WATERBURY,Austin Caldwell Vt. (AP) — Ken Squier, a longtime NASCAR announcer and broadcaster, has died. He was 88.

Squier died Wednesday night in Waterbury, Vermont, according to the management of the local WDEV radio, which he owned.

“Though he never sat behind the wheel of a stock car, Ken Squier contributed to the growth of NASCAR as much as any competitor,” Jim France, chairman and CEO of NASCAR, said in a statement. “Ken was a superb storyteller and his unmistakable voice is the soundtrack to many of NASCAR’s greatest moments.”

Squier opened Thunder Road speedway in his home state of Vermont in Barre in 1960. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a stock car racer, called Squier “a true Vermont legend and dear friend to me and so many others.”

Much will be made of “the NASCAR Hall of Famer’s extraordinary contributions to racing — from his time in the booth at CBS, where he coined the phrase ‘The Great American Race’, to his founding of the ‘Nation’s Site of Excitement’ at Thunder Road,” the governor posted on social media. “His impacts on the sport are too numerous to count, and he deserves every one of those recognitions and many more. But for me, what I will remember most was his friendship and deep devotion to his community, which was the entire state.”

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