I Follow: Allen Bestwick

ESPN’s NASCAR announcer Allen Bestwick.
(Photo courtesy of Phil Cavali for ESPN)

Editor’s note: I Follow is all about ESPN employees on Twitter: what they tweet, whom they follow and how you can interact socially with anyone and everyone.

Today, we focus on Allen Bestwick, lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s NASCAR coverage. Bestwick will call the action in the NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Bristol Motor Speedway airing Saturday night, Aug. 25, on ABC.

Twitter handle: @AllenBestwick
ESPN Job: NASCAR announcer
Followers: 23,997 (as of 8/21/12)
Following: 377

When did you join Twitter and why?
I joined Twitter when I first heard about it, I’m guessing between 3 and 4 years ago. My wife, Pam, was a big Facebook user and I had begun to dabble in that. For whatever reason, I like Twitter much better, it’s more immediate, easier to use.

Who is your favorite person to follow on Twitter?
Tough to pick just one, but @MarioAndretti. There’s just something outstanding about an icon like Mario posting his thoughts on various racing and sporting topics. Fun to me.

Who is the most interesting person who follows you on Twitter?
Very honestly, I have never looked through the list of those who follow me. Anyone who cares enough to read what I might have to say that they click the “follow” button is interesting to me. I really enjoy the interaction.

If you could add any one person as a Twitter follower, who would it be?
I would add the President of the United States. . . and it doesn’t matter who that President is. Wouldn’t it be cool to be “followed” by the world’s most powerful person?

What’s your favorite Tweet you’ve received or your favorite Twitter moment?
The tweets that say “love the way you call a race” are my favorites. We all need a little pat on the back, right?

You’ve used Twitter to talk about some of your “interesting” travel days– what’s one that really stands out and why?
Last year after one of our race telecasts a wave of thunderstorms cancelled many flights, and a group of us were stuck in Des Moines with no way out until Tuesday. Problem was I had to be on-air at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte Monday afternoon. So we found a minivan and six of us drove all night to O’Hare to get flights from there Monday. We started the hash tag “#ESPNroadtrip” and amused ourselves for the five and-a-half hour overnight drive. You would be amazed at the people up and on Twitter at those hours.

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