They’re broadcasters, they’re lifelong race fans, and they’re brothers. Randy and Brian Ward have paired for every American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) broadcast on DIRTVision in 2025, enjoying the family time together on-air and on the road.
Brian joined the broadcast team for the 2025 season as a pit reporter alongside older brother Randy, the play-by-play announcer who took over in 2024 for longtime voice of the Series, Bryan Hulbert. The two natives of Lawton, OK, grew up together with future visions of careers in sports broadcasting and production, and have since made those dreams reality, joining the motorsports world as one of the only brotherly on-air pairings.
“It’s a blessing to us,” Randy said. “It helps our relationship; we get to talk to each other and see each other a lot more than normal.”
Longtime fans of Oklahoma’s weekly dirt tracks will recall the brothers’ voices on the mic, stretching as far back as the early 2000s at venues including Lawton Speedway, State Fair Speedway, Red Dirt Raceway, Longdale Speedway, and at special events like the Tulsa Shootout and Chili Bowl Nationals.
Despite their shared work in motorsports, the two had only once worked the same broadcast together prior to 2025, uniting last May for the Series event at Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker, OK. Their talents shined in the past, but it was there they were able team up and give ASCS fans a new broadcast experience.
“I think it’s cool that we know each other so well that our rapport is really good,” Brian said. “And because we have very similar backgrounds and history in certain disciplines and areas of the sport, our knowledge is very comparable. We can hit off each other really well, and we just know what to expect and aren’t taken off guard with each other.”
“(Brian) just has a good way to communicate with the guys in the pits because of his background as a racer himself, so I think he knows what they’re dealing with more than some others,” Randy said. “It gives him an opportunity to talk to them in their language, and he can translate that for us on the broadcast side.”
Brian went on to complete his sixth season as Red Dirt’s weekly announcer and second as Longdale’s mic host at the conclusion of 2024 before answering the call of duty from DIRTVision in 2025, joining the ASCS team as pit reporter for the entire 2025 national schedule.
“I was super excited,” Brian said. “I was excited not only to get to do something that I enjoy — being on the pit side and doing the reporting and talking to drivers and being on the track — but getting to travel with my brother some and just getting to travel across the country and see a lot of places that I haven’t had the opportunity to go to.”
“I thought it would be great for me because it would make me comfortable to work with somebody I know,” Randy said. “Number two — and probably more important in the grand scheme of things — I knew he would do a fantastic job, so I knew this would elevate our broadcast.”
Broadcasting careers had long been a dream of both brothers, but they took different paths into the world of motorsports. Randy graduated college and soon went into the world of broadcasting, landing a job as a sports anchor at the local news station in San Angelo, TX, before moving up as sports director and later assistant news director. In total, he clocked 11 years at the west Texas affiliate before accepting another news anchor position back home in Lawton, where he stayed from 2017 to 2019.
Randy soon acquired a local screenprint business, following his retirement from full-time broadcasting, and continued his part-time announcing duties at local racetracks, and in 2024 got his call to join the ASCS team on DIRTVision.
“When the opportunity came to go on the road with ASCS, I was hesitant because of the family — I didn’t want to be gone,” Randy said. “It was a challenge, but we decided to go ahead and do it because it was something I had always wanted to do. And I really enjoy it.”
Like his brother, Brian also spent college in the communications field but took up his first ventures as a local announcer straight out of school at Lawton Speedway and State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City. He later dove deeper into the motorsports world as a driver, racing everything from Stock Cars, Modifieds, Micro Sprints and Go-Karts throughout the 2010s.
While he never worked television news, Brian said his time spent behind the camera on the production side gave him invaluable knowledge that he later used in his first on-camera roles as part of the Tulsa Shootout and Chili Bowl Nationals broadcasts from 2013 to present.
“I worked in school on the college broadcast as well, so it gave me insight on that side of things, which just helps on being on the other side of the camera,” Brian said. “Just knowing how they work, I feel like that allows me to work with all the camera operators and directors and producers really well.”
Their paths were different, but they ended at the same destination. The Ward brothers are enjoying more time at the racetrack now than ever as co-hosts on DIRTVision, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I feel like we’re getting closer now than we ever have been with each other,” Randy said. “We both have families, kids, jobs, and trying to juggle working the races as well. But that’s what we want to do. That’s our relief from all the home stress. We get to go to the races.”
Tune into DIRTVision as the brothers bring viewers all the American Sprint Car Series action in the next event this Saturday, June 21, at Batesville Motor Speedway in Batesville, AR. Tickets will be on sale at the gate on race day.
