Charlotte Motor Speedway — Charlotte, NC
This was one of those photo essays that remind me how lucky I am to be doing this and how special people are. Alan Cavanna is a Motorsports Reporter for NASCAR and a passionate journalist who has been through all of the ups and downs to make his dream come true. Hard work and dedication to do his best work is at the forefront of Alan’s mindset to continue to be the best at what he loves. Being able to watch him work his magic and interact with fans, drivers and coworkers was incredible and you immediately saw how special his talent truly is. Besides being a great human, Alan keeps the belief in himself in knowing this dream will become reality.
What was the journey like for you on how you ended up in Charlotte?
"Well, my journey starts with racing and all the way to my family of racers. My grandfather was a professional. But growing up in Connecticut I was fortunate enough to race cars called Quarter Midgets, which are like go-karts. That's what a lot of the professionals started driving when they're young. And I was fortunate enough to do that up in New England. There comes a time in racing when you are not going to be pro, probably because you ran out of talent or money. I always say that's the joke, right? You just ran out of money, not talent. Being an only child, I had this love affair with television and wanted to be on TV and entertain. I grew up in that Sports Center generation. That was me every morning before school, I was just watching Sports Center. I wanted to do that. I wanted to be on television and stay in racing, and ultimately, professionally, I knew that to do that in NASCAR, you had to be in Charlotte. It’s the home of racing. Charlotte is like this Mecca. When you're from Connecticut in terms of racing it's this racing Mecca because everything is based out of here. So that led me here - I knew if I wanted to do NASCAR coverage professionally at some point, I'd have to get to Charlotte. That was the goal. So every step of the ladder and every step I made was focused on how to do this like a chess game to get there. The first job you just have to get on somewhere. So that didn't matter. I ended up going to a small town in Missouri. Joplin, MO, and covered some racing out there, but I was a news guy. I was a news reporter covering murders, fires, city council meetings, and all that stuff. So that's job one. Then, I went to Evansville, IN. And that was kind of job two, but always thinking, how am I going to work my way to Charlotte and back then, the Charlotte news market really was, like, third job territory. That was a prestige thing. Charlotte was a top 25 market, it took a little bit to climb that ladder and get there. It worked out - when the third job time came around, and I was climbing the ladder, and I applied to all the Charlotte stations and channel 9, WSOC said yes and boom, man, I was in. I was in Charlotte. So that's step one, right? Then when you get to Charlotte, NASCAR isn't just a sport, it's a business. It's an economy, right? There are thousands of people who have their jobs and their livelihoods tied to the sport, not just racing and driving. That helped me do economic stories. This was 2008 where the economy was kind of going down. That meant sponsors were leaving; teams were shutting down. So I could do NASCAR stories from a news perspective and little things like that helped get me ingrained with meeting people, going to teams, talking to them, being at their shops. That stuff helped. Then my, I hate to say big break because it was bad for him, but this guy named Jeremy Mayfield, he tested positive for using meth, and it became this huge news story. So you mix news and NASCAR; who are they going to call on in the newsroom? They're like, Alan, how can you help us here? I was the first one to get an interview with Jeremy Mayfield on camera, and that not only got good news attention, but the NASCAR world picked up on that. This was right at the forefront of Twitter when it was kind of getting big. So on Twitter, I was a NASCAR guy, so all of a sudden, people following were like, this guy who we don't really know, what does he do? Who is this guy? Oh, he has the Jeremy Mayfield interview. Then, NASCAR radio started talking about it, and it ended up on Sports Center, like all this stuff. And from there, it was working from the inside, man, you know, kind of noticing people. I used to take my weeks off at the news job, like vacation time, and go cover NASCAR races. That was my vacation, and I just tried to get in with all these people because I could use a press pass from channel 9. It would get me places and I was able to work from the inside. Once I got to Charlotte, it was awesome."
Did you have a hard time accepting that racing as a career wasn't going to be a thing instead of just covering it for news?
"No, I think you know from a very early age. The haves and the have-nots. I think you can get it very quickly. At age nine, you realize, oh, multi-millionaires become race car drivers right in their families. But I was very much fine with that. Yeah, I retired at 15, and I went out on top as a champion. That's all I wanted (laughs)."
Are you a goal-driven person when it comes to things you want to accomplish, or do you just go with the flow and figure things out along the way?
"I would say I'm goal-driven because I had one dream since 6th grade, and look, I'm doing it. But, knock on wood, I understand how rare and crazy that is. That thing I wanted to do actually happened. Do you know what I mean? It actually happened. It's fun to hear from friends in high school because I was that kid making the morning announcements and doing all that dumb stuff. They're like, wow, you actually went on television like it actually worked all those dumb racing shirts you wore in 6th grade like you were actually covering this guy. (Points at shirt and laughs) This guy's my coworker, my favorite racer, Rusty Wallace - we're going to be coworkers soon. It blows my mind."
What about goals for now? Do you have anything that you want to achieve in this in this aspect of your career?
