SPARTA – Rob Barnett says he first visited a dirt track when he was six months old. In the years since, he’s raced both motocross and modified stock cars.

Barnett was back at the track Friday night, but in an entirely new role.

The Bowling Green resident leaned Friday from a perch overlooking the start-finish line and waved the green flag to start the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

Barnett whipped the flag back and forth as front-row drivers Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier floored the throttle. He fulfilled the most basic duty of his role: not letting the flag slip from his hand and onto the track.

“It’s Friday the 13th,” Barnett quipped earlier in the day. “Everyone’s reminded me of (not dropping the flag).”

Of course, for the drivers to approach the start-finish line and take the green flag, they first had to fire up their engines.

The man that gave them the command to do so was another Bowling Green resident, Larry Bailey.

Standing on the apron of the track and facing the grandstand, Bailey held the mic for his big moment. He gave a shoutout to event sponsor Alsco and its employees, thanked America’s servicemen and women and then voiced a hearty “Drivers, start your engines!”

Forty stock cars heeded Bailey’s final four words and roared to life.

“I’ve tried out several different words,” Bailey said Friday afternoon, “but I’m sure I’ll come back and gravitate to the ones they’re expecting me to say.”

Bailey and Barnett’s race responsibilities Friday night were a result of their relationship with Alsco. The company, based out of Salt Lake City, performs linen and uniform rental services.

Bailey, chairman of the Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Barnett, airport manager at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, have both worked with the company for local events.

Friday wasn’t Bailey’s first time with a microphone at a racetrack. A former radio personality, he was also an announcer for hot rod races at Beech Bend during the 1960s.

Several decades later, Alsco executive Jim Diver reached out to Bailey and asked if he’d like to serve as grand marshal for a NASCAR Xfinity race.

“It was a stunning call, not something I ever expected to receive,” Bailey said.

Diver reached out to Barnett for another important race-day responsibility.

“Jim shot me an email and said, ‘We need you to do us a favor,’ ” Barnett said. “I said, ‘Sure, I’d be glad to do whatever I can for you, Jim.’ He said, ‘We want you to wave the green flag.’ Well good grief.

“Larry called shortly after with the instructions: ‘Don’t drop the flag.’ ”

Bailey and Barnett on Friday represented a city synonymous with motor sports. Bailey mentioned Bowling Green’s connections to racing through its production of Corvettes and Holley carburetors and the events hosted at Beech Bend.

“To have the opportunity to come here in our home state and represent Bowling Green, Ky.,” Barnett said, “it’s just a great honor.”{&end}