Another
bandwagon....
by Scott
Morris
August
23, 2002
This letter is in
response to this Milwaukee Sentinel Journal
article.
Mr. Kallmann,
If CART is dying, why is the attendance so strong? All of you
reporters keep failing to mention this. You know, eventually,
the public is going to label you all ignorant hacks, and just
stop reading. You won't know though, because your editors know
even less, and the daily news and stock tables and reports
still make any rag worth buying.
Second thought, perhaps I am wrong. The public only knows what
you tell them; they follow your word like sheep in a herd.
Sad, isn't it?
All the things you mention about CART are quite interesting
and true to a point. However, it continually perplexes me as
to why the American media and general public fail to view and
appreciate racing for what racing is supposed to be, instead
of trying to turn it into a WWF style circus like NASCAR and
the IRL? Why must we tailor everything to the attention
deficit disorder stricken American public. Double up on the
over- prescribed medication and watch what is really going on.
Has it ever occurred to someone that when a pass is difficult
to make, it takes more skill to execute? Has anyone ever
considered that DaMatta has been clearly faster than anyone
else in most every outing, even though his car is essentially
the same as several others? That's driver my friend, and quite
interesting to watch to see what makes him so different and
better than the others. It also makes it even more interesting
to see Carpentier drive so flawlessly to challenge DaMatta, or
watch Junqueira run him down...almost...in the closing laps.
You know, maybe you're right. Lets make it more interesting.
Lets forget that the sport is about the man and the machine,
and the harmony and control, on the cutting edge, between
them. Lets require that every driver must be passed at least
three times on-track during a race. Boy would that make it
look neat. Each driver would have to figure out when and where
to be passed and yet still come out on top. Wowzers, that
makes a lot of sense. Exciting stuff...for idiots.
Why don't we lower the NBA basket about six inches, or make
Hockey goals the same size as soccer goals? Why are baseball
bats still round and required to be made of wood? In fact,
lets put all the bases flush with the ground so its not so
hard to touch each one as you run. And lets give batter a few
more strikes too while we're at it so the batting averages go
up a little bit.
Does nobody understand what it takes to pilot a car around a
road course like Road America, where the kink is a flat, top
gear, full throttle, full drift turn with absolutely no room
for error? I can happily arrange for about 10 laps in the
two-seat Champ car around Road America, at full speed if you
like. I think you would soil your knickers. In fact, I would
be happy to place a handsome wager on that.
It seems the majority of Americans lack the intellect or
sophistication to appreciate what a real racing car driver is,
and what real racing is about. They prefer to be entertained
like children watching cartoons.
Maybe this is somehow related to the fact that out illiteracy
rate (per-capita), as well as knowledge in science and math
amongst the American public as whole ranks below many third
world countries. We are a bunch of brain-lazy idiots that want
to be entertained. My girlfriend works in a home for
Alzheimer's patients, and that is what she does, find ways to
keep them happy and entertained.
This is why CART has such an upscale and international
following. This is why they still have excellent attendance
(true attendance mind you...not the IRL's count 5 for every 1
method), and the overseas and foreign attendance is through
the roof! There are still enough people that know what real
racing is, and will come to see it. Obviously you, as well a
the rest majority of the American public do not. So keep
watching your NASCAR and your WWF, and your Jerry Springer.
And if you are going to report on something, be true to your
journalist mission, which is to responsibly inform the public
and deliver the true story by reporting the facts. I realize
this is crap, as journalism is more about ad revenue and
reader counts than it is about real reporting, but you guys
could at least pretend to care about the principles and
foundation of the journalism profession.
In closing. NASCAR is not racing, it is entertainment held on
a racing track. It is only about sucking every possible dollar
out of a demographic segment, that often times does not really
have it to spend. Even the insiders at NASCAR will tell you
that in private. IRL is cut out of the NASCAR mould.
Sure these types of racing have their place. Entertainment is
not a bad thing. Even I enjoy being entertained once in while.
But let be honest about what people are really watching here,
or they will get (already have) a very distorted view about
what the sport really is and what its about.
CART and F1 are real racing. Take a look. Figure it out.
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Ricardo González
News and Commentary