"100% because I've had an interesting journey; I made it not quite to the top of the ladder, not quite to the tip of the spear, but three years ago, I lost my job with Fox. I hit my goal, everything was awesome, and then I lost it, I lost it. I'm not on network television anymore. I'm not at the forefront of when you turn it on Saturdays. I never made it to Sundays in terms of covering the NASCAR Cup series, like actually doing that, and it's very tough and humbling. It's hard to stick around, and I don't know if I'll ever get that chance again, but that's what these last three years have been about trying to climb that ladder once again. You know, maybe learning a few lessons and just trying to apply that stuff and climb the ladder again because most people don't get one shot, and here I am trying to get a second shot, and I know how rare that is, and it's humbling, and I'm still here. I'm still trying to climb that ladder again and maybe get another chance. And that's not to discredit the stuff I've been doing the last three years because I've had such good opportunities from people to even keep me around, like doing stuff with NASCAR digital and the radio teams, Performance Racing Network, Motor Racing Network. They've been so kind to me to give me these opportunities. I still get to the track. I'm still part of these legendary broadcast teams, and I'm just so thankful because some people lose that gig and out of sight, out of mind, you're never heard from again. And I've been able to stay in this wonderful community. And you know, it’s because of the relationships you make on the way up. So that's still keeping me in the sport. I'm grateful for that. It's just I have a love affair, you know, with television and the camera, and hopefully, I have at least one more shot at that. We'll see."
What is your biggest struggle right now?
"Professionally, I mean, I picked a profession and a goal where there's literally like six positions on the planet(laughs). I mean, maybe not six, but there are very few positions that exist, and I've had one. And then I lost it, and now I'm trying to get it again. What are you thinking? That's very tough, professionally. There are a few of these jobs, and I'm trying to get one for a second time, but what worked once may work. And that was time, right? I'm not a 26-year-old, nor do I have a huge professional runway in front of me. There's plenty of competition behind me. There are plenty of 28 to 30-year-olds behind me trying to do the same thing. I have to think about more important things now; I have a wife, I have a family and I have to think about that. How long can I chip away at this before I really think I need a nine-to-five with a pension or something? Those things really become real. Fortunately, I have. I'm blessed with an awesome wife, a Sugar Mama, who has insurance and all this stuff (laughs). It's allowing me to keep pursuing these dreams. But at some point, you have to think responsibly. I think that's the biggest thing that comes with age and time is that you can't pursue the dream forever, right? So I think that's the biggest challenge. As time goes on, the self-doubt creeps in and all that, and that can be tough, but it's still there. You then have to make these resume reels of yourself and send them out. And I watch them. I'm like, damn, I can't do this. Like, you wonder sometimes that maybe this wasn't meant for me, but then I watch again, and I really see that I can do it; just give me one more shot. I just believe, and I know it's possible."
What is a proud moment that sticks out to you that has shaped you into the person you are today?
"I'm proud to still just be here, that I'm still on the journey, that I stuck it out, that I did make those relationships. The day it all came crashing down, there were still people there willing to give me a shot and keep me in this community professionally because, without it, you're just out of sight, out of mind, especially in the NASCAR world. I'm proud that I've made those relationships and that people seem to like me, which I hope reflects that I've been a good person and that I've been genuine with people. I hope it's a reflection of the work that I've done and that it's been positive. The whole goal going in was to just be that conduit between racing and the race fan because that's what I was, and hopefully, that passion comes through, and the fact that I'm still here is a reflection that people recognize I still have that passion. I'm proud to have a loving wife who supports me and understands my career path, and she's on a very similar one. I'm proud personally that I have such a supporting wife, and I couldn't do it without her, literally. I wish I could think of one moment, but it's been a heck of a journey. And I've been here in Charlotte for 16 years now, which is crazy, to see that fly by and see all the change in the city and everything and still be here.
I feel people would just give up so easily especially with tough struggles along the way
"I don't know what else I would do; that's the other side of it. I've been doing this for so long. I'm a professionally trained journalist and broadcaster. What the hell else would I do?
Would you have stuck with it if this didn’t pan out the way you thought?
"There was a moment in my last TV contract where I was like, when is it going to happen? When's it going to happen? This was from late 2012 to 2013. There was a moment when WSOC had this contract in front of me. It was another three-year deal, and I was like, what am I going to do? Because if I sign this, am I deferring my dream? A minimum of three years because contracts can be so tough. I had the balls to think, when not even if but when NASCAR comes calling, how am I going to do that if I signed this three-year deal? I really believed it, man. I was delaying signing it, and my boss at the time was like; what the hell is going on? Why aren't you signing this? I finally just let it out and was like, Julie, if I sign this, maybe my dream is deferred, and I don't know what to do, and she goes, how about this in the contract? We'll have a clause that if you get a NASCAR job, this contract is void; will that make you sign? And I'm like, absolutely. I signed it, and not even six months later, NASCAR came calling, and she couldn't have been happier. That was one of the nicest things that anyone's ever done."
