Kenley Dean Squier, co-founder of the Motor Racing Network, passed away

BARRE — Kenley Dean Squier, the founder of Barre’s Thunder Road, co-founder of the Motor Racing Network (MRN), NASCAR Hall of Famer and the voice of sports events across Vermont, New England and beyond, passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the age of 88. Born on April 10, 1935. Perhaps his most well-known achievement came in February 1979 with the first live flag-to-flag broadcast of the Daytona 500. It was Ken on the call who pointed out Dale Earnhardt at the start of his rookie season, excitedly caught the infamous fight between the Allison Brothers and Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty’s record sixth of seven wins in “The Great American Race,” a phrase that Ken added to the NASCAR dictionary. Squier was inducted into the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2002 and the American Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2010. Ken was the inaugural recipient of the 2013 Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence alongside fellow namesake and broadcaster Barney Hall before being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2018.