Tributes have been pouring in from all across the racing world for the iconic reporter Al Pearce following his death at the age of 82. Pearce began working for Autoweek in 1973 and covered his 56th Daytona 500 this February. In a memoir by his colleague Greg Engle, he is remembered with great praise and honor.
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Engle, also a writer for Autoweek, states, “I sat next to Al in the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center for years. He was steady, precise, and quietly relentless. A living example of how the job should be done — without ego, without gimmicks, just facts, curiosity, and a little bit of grit.”
He added to note how Pearce was the kind of person who got fueled by his passion for stock car racing. He was always thinking about the next race and the next question to be asked. What other than an undying love can inspire an aging man to travel across the country to cover races?
Engle also tells about him, “Al Pearce wasn’t just a journalist. He was a relic in the best sense of the word — part historian, part bloodhound, all heart.” Pearce also wrote for the Newport News Daily Press from 1969 to 2004. His work with Autoweek happened in parallelly and continued after he quit the Daily Press.
Pearce authored 13 books on auto racing, and his work has been published in numerous magazines. But he ought to be honored not only for his contributions to motorsports. He was a veteran of the United States Army and the Vietnam War. He worked as a teacher for a short period before choosing to go down the path of journalism.
Engle’s memoir was also for Jon Edwards, 53, the communications director at Hendrick Motorsports. Edwards was a close aide of Jeff Gordon before taking Kyle Larson under his wing.
The team confirmed the news of his death and said in a statement, “Jon was a consummate professional whose remarkable gift for building strong and lasting relationships made him a respected figure in our sport.”
Edwards spent a total of 31 years at Hendrick Motorsports and began his stint as a Public Relations executive for Gordon in 1994. The four-time Cup Series champion was highly devastated by the news and expressed his support for Edwards’ family. Engle had high words of praise for him just as he did for Pearce.
He wrote, “In a world where driver PR reps increasingly look like they just graduated high school, Jon stood as a reminder of how the job used to be done. And how it should still be done.” The impact of the loss of these two gentlemen will be felt hard across NASCAR.
