On Monday afternoon, the NASCAR community suffered another impactful loss with the passing of legendary media personality Steve Waid.
Waid, a long-time writer and reporter in the sport, helped establish the standard for many in the industry, with over 50 years of work in and around NASCAR.
After starting his writing career at the Roanoke Times in 1971, he found his long-time home at NASCAR Scene in 1981. Even after NASCAR Scene’s demise in the early 2010s, Waid kept working into the 2020s, writing his final column for Frontstretch in May of this year.
During that incredible run, Waid managed to see almost every significant moment of NASCAR’s modern era, the 1979, 1993, 1998, and 2001 Daytona 500s, all forms of NASCAR postseason systems, and every generation of car from the second to the current NASCAR Next Gen.
While his writing is as impactful on the sport as Roger Angell’s in baseball or Robin Miller’s in IndyCar, Waid was one of a few to never sit behind the wheel of a race car that could give a personal account of some of the sport’s most important modern moments.
This translated well into his later career as co-host of The Scene Vault Podcast, where Waid, alongside his fellow NASCAR Scene alumnus Rick Houston, interviewed and cataloged stories from across the garage, drawing on their combined years covering the sport.
Houston, in a recent social media post, said he was initially “intimidated” to start the podcast with Waid, viewing their time together at NASCAR Scene as “two ships docked in the same port, only to head off in separate directions when the work whistle blew.”
Later, going on to add to his post that after their years together on the podcast, “Today, he is one of my closest friends and confidantes. I’d gladly take a bullet for him.”
Of course, Waid’s impact as a teacher went beyond Houston, as seen in the many NASCAR Scene alums. Those who credited Waid with helping them or just influencing their careers stretch back as far as his time in the sport.
This includes modern-day leaders in NASCAR media, such as Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports and Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, both of whom were former NASCAR Scene writers.
In a post paying homage to Waid, Pockrass wrote, “His wealth of knowledge was only surpassed by his abundance of kindness.”
For his tribute, Gluck shared a story of his first interaction with Waid, in which the NASCAR media legend listened and helped push Gluck’s hopes of becoming a writer.
While those writing in the garage area are now, for the most part, outnumbered by those who take a multimedia approach to covering the sport, Waid’s influence is not lost on the current generation of NASCAR content creators.
Out of the Groove’s Eric Estepp shared a similar love and respect for Waid, relishing the times they worked together, adding that Waid was, “always kind, welcoming, and full of incredible racing stories. A true legend in the media world.”
The future of NASCAR media is a major part of Waid’s legacy.
However, his later efforts to preserve even the smallest nugget of NASCAR history with Rick Houston through The Scene Vault Podcast also introduced fans of all ages to stories they had never heard or had forgotten.
With his passing, Waid’s works, both written and spoken, all reflect one mission statement he shared in the opening of every episode of The Scene Vault Podcast, a statement reminding fans and industry members that the foundation of NASCAR is built on its history.
“The day NASCAR and all of us associated in any way with NASCAR forget its past, that’s the day we don’t have any future.”
