Friends and Colleagues Recall His Generosity, Caring and Love of Music
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Corporate culture at Honda is very inclusive, almost family-like. T.E. McHale embraced that relationship-minded approach with remarkable success in his longtime role as communications manager for Acura, Honda and Honda Performance Development.
McHale, who died this week at age 68 after privately battling colon cancer, was a beloved figure in the IMSA and IndyCar paddocks. Drivers, media members and fellow public relations representatives looked to him as the measured, rational voice of reason in an environment that is rarely calm.
“Our sport lost a true gentleman and so many of us lost a true friend with T.E.’s passing,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “I had the opportunity to know T.E. for the last 15 years as a fellow competitor, respected industry colleague, fellow board member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, and highly admired human being. There have been many tributes to T.E. shared across many forms of media, all of them glowing and very sincere – and every one of them true. His spirit and passion for the sport will be truly missed and is something for all of us to do our best to emulate.”
The sentiment expressed by Doonan seems to be echoed by everyone who is asked about McHale.
“T.E. left his mark on the paddock in so many ways,” said Canadian journalist Jeff Pappone. “He certainly was a consummate professional and someone who ‘got it,’ but most of all, he was simply a kind soul.”
McHale was assigned to cover races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course when he was a sportswriter for the Mansfield (Ohio) News-Journal. He struck up a friendship with Adam Saal, the communications manager for CART in the mid-1990s who now handles media relations for several IMSA clients.
Saal hired McHale as a “Pit Note Specialist” to compile statistics and write press releases. McHale briefly took a role with the Trans-Am Championship in 2003 before landing the position at Honda he settled into so comfortably for the last stage of his working life. He retired at the end of 2020.
“T.E. built that first race weekend PR job into a lauded career that ultimately moved him into a key management position with Honda,” noted Saal. “At the height, after the departure of Honda motorsports icons Tom Elliott and Robert Clarke, it was the unassuming T.E. who was truly the heart and soul and most visible leader of Honda’s racing programs.”
Indeed, McHale’s role within the Honda and Acura racing programs changed over the years as respect grew for his calm and influential leadership.
“At some point, he became much more than Honda’s official mouthpiece who always signed off on the press releases, or the genial host for breakfast and lunch,” wrote the late Robin Miller in 2020. “Loaded with common sense and good ideas, he became more and more involved in company policy and helping shape Honda’s battle plan.”
While some PR managers act like gatekeepers, McHale fostered a welcoming attitude exemplified by the HPD Acura/Honda hospitality coach that traveled to many IMSA and IndyCar events.
HPD hospitality became the social hub of the paddock, where media members could mingle with Honda-affiliated drivers and personnel on a casual basis while enjoying high-quality, chef-prepared meals.
McHale understood that a large part of the racing media consists of freelancers, many covering races at their own expense, often purely out of passion. Saving money on breakfast and lunch means a lot to those folks, and while operating the coach costs Honda upward of $500,000 annually, the goodwill it generates among the media cannot be overstated.
The only sticking point about HPD hospitality for some was the “T.E. McHale Brussels Sprouts Rule,” which mandated the consumption of a serving of McHale’s favorite vegetable to qualify for dessert.
“T.E. and I developed a mutual respect – may I say admiration – for one another as we worked in different Honda companies, in different areas of the business with common goals,” said Clarke, who over a 15-year period from 1993 to 2008 helped build HPD from a glorified engine rebuild shop into a technical powerhouse with full design and production capabilities. I learned a great deal from T.E.”
McHale’s beloved wife Brenda passed away in 2018, and since his retirement, he shuttled back and forth from his residence in California to Ohio to visit family.
His last appearance with the racing community came at a memorial service for Miller in early October. McHale penned the moving tribute to Miller that was distributed at the celebration of the late sportswriter’s life.
T.E.’s great passion outside of his wife and his professional life was music. When Clarke retired from HPD, he gave his VOX 12-string guitar to McHale as a parting gesture. “I knew that it would be both cared for and appreciated,” Clarke said.
By all accounts, McHale was comfortable and relaxed in retirement.
“An hourlong chat on the way to Watkins Glen in September led to a wonderful breakfast together in Long Beach a few weeks later,” recalled Saal. “We spent most of the time talking about personal life, relationships, friends, our families, and, of course, music. T.E. said he had never been happier. When we parted, he dropped me off with one final, ‘See ya, Boss!’ – a term of respect he used for 25 years.
“Truly one of the finest friends, colleagues and human beings anyone could have.”