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Steve O'Donnell Is The New Voice Of NASCAR
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NASCAR’s 46-year-old executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell has recently become the organization’s public voice when things get sideways or there’s a strong message to be delivered.
Within seven days in February, he addressed confusion surrounding Daytona 500 qualifying, explained the reasoning behind Kurt Busch’s indefinite suspension and dealt with Kyle Busch’s crash in Daytona Beach. Several weeks later, he explained why both Busch brothers would remain Chase-eligible despite missing several races. In June, he tackled driver safety at Dover, spoke about likely rules changes and did a conference call to explain those changes for the July race in Kentucky. Then, in July, he outlined new aero rules for Indianapolis, Michigan, Darlington and Richmond, and took time to remind a radio audience that the July race in Daytona Beach would remain at night.
Suddenly, fans used to seeing NASCAR’s chairman and CEO Brian France or vice chairman Mike Helton behind the mics were introduced to a relatively new face. O’Donnell has been with the company since 1996 but only recently has taken a more public role in its day-to-day operations. He’s polished, well spoken, well prepared, forward-looking and experienced—reasons enough why many who follow the sport expect he’ll soon be second only to France within the NASCAR hierarchy.
O’Donnell was born in New Jersey and spent his youth in Massachusetts and Egypt, where his father was a principal. After his 1991 graduation from Rollins (Fla.) College, he worked with a communications company before stints with the Daytona Beach Cubs and the Florida Citrus Bowl. When he joined NASCAR’s marketing department, it didn’t take long for Helton to notice what O’Donnell brings to the table.
“I’ve had the pleasure to watch Steve learn and grow into a leader in our sport,” said Helton. “He has taken on the leadership role regarding our efforts at the R&D Center and has been very instrumental in the communication with the tracks, drivers, teams and other key stakeholders as we work together to make our sport better.”
Colleague Doug Fritz also envisions great things for the young up-and-comer.
“Steve’s a great guy, and you could tell he had a lot to offer, a lot to bring to the table from a personality standpoint and as an employee,” said Fritz, who worked for NASCAR in Daytona Beach, Richmond and Iowa before going into the private sector. “He latched onto different aspects of the industry right away. I could absolutely see he was going to move up through the ranks. It wasn’t just marketing and it wasn’t just operations. He learned it all and did well at every stage. He’s energetic and well liked and capable, and everyone could see that from the start.”
O’Donnell’s NASCAR journey has included stops in sales and marketing, track operations, race-weekend procedures, the extensive weekly track series, safety, PR and media relations, scheduling, technical rules packages and discipline. He shuttles between NASCAR’s facilities in Daytona Beach and its R&D Center in Concord, NC, where he oversees all aspects of racing development.
“I focus the majority of my time on competition, working with teams and owners and drivers,” he said. “I’m making sure we’re aligned from a NASCAR standpoint with where we want to go. I’ll spend a lot of time on upcoming events and scheduling. There are two hats to the job.”
His greatest asset seems to be his relationship with the people who put on the shows. “He listens to us and understands the importance of our teams and the value in keeping good cars on the track,” said Richard Childress, an 11-time championship owner. “He listens to the whole garage, from first (in points) to 43rd. No matter who it is, Steve will listen.”
Legendary driver-turned-owner Richard Petty calls O’Donnell “a dad-burned good listener” who “gets out amongst the troops” to learn what’s what. “His mind might be made up,” the seven-time champion said, “but you get from his conversation and his questions that there’s still a ‘maybe’ in there, that he’s open for change. He’s good about talking to different people to get the drift of things. Now, he may take all that input with a grain of salt, but he’s still listening. Folks have a lot of confidence in him.”
Dennis Bickmeier, president of Richmond International Raceway, added that O’Donnell has “a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the future” and “is a student of the sport with a high level of engagement.”
Dover International Speedway executive Denis McGlynn quipped that if O’Donnell can spend almost 20 years in NASCAR “and still be the even-tempered, level-headed, well-prepared, good-guy professional that he is, that means he has all the earmarks for leadership.”
Just as important, drivers seem comfortable with him. “Steve was a great addition to the NASCAR team,” said driver Greg Biffle. “He opened an honest line of communication with drivers, and he listens to our feedback. Our sponsors and fans follow him diligently (on social media) and look to him as an insider with valuable interaction and up-to-date, honest information. Having that voice that fans can access is important to our sport.”
“He’s calm and easygoing,” said driver Carl Edwards, “but you know he’s in charge. You’ll be all worked up over something, and after a few seconds with Steve it’s like, ‘Oh, well, everything will be fine.’ He listens to people and takes their concerns to heart and has a good sense of humor. I think all of us (in the Cup series) are comfortable with him.”
Unlike NASCAR’s other upper-level executives, O’Donnell embraces social media. O’Donnell didn’t fully grasp its impact early on but now accepts social media as an invaluable marketing and PR tool. As @odsteve, he’s on Twitter almost daily and is a frequent contributor to NASCAR’s satellite radio shows. After the Pocono race in June, he appeared on a Fox-TV call-in telecast.
“I saw fans embracing it, so I got into it, too,” O’Donnell said of social media. “I didn’t know much about it, so I talked to people in the (mainstream) media about how they use it. I’ve had great one-on-one dialogues with fans. It’s not always positive, but I get feedback about where we might be going and where we need to go. It’s a great instrument for keeping up on what’s going on. The only problem is, I just can’t keep up and follow all that I’d like to. It gives me a great snapshot of what people are thinking.”
