Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Feb. 16, 2026

Jason looks back at the 100th anniversary party at Tampa Bay Downs and talks about meeting the great Tom Durkin. 

A good Monday morning to you all! Hope everyone had a good weekend and happy Valentine’s Day if you were able to celebrate with that someone special. 

This weekend was our 100th anniversary celebration at Tampa Bay Downs, and it was filled with many fun events and celebrations of the big anniversary.  

On Friday night, there was a big cocktail party in downtown Tampa, and many of the employees got on a pair of trolleys and took the hour drive (with traffic) to downtown to go celebrate the big occasion. The food and all that was fantastic, but the party was at a historical museum, and there was a very large exhibit of Tampa Bay Downs history, which was very cool to see – pictures from when it opened and its time as both Sunshine Park and Florida Downs. It was a great party, and I say that as someone who doesn’t really like parties. 

Easily one of the highlights for me was getting to finally meet the great racecaller Tom Durkin in person. Since getting into announcing, I’ve had the great pleasure to meet many of my influences and favorite racecallers. I’ve even gotten to become friends with several of them. Tom Durkin is thought of by many (myself included) as the greatest American racecaller ever, and there’s a list a mile long of his best. What I love about his resume of races is that there are so many to choose from, and if you asked 100 people their favorite Durkin calls, you’d get 100 different lists. It’s incredible. 

I did a YouTube video a few years ago of my top five favorites, and the Smarty Jones 2004 Belmont S. (G1) is my favorite. I just thought he captured the drama of the race, the event, the emotion, just so perfectly. 

My first surprise in meeting him was that he recognized me and came up to me to say hello. He couldn’t have been nicer, and we had a lovely chat. Then no more than a minute later, Richard Grunder joined in, and we had a nice little announcer union meeting. Richard has been so nice to me since I came here in 2021, and his legacy as the voice of Tampa Bay Downs remains long after his retirement. 

It was very cool to get to spend some time with those guys that I admire so much. I’m in that middle part of my career where I’ve made friends with some guys who have retired, and I also now know people who are just getting into their racecalling careers. I remember when I got the fill-in gig at Monmouth Park, the press release introducing me referred to me as “veteran racecaller” Jason Beem. Veteran? What? How’d that happen! I’m the new, fresh, young upstart!

It goes by so fast. I remember when I was practicing announcing and writing letters to people like Vic Stauffer and Robert Geller. There was no clear path for getting into announcing; you just kind of had to practice and then hope something happened. 

It was so lucky for me that a couple of doors opened right away, and I was into it fairly quickly. I remember in those early years talking with my young peers like Travis Stone and James Witherite, who started the same year that I did. We all wanted to just break in and get our starts and would also talk about maybe getting to the big tracks someday. It was all so fun and exciting, all of it. 

Obviously, Tom Durkin is known for his big race calls like the Breeders’ Cup or Triple Crown races, but I think it’s just as cool to talk about his journey and days at smaller tracks like Tampa Bay Downs, where he called a season in the early 1980s. He called at tracks like Balmoral Park, Quad City Downs, and even Miles Park in Louisville. Of course, there’s more chatter when you get to the big places, but the journey through those smaller tracks and those early days is often the most fun to reminisce and talk about.  

I don’t really use the word hero for anyone other than my mom, but there’s that phrase people use about “don’t meet your heroes.” Well, turns out for racecalling heroes, so far, when I’ve met them, they’ve been awesome.  

Have a great week everyone!