Tom Carnegie, the Voice of Indy for 61 Years, Dies at 91

February 11 2011 Last updated at 06:23 PM ET

The golden voice of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing has been stilled.

Tom Carnegie, the public address announcer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for more than 60 years, died Friday at age 91 in the Indianapolis suburb of Zionsville, the speedway announced.

From the end of World War II until well into the 21st century, Carnegie called the action for the fans in the grandstands. From 1946 to 2006, he called 61 Indianapolis 500s, 12 Brickyard 400s and six United States Grand Prix races.

His voice literally grew with the speedway. As the Indy 500 became ever more popular through the latter half of the 20th century, and more and more fans came to see the 500, Carnegie's voice became an ever-deeper, ever-richer baritone, with ever-more dramatic flourishes.

He was in his prime in an era when the Indy 500 was not only a race. but a contest of speed as well. Before the 500 itself on Memorial Day, the month of May was filled with the drama of the quest to go faster than the year before -- to reach 150 mph, and then 175, and finally the magic barrier of 200, and then even higher.

Through those magical years, Carnegie's deep voice cut through the din. And when he said, "And it's a NEEEEW TRACK RECORD!!", the packed grandstands roared.

Carnegie was born Carl Kenagy in Connecticut. The son of a Baptist minister, he aspired to be an actor, but a bout with polio scuttled those hopes and he turned toward broadcasting.

He took a job at a radio station in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1942 after graduating from William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. He became Tom Carnegie at the Fort Wayne station when the station manager suggested the name Carnegie would go well with the radio station's sister stations in the East since the name Carnegie was prominent in Pittsburgh.

By 1946, he was broadcasting at WIRE in Indianapolis when new speedway president Wilbur Shaw asked him to assist with the public address announcing of the 500.

He quickly came to see the speedway as a grand theater, and because fans could not see all the way around the track, his commentary could keep fans on the edge of their seats.

In its press release announcing his death Friday, the speedway noted, "Privately, Carnegie became somewhat saddened in the 1990s when virtually instant timing-and-scoring information became available to the public via computers, followed by the installation of large television screens around the track. He felt these innovations could lessen the mystique."

Carnegie retired in June 2006, just after calling the most dramatic finish in the speedway's history, with Sam Hornish Jr. making an unprecedented pass for the lead on Marco Andretti in the final few hundred yards as they charged toward the checkered flag.

Tributes poured forth Friday, including one from two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion and Indy 500 veteran Tony Stewart, who said, "He was the voice of the Speedway. I still have a tape of my qualifying lap at Indy during my rookie year when I broke the track record, and it's his voice and his words that helped make that moment so special."

Carnegie is survived by his wife, D.J., and children Blair, Charlotte and Robert.

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