‘Mouth of the South’ dies at 72
Longtime Carolina dirt racing announcer Duane Goins, a lively and loquacious personality behind the microphone as the booming Mouth of the South, died Friday, two days after suffering a stroke. The Gastonia, N.C., native was 72.
His passing at a Gastonia hospital was reported by sister, June McNamara, who recalled a brother who played with toy cars as a boy and never lost his love for watching cars go around racetracks, turning to a career of announcing at racetracks throughout the Carolinas and Georgia including Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., and Gastonia's Carolina Speedway.
Goins, also a regional racing historian and occasional promoter, was lovingly remembered by the Gaston County Shrine Club, which frequently had Goins announce its annual Shrine 100.
“For generations of race fans, Duane was one of the unmistakable voices of local short-track racing,” the Shrine Club posted on its Facebook page, adding that he “spent a lifetime surrounded by the sights, sounds and people of motorsports. … his voice will forever be woven into the sounds of Carolina Speedway and the history of the Shrine 100.”
Goins was an inductee into the Carolina Speedway and Cherokee Speedway Hall of Fames.
Besides his sister, he’s survived by a son-in-law, two nieces and four great nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Buren Lee Goins and Betty Early Goins, and another sister, Sharon Goins Lynn.
Visitation and a memorial service is 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Sisk-Butler Funeral Home in Bessemer City, N.C. Memorial contributions may be made to the Gaston County Shrine Club, Shrine 100 Duane Goins, P.O. Box 550475 Gastonia NC 28055.
Correction: Fixes age to 72, not 74; updates with survivors, more arrangements and other details.
