Stauffer putting down roots in Hot Springs

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Vic Stauffer will be wrapping up his fifth season as the Oaklawn Park announcer on Saturday and his downtime from the mike will be jam-packed.

It gets under way the day after the meet, when Stauffer and his wife, Tina, are scheduled to move into their new home in Hot Springs.

“We not only bought a house, we bought some land and are building a house,” Vic Stauffer said. “So, we have fallen in love with Hot Springs and Arkansas.

“My wife has always had dream of building a house and when we were in Northern California, it was not financially feasible. We found a plot of land we liked a lot here, and we’re building, and we’re hoping to move in the day after the meet closes.”

Stauffer’s offseason also will include working as an agent for jockey Jermaine Bridgmohan, who will ride both Indiana Grand and Arlington Park. Agenting is not a new role for Stauffer, who through the years has represented such riders as Joel Rosario, Martin Garcia, and Ken Tohill.

“I was the voice of the Northern California fair circuit for 16 years – you hopscotch two-week fairs all over Northern California for the summer,” Stauffer said. “The people who hired me to do that were also gracious enough to let me be jock agent for riders at the fairs. That’s where I really got into being an agent.”

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Stauffer said Bridgmohan plans to ride seven days a week between the two tracks. The men have worked together in the past, and Stauffer will be on top of entries through trips to those tracks and Zoom, as has been the draw protocol with many tracks in this time of COVID-19.

“Jermaine’s so smart, so well-spoken,” Stauffer said. “He’s so intelligent. You talk about a guy that would make a great historian of the game, or someday a phenomenal steward.”

The third component of Stauffer’s busy offseason will include umpiring local baseball and softball games at the high school level. He will start a little later than usual with those responsibilities.

“I may have a little bit of a lapse,” he said. “After the meet I’ve got some medical procedures I’ve been putting off. After that, we get into the late summer, and I plan to umpire as much as possible.”

Stauffer, who turned 62 on April 18, gets his racing genes from his late grandfather, Victor Markus, for whom he is named.

“He just had a couple of real cheap claimers at Caliente – more of a reason to be able to go to the track,” said Stauffer, a California native who grew up in San Diego. “But he loved gambling.”

Stauffer said at 15 he knew he wanted a career in racing. He called his first official race at Agua Caliente and would later become the voice of Detroit Race Course, Gulfstream Park, and Hollywood Park.

Now, he’s made his home Oaklawn.