[EricH]

Chris, I think it's more about easing the stress in the pits. You know as well as I do that being in there can be pretty stressful for everyone involved. A joke announcement like one of these can ease that a bit, provided that it's made at the right time.

Also, often the pit announcers get the joke, and then pass it on to everyone else. It can get pretty monotonous sitting there all day doing nothing but announce "Teams X, Y, Z, A, B, C, you need to report to queueing immediately!" all day. Something like this, if you get the right type of announcer, can break that up for a little bit. Think of it not as pranking the pit announcers, but as enlisting their help in spreading a joke. They don't have to give it if they don't want to.