Coverups
By M.L. Morgan
One of our legends was buried this week. Very sad day for racing. We hope all of you were able to see the memorial service on t.v. It was a very moving experience. Done very tastefully.
Hardly before the crowd had left Calvary Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nascar had their media puppies working overtime. This time their assignment was to rationalize how the premier driver in Winston Cup Racing could have been killed. Not an easy chore.
Earnhardt was no trainee and his equipment was as good as anyone's. Driver error was out of the question. Earnhardt had already won more races at Daytona than anyone else so we all knew he could deal with the track. He practically owned it. Got to come up with something different.
How about a broken seat belt, one of the puppies asked. Of course, this notion was immediately vetoed by all of those members who were old enough to shave. "There has never been a broken seat belt in the history of Nascar Racing !" True enough, but that is the absurd explanation Nascar is foisting upon all of us now.
We have no PHD's on staff at Race Views. But we are neither stupid nor blind. We are race fans and we know a lot about racing. Trust me.
About 24 laps before Earnhardt's fatal accident, at least 18 cars were involved in a melee. Tony Stewart went airborne. Not because he ate too much ravioli but because the cars were all bunched together on a restart. Why ? Because of Nascar's outrageous insistence on artificial parity. Stewart just ended up with a concussion. Might have helped him.
We think this is a terrible practice. And restrictor plates suck to high heaven. All that restrictor plates have done is to fill junk yards.
Race Views is not innately cynical. But we know when someone is pissing on our head and telling us it's raining. Nascar is pissing on us right now.
We hate it that Earnhardt was killed. We hate it even more that Nascar is denying any complicity. Complicity, Hell - responsibility. We rarely mince words. Nascar is not beyond reproach. We don't know for sure what reproach means but we are familiar with contempt. We have contempt for Nascar's attitude.
We think it's beyond the point where race fans can have any impact, other than not going to races. It's now time for the team owners and the drivers to stand up on their back legs. They have been very silent. Probably been distracted counting their money.
We lost a legend because of bullshit rules. Nascar has always taken the easy way out. We don't care for that.
Tell us about the tooth fairy. We might believe that one. But not in this life-time.
Mike Morgan
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