Not many people in Colorado know of Steve Meade. After all, most of his passions are common ones; muscle cars, motorcycles, snow boarding or anything your typical ‘adrenalin junkie’ might enjoy.

But everyone in the city of Denver knows ‘Willie B.’ The morning show deejay for FM rock station 106.7 KBPI, one of the most listened to morning shows in the market.

Meade, better known as ‘Willie B,’ is one of the more than 450 racers who will be taking their shot this weekend at trying to make the final 16 during this weekend’s PINKS All Out shoot at picturesque Bandimere Speedway, just outside Denver.

Radio is this Kentucky natives passion, which he started at the young age of 16 years old at a modest station known as WFMI. But his big break came in Denver, where he’s eventually carved out a big following in the morning and some of the cities highest ratings. Not many people in Colorado know of Steve Meade. After all, most of his passions are common ones; muscle cars, motorcycles, snow boarding or anything your typical ‘adrenalin junkie’ might enjoy.

But everyone in the city of Denver knows ‘Willie B.’ The morning show deejay for FM rock station 106.7 KBPI, one of the most listened to morning shows in the market.

Meade, better known as ‘Willie B,’ is one of the more than 450 racers who will be taking their shot this weekend at trying to make the final 16 during this weekend’s PINKS All Out shoot at picturesque Bandimere Speedway, just outside Denver.

Radio is this Kentucky natives passion, which he started at the young age of 16 years old at a modest station known as WFMI. But his big break came in Denver, where he’s eventually carved out a big following in the morning and some of the cities highest ratings.

As with radio, his passion for racing runs deep.

“My dad used to race a ’57 Chevy,” said Meade, 40. “The first memory I ever had of racing, when I was about four years old, there were two ’57 Chevys on the line and one of them was my dad. And for some reason, there was a crash at the end of the drag strip. Luckily, it wasn’t my dad, it was the other car.

“I always grew up around hot rods – my first car was a ’71 Dodge Charger,” Meade continued. “I can remember my dad selling a 1968 Dodge Super Bee when I was like five. I cried because I liked the car so much. Now, I’ve built a ’68 Super Bee for PINKS All Out. Cars have always been in and around my life; and those are the people that are my friends. The people I gravitate towards, the ‘Gearheads,’ ‘Throttle Jockeys’ and ‘Wrenchers.’”

A year before following his passion for radio, Meade was racing at a local track.

“I started racing when I was 15,” Meade remembered. “My dad knew the track manager and the track owner, and they let me race my ’71 Dodge Charger. I bought it when I was 15. I mowed lawns for a year and a half saving money to buy that car. And I got to race it with a permit when I was almost 16 years old. I started then. Got out of it for a while because I was frustrated with it… but 15 years ago I was driving down a little road here in Denver, and saw my dream car, a 1970 Dodge Charger. I went up and asked him what he wanted for the car. He said $300.00 bucks. I got that car and within three to four months, I was back into racing. I’ve been solid doing it for 15 plus years.”

PINKS All Out is the spin off of the original show, PINKS, where racers run in a ‘best-three-out-of-five’ drag race for ‘pink’ ownership slips – a street racing practice made popular after World War II in Southern California, when soldiers returned home with a lot of technical ‘know how.’ But street racing is very dangerous, and one of the reasons why safe racing is a major component to both PINKS All Out and Willie B.

“I’ve been teamed up with the Bandimere family for a while,” Meade said. “‘Sporty’ Bandimere teamed up with me about five or six years ago for ‘Racing to Read’ and their ‘Take it to the Track’ program, which I’ve become a huge supporter of. Basically, I’ve teamed up with the state police, and on Wednesdays, I invite kids to race with me at the track. We want to show them that street racing is not where it’s at. If you want to do it, if you want to race – that’s awesome and everyone loves that - but there’s a place and a time to do it, and that’s what the whole ‘Take it to the Track’ campaign has been.”

Bandimere Speedway is an institution for not only Colorado, but drag racing in general. Owned by John Bandimere and operated by John ‘Sporty’ Bandimere III, they have made it a habit of putting their customers and racers first – annually playing to packed grandstands for a multitude of events.

“The Bandimere family, whether it’s John, Sr. or ‘Sporty’ John Bandimere III, all those guys live, eat and breathe racing,” Meade said. “They have always been there to support all kinds of local racers. They really go the extra mile to hand the racers a track that’s as good as it can possibly be, given the altitude and things we struggle against up here.

“The track itself is cut out of the side of a mountain, so you get the echo of the cars off the side of the mountain,” Meade continued. “You’re overlooking the Rockies and the city of Denver. It’s a beautiful and an incredible place to race. The track is awesome and made some very big steps towards track maintenance. They even have cooling lines, which I’m sure they’ll be running this weekend. I think they are one of two tracks in the country that have cooling lines they that cool the track down when its extremely hot outside.”

Meade has been promoting PINKS All Out ever since he first received a coveted entry. It’s a convergence of his two passions.

“This is going to be such a big event,” Meade said. “I think everyone at SPEED is going to be shocked at how passionate, and dedicated the racing community is here in Denver.”

Season Two of PINKS All Out on SPEED can be seen every Thursday night at 9 p.m., ET, with the Bandimere Speedway episode airing Oct. 9.