Matt Panure | Series AnnouncerBy Tom Wagner
Matt Panure may be the youngest member of the Mid-American team, but possesses natural talent beyond his years with the pen and microphone.
Matt is now in his third year as the Mid-American Series announcer. He also doubles as the Series reporter, handling both press releases and race results.
Matt has been around stock car racing for his entire life. His dad, Mike Panure, was a racer in Northeastern Wisconsin, and has been active as an official for various tracks and series for years.
He helped get Matt his first racing job; scoreboard operator at the Shawano Speedway in Shawano, Wisconsin. Working in the tower gave him the chance to observe veteran announcer Joe Verdegan at work, and the seed for a future announcing career was planted.
In 2003, Verdegan was looking for some help on the mic at the Luxemburg Speedway in Luxemburg, WI, and Matt was a willing candidate. He worked as the co-announcer at Luxemburg through the 2006 season, and by that time his career was taking off.
A student at St. Norbert College in DePere, WI, Matt became a sports announcer for the school. He also handled the duties for the Fox Cities Ice Dogs amateur hockey team.
The 2008 racing season is his busiest yet. He is the weekly track announcer at two very different venues. Thursday nights, he is the primary announcer at the legendary Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, WI: a unique D-shaped half mile paved track.
Friday nights he shifts gears, announcing at the quarter-mile dirt track in Chilton, WI. He’s not only on the road with the Mid-American Series, but he also crosses several state lines as the traveling announcer for the growing ASA Midwest Series as well.
This spring, Matt graduated from St. Norbert with a degree in Environmental Sciences. But, his love of racing and his varied announcing experiences just might be leading him down a different career path.
He is now pursuing a second degree, and to no one’s surprise, this one is in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