Within seven days in February, he addressed confusion surrounding Daytona 500 qualifying, explained the reasoning behind Kurt Busch’s indefinite suspension and dealt with Kyle Busch’s crash in Daytona Beach. Several weeks later, he explained why both Busch brothers would remain Chase-eligible despite missing several races. In June, he tackled driver safety at Dover, spoke about likely rules changes and did a conference call to explain those changes for the July race in Kentucky. Then, in July, he outlined new aero rules for Indianapolis, Michigan, Darlington and Richmond, and took time to remind a radio audience that the July race in Daytona Beach would remain at night.
Suddenly, fans used to seeing NASCAR’s chairman and CEO Brian France or vice chairman Mike Helton behind the mics were introduced to a relatively new face. O’Donnell has been with the company since 1996 but only recently has taken a more public role in its day-to-day operations. He’s polished, well spoken, well prepared, forward-looking and experienced—reasons enough why many who follow the sport expect he’ll soon be second only to France within the NASCAR hierarchy.
O’Donnell was born in New Jersey and spent his youth in Massachusetts and Egypt, where his father was a principal. After his 1991 graduation from Rollins (Fla.) College, he worked with a communications company before stints with the Daytona Beach Cubs and the Florida Citrus Bowl. When he joined NASCAR’s marketing department, it didn’t take long for Helton to notice what O’Donnell brings to the table.
“I’ve had the pleasure to watch Steve learn and grow into a leader in our sport,” said Helton. “He has taken on the leadership role regarding our efforts at the R&D Center and has been very instrumental in the communication with the tracks, drivers, teams and other key stakeholders as we work together to make our sport better.”
Colleague Doug Fritz also envisions great things for the young up-and-comer.
“Steve’s a great guy, and you could tell he had a lot to offer, a lot to bring to the table from a personality standpoint and as an employee,” said Fritz, who worked for NASCAR in Daytona Beach, Richmond and Iowa before going into the private sector. “He latched onto different aspects of the industry right away. I could absolutely see he was going to move up through the ranks. It wasn’t just marketing and it wasn’t just operations. He learned it all and did well at every stage. He’s energetic and well liked and capable, and everyone could see that from the start.”
O’Donnell’s NASCAR journey has included stops in sales and marketing, track operations, race-weekend procedures, the extensive weekly track series, safety, PR and media relations, scheduling, technical rules packages and discipline. He shuttles between NASCAR’s facilities in Daytona Beach and its R&D Center in Concord, NC, where he oversees all aspects of racing development.
“I focus the majority of my time on competition, working with teams and owners and drivers,” he said. “I’m making sure we’re aligned from a NASCAR standpoint with where we want to go. I’ll spend a lot of time on upcoming events and scheduling. There are two hats to the job.”
His greatest asset seems to be his relationship with the people who put on the shows. “He listens to us and understands the importance of our teams and the value in keeping good cars on the track,” said Richard Childress, an 11-time championship owner. “He listens to the whole garage, from first (in points) to 43rd. No matter who it is, Steve will listen.”
Legendary driver-turned-owner Richard Petty calls O’Donnell “a dad-burned good listener” who “gets out amongst the troops” to learn what’s what. “His mind might be made up,” the seven-time champion said, “but you get from his conversation and his questions that there’s still a ‘maybe’ in there, that he’s open for change. He’s good about talking to different people to get the drift of things. Now, he may take all that input with a grain of salt, but he’s still listening. Folks have a lot of confidence in him.”
Dennis Bickmeier, president of Richmond International Raceway, added that O’Donnell has “a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the future” and “is a student of the sport with a high level of engagement.”
Dover International Speedway executive Denis McGlynn quipped that if O’Donnell can spend almost 20 years in NASCAR “and still be the even-tempered, level-headed, well-prepared, good-guy professional that he is, that means he has all the earmarks for leadership.”
Just as important, drivers seem comfortable with him. “Steve was a great addition to the NASCAR team,” said driver Greg Biffle. “He opened an honest line of communication with drivers, and he listens to our feedback. Our sponsors and fans follow him diligently (on social media) and look to him as an insider with valuable interaction and up-to-date, honest information. Having that voice that fans can access is important to our sport.”
“He’s calm and easygoing,” said driver Carl Edwards, “but you know he’s in charge. You’ll be all worked up over something, and after a few seconds with Steve it’s like, ‘Oh, well, everything will be fine.’ He listens to people and takes their concerns to heart and has a good sense of humor. I think all of us (in the Cup series) are comfortable with him.”
Unlike NASCAR’s other upper-level executives, O’Donnell embraces social media. O’Donnell didn’t fully grasp its impact early on but now accepts social media as an invaluable marketing and PR tool. As @odsteve, he’s on Twitter almost daily and is a frequent contributor to NASCAR’s satellite radio shows. After the Pocono race in June, he appeared on a Fox-TV call-in telecast.
“I saw fans embracing it, so I got into it, too,” O’Donnell said of social media. “I didn’t know much about it, so I talked to people in the (mainstream) media about how they use it. I’ve had great one-on-one dialogues with fans. It’s not always positive, but I get feedback about where we might be going and where we need to go. It’s a great instrument for keeping up on what’s going on. The only problem is, I just can’t keep up and follow all that I’d like to. It gives me a great snapshot of what people are thinking.”
