Racer Profile: Dr. Jerry Punch

April 22, 2008

By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Jerry Punch was born August 20, 1953 in Newton, North Carolina and grew up around racecars and racetracks. In high school and college, he worked as a mechanic and drove racecars. He attended North Carolina State University in 1971 majoring in pre-med and graduating Magna Cum Laude. While at North Carolina, Punch was also a walk-on quarterback.

Punch then attended Wake Forest from 1975 through 1979. In 1975, Punch began working as a substitute track announcer at Hickory Motor Speedway. In 1979, he accepted an offer to work with Motor Racing Network covering the NASCAR races on the radio. The same year, he received his M.D. from the Bowman Gray Medical School at Wake Forest University.

In 1982, Punch began working television broadcasts of NASCAR Racing on syndicated broadcasts and with WTBS. Also in 1982, Punch became an emergency room physician. In 1984, Punch began working with ESPN covering NASCAR races. In 1986, Punch formed L.L. Punch and Associates with a staff of 14 physicians treating Central Florida patients. In 1987, he began working with ABC’s Wide World of Sports for selected motorsports events and began working as a fulltime member with ESPN’s broadcasting crew.

Beyond his award winning commentary and pit side reporting, Punch has saved the lives of two racecar drivers while working with ESPN. In 1988, while watching practice for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Busch 500 at Bristol, Tennessee, Punch witnessed a horrific crash involving Rusty Wallace. Punch scrambled to Wallace’s aid and found the driver not breathing. He revived Wallace and assisted in removing him from the wreckage.

The following fall, Punch was at the ARCA event in Atlanta when Don Marmor’s car flipped three times in a crash. Marmor had no pulse and Punch assisted emergency crews in stabilizing Marmor and removing him from the wreckage. Marmor was airlifted from the track and had a pulse, stable blood pressure, and was breathing on his own.

In 1989, Punch added college football coverage to his sideline reporting work. The same year he received the United States Air Force Outstanding Performance Award for exemplary service in the auto racing community, and he received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award by North Carolina State University. Also during 1989, Punch was a member of the broadcast team that won an Emmy Award for their coverage of the 1989 Indianapolis 500. Punch has been a member of the broadcast team covering the Indy 500 for almost 20 years.

In 1990, Punch was presented with NASCAR's Team Player of the Year Award. In 1995, he was awarded the ARCA Motorsports Media Award. Punch now focuses fulltime on a hectic schedule of speaking engagements and television assignments. In 1996, he was invited to return to his alma mater, North Carolina State, to deliver the commencement address. In 2001, Punch was named the host of ESPN’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series coverage.

In 2007, while addressing a Nashville Super Speedway media luncheon, Punch’s speech was interrupted by a loud crash from the back of the room followed by someone yelling "Is there a doctor in the house?" The crow erupted in laughter but was silenced when the person yelled out "We're not kidding! We need a doctor back here!" Punch bounded from the podium to the back of the room where singer Vince Gill’s daughter, Jenny Gill had fainted. Punch revived Ms. Gill and she was transported to a local care center by ambulance where she was observed and released. Not missing a beat, Punch returned to the podium and finished his speech.

Punch was named as ESPN’s lead announcer prior to the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season as NASCAR Cup Series competition returned to ESPN.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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