The ESPN stringer Ed Hinton lies exposed yesterday drew a record number of views and commentary. I have decided an even worse kind of poor sport than youthful cart enthusiasts who failed to cease running their yaps for thirteen years are NASCAR ‘fans’ who spout self-perceived superiority basically because NASCAR is the current occupant of the top of the racing mountain.
They engage in even more inane taunting than cart kids, calling Indy Cars ‘roller skates’ and continuously calling into question their perceptions of the talent level of open wheel drivers.
My reaction, generally, is who cares? Their ignorance is prominently on display every time they begin grunting hostility, so why should anyone care? They are not even funny. The important thing is that both an Indy Racing event and NASCAR’s second biggest event will both be run this weekend, and that is where fans should focus their attention. OK…lecture concluded.
Back to Ed. I will be the first to admit how petty I probably am about his clueless, factually incorrect, agenda riddled rabble rousing sanctioned by the television partner of Indy Racing. Someone has to point out unprofessional, ethics-challenged behavior. It might as well be me.
OK, about the picture. I’m just kidding. I think. Seriously, on the week before the second biggest date for NASCAR, why on earth would anyone who is NASCAR-centric waste ANY time slamming Indy Racing instead of writing any legitimate story about NASCAR, its personalities or many story lines? Why take disingenuous swipes at Tony George, IMS and Indy Racing? Why from a writer with a long and fairly distinguished career? These crybabies got their ‘unification.’ Why such continuing hostile stupidity on their part? I simply do not get it. Perhaps one of the Robin Millers or Ed Hintons of the world can explain this to us. I suspect they will remain cowardly gutless and will neither apologize nor explain. Lesson: Life is way too short to worry about it.
The race in Edmonton should be interesting because although it will occur on a cheesy ‘temporary’ circuit, the transition drivers have experience with it and the Indy Car stalwarts do not. Due to the red headed stepchild status of Indy Car, the bend-over this week includes practice on Thursday, qualifications on Friday, and the race on ESPN at the peak viewing time of 5pm Eastern. Full resources will be devoted, of course, to NASCAR. Coverage of the ‘stock’ cars switches to the Disney channels for the rest of the season. Although Indy Racing has five more races in its season, no one will ever know now.
The family will be traveling to Kentucky to see the Indy Cars, and hopefully the season closer in Chicagoland. It should be fun for all. Have a great weekend regardless of your series preference.
Defender of IndyCar 