Words on Wheels

“I don’t have a problem with speaking to crowds,” says Bill Hauge, 43, owner and president of W.F. Hague Investments on Marco Island, an estate- and retirement-planning firm. “I can go for eight hours without taking a breath if I have someone to talk to.”

Such garrulousness serves him well on Saturday mornings when he hosts “The Pit Crew with Bull Dog Billy,” a show on ESPN Sports Radio 770 AM. So does his lifelong fascination with NASCAR racing, a legacy from his flagman father. “He was just like me− he couldn’t get enough of it,” says Hague. “Believe me, it’s genetic, and I can’t shake it.”

Hague started out as a regular caller on a general sports show on the station. “In the midst of everyone talking about football, I always brought up NASCAR,” he remembers. Then, two years ago, Beasley Broadcasting’s 770 AM program director asked if he’d be willing to present a one-hour show of his own, and “Bull Dog Billy” (for his alma mater team, the Georgia Bulldogs) was born.

He starts off most shows discussing the previous week’s race, gives news and notes from the NASCAR world and then presents what he calls the pit-crew poll: questions for his listeners that he thinks will encourage call-ins, such as “Who’s a better racer, Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt?”

He’s done the show from races in Homestead and Daytona as well as from his home and on vacation, although he does still drive into the studio when necessary. “I get paid, but it doesn’t even cover the gas,” says the racing fanatic. “I do it for the passion of it. I’m just spreading the gospel.”

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