Saturday, May 27, 2006

S.I.R.----Sorry, It's Raining.....The Goodguys "National" event scheduled for this weekend in Kent, WA. looks to be a total washout. The Memorial Day weekend has no modern-era association with majors- with the weather history a good reason. The Kent track historically uses this weekend to promote SCCA road course usage and perpetuate the owners' appreciation of that form of sport. Given the nature of casual sportie car racing, a little rain is not seen as a disaster; change the tyre and slow it the elf down. The casual attitude is a noted difference between current newstalgia teams and those of ten yrs. ago. I miss those days. The west coast is sweating a thin sheen of sullen, humorless competition that the nostalgia sport was 'sposed to provide an antidote for. The new Pete Jensen film may serve as a documentary of the swan-song to what Scotty Fenn called "a wonderful hobby". I know I harp on this, but when the pits began to remind me of the darkest aspects of circa '81 pro racing, I retreated to the (literal) fringe of the sport-and focused on ANRA and indie "oldies" shows. The relentless emphasis on a percieved right to make money off the sport, right-wing politics, caucasian culture(...yes, a Santa Ana-era Black family of note has returned--their contribution to the sport cannot be ignored...but DON'T tell me racism isn't implicit in nostalgia racing!) and de-emphasis on coverage of sportsman classes reminds me of UDRA-styled ignorance and elitism. What happens when rich white kids hit 60 yrs of age and can't mortgage their homes anymore. Darwin redeux. A legend in Stock Elim. who held national records throughout the '70's agrees with me that the drama (including death threats..) in the hot car ranks amounts to a blip on the radar---I call this Sustainable Autoculture for a reason.....