Chris Griffin takes over as Parx track announcer

Chris Griffin, the race caller at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, has accepted a position as the full-time track announcer for Parx Racing in Bensalem, Penn., the track announced on Wednesday.

Griffin, who got his start in car racing, will take over for Keith Jones, who called the races at Parx (which was formerly called Philadelphia Park) for 34 years before announcing his retirement last December. Parx races nearly year round, so Griffin will relocate to Pennsylvania.

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“Chris is a rising star in our industry with a tremendous work ethic,” said Joe Wilson, the chief operating officer of Parx, in a release. “We are thrilled to welcome him to the Parx family.”

Griffin was the full-time announcer for the Harlem Globetrotters when the team made a stop in Little Rock, Ark., in 2015. At the time, the veteran racecaller Frank Mirahmadi was working at nearby Oaklawn Park, and he later guided Griffin into race-calling stints at the California fairs. Griffin has since called races at Portland Meadows, Los Alamitos, and Gulfstream Park West, and in 2018 he was made the full-time announcer and marketing manager at Sam Houston Race Park, which runs seasonally.

“I appreciated my time at Sam Houston Race Park, as well as the Northern California fairs, and other racetracks who have treated me well,” Griffin said in the release. “However, the relocation to a new region is something I am ready for. I am very excited to move to the East Coast and become the full-time announcer at Parx.”