Champ Car Rant

Media Apathy

A Champ Car Blog

by Ed Donath

Cairo, NY -- Some of my most passionate rants have been inspired by magazine articles read while waiting to see a doctor or dentist.  Not only is there always enough reading time before the examination begins, but the sources of the mind-tweaking stories are publications that motor sports devotees rarely see and for which they would probably never pay to subscribe.

That was then -- with two series warring, plenty of events and at least one of the two entities constantly working on technologies designed to enhance performance, safety and the entertainment value of its product. 

This is now -- and if the soap opera about a belligerent foul-mouthed girl who thinks grandpa's post-cataract surgery sunglasses are chic hits a dry spell, you can rest assured that not one generic sports mag writer or editor will give a flying squirrel about the inheritor's one-trick-pony racing series or, for that matter, any of the other personalities that populate it.

Long gone are those Mario Andretti prognostications and Andy Granatelli suggestions promoting the glorious revival that an Indy-centric reunification would bring to our beloved speed sport. 

Likewise, there is not a word to be found about drivers of the past, present or future mounting an effort to drive in a realistically competitive international racing series. 

Perhaps next month's edition will feature a blurb about Paul Tracy's foray into nothingness with a before-and-after "crapwagon" quote to make it sound interesting but you shouldn't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

In a direct analogy to the current energy crisis in which rational folks from all walks of life and all political persuasions are suddenly agreeing that a plethora of alternative plans must be implemented immediately, it is obvious that an unchanged f-inheritor will quickly devolve into the one-race show for which it has been shilling since 1995.  

In plain English, it ain't gonna make it 'til 2011! 

For those who, sadly, have chosen to follow the MINO series as though it is a viable substitute for pre-split CART, it won't be long before they come to the realization that they are the only ones who care.  Media apathy is a direct result of consumer apathy and the lack of compelling things to talk and write about.

After spending time in the doctor's office yesterday waiting for my better half to complete her appointment there were only two things to write about today:

The print in magazines has gotten way too small (although the ads are very easy to read without glasses) and the cost of prescriptions is way too high.  Neither subject, unfortunately, makes much of a rant unless you're an old codger who closes out the Sixty Minutes show.

Hopefully, the meds that the doc prescribed for my wife will work much better than the pre-mergification scrips written by those pundits and Indy 500 shills.

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