Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Kingdom’s Damnation

As some of you will recall, I previously scribbled a story which included the tidbit about Davey Hamilton driving in this years upcoming Indy 500 in a third Marty Roth Racing entry.

I was” simply throwing this out there since I naively took my reputed source’s reply to my enquiry to be gospel… When asking; Who’s Davey Hamilton driving for? Upon having heard Hamilton mention his upcoming drive on Autosport Radio. Thus I ASS-SUMED that it must be old news if he was answering me about this, eh?

And all I can say is I got it from somebody in Indianapolis. (NOT Indiana Bureau Chief Danny B) Who’s obviously much closer to the Heartland of Motorsports than I. Thus, I can only speculate that this was either a bum steer given to a Blogger-head or the deal fell thru?

Thus I’m still in disbelief over the breaking news that Davey Hamilton will drive this May at the Speedway for Kingdom Racing, which Christopher “CHiPs” Estrada first broke the story on last week. As you’ll understandably deduce I’m a little gun-shy of any breaking news driver stories at the moment, having fallen foul to my previous story, although I still do NOT see any Official IMS entry listed for Kingdom Racing. (See; Marty Motegi for list of open Indy rides)

And I’m potentially going out on a limb here, but Mr. Estrada has thrown down the gauntlet so to speak, by asking you & me; What do you have to be Afraid of? (Besides the Boogie Monster, eh?) In his post: A small editorial on racing and religion

Perhaps I’m way off my rocker, (Shush Danny!) but I believe that just like Oil ‘N Water shouldn’t mix, neither should Church and State, nor Motorsports & Religion… Actually I have two major beefs with Motorsports at the moment, as I can hear Y’all saying ONLY Two?

Yet I firmly believe that first of all the Military should be FORBIDDEN from sponsoring racing teams, as I find this akin to Military recruiters frequenting Public Schools, predominantly High Schools, which should be verboten! And that’s without even going into the Tax Dollar$ at work sediments…

Secondly, I do NOT believe that any form of Religion should be allowed to own, operate or sponsor any Motor Racing teams, I mean by God! What in the HELL does this have to do with racing? Talk about the ultimate pitching of a product? While I realize previously Tobacco was a mainstay of motorsports and Alcohol is still quite prevalent, with such major sponsorship deals by Viagra, before taking its hard licks and dropping its sponsorship…

Yet, the thought of a Ministry motivated racing team such as Kingdom to me seems more then just a sponsorship endorsement and more a philosophy statement, of which we should not be forced to have thrown at us. I mean what’s next? I Believe license plates?

Thus in this newly Unified era of Open Wheel Racing, I’m finding it harder “N harder to (Rally behind the Troops) support various teams and drivers, of which I realize isn’t the drivers fault…

Yet, I have NO desire to root for Panther Racing’s Vitor Meira because of his affiliation with the National Guard, while I constantly wrestle with continuing to support my favourite ex-Champ Car, Err, Transition… Oh Crap that’s right, Indy Car World Series driver Justin Wilson who now drives for one of the largest Norte Americana Corporations… Yep, that’s right; I despise those BURNT Orange arches, a.k.a. Mac-Dougal’s.

Which brings me back to Davey Hamilton, who’s a really good guy and I wish him nothing but success, having previously intended to root for him this Month of May. But, now what do I do? As I simply cannot support Davey’s latest affiliation, yet is it Davey’s Vitor’s or Justin’s fault for doing deals to drive with such potentially provocative sponsors/teams? As I realize that they’re all racers just wishing to continue honing their craft in the profession they’ve chosen as careers.

And while I certainly would NOT wish injury to either driver, wouldn’t it be ironic if Paul “Chrome Horn” Tracy’s third Vision Racing entry sponsored by MONSTER Energy just so happened to land atop Davey Hamilton’s Kingdom Come race car at the Brickyard this May? Yeah, I know that supposedly Tracy’s lock on Monster sponsorship has theoretically faded… But I still think it would be funny!

Now, I’ve gotta run off to get my Happy Meal!