charles Saxton and Rhoda Weist; his brothers, Charles and Francis Saxton; and his sister, Rhoda Corradetti.
Family and friends are invited to attend services on Sunday, August 24, with visitation beginning at 2:30 p.m. followed by a memorial service at 4:30 p.m. at Beck/Givnish Funeral Home, 7400 New Falls Road, Levittown, PA 19055.In lieu of flowers, contributions in Ernie’s memory may be made to the ASPCA.
