When I first read about sponsor
logos on the outside walls at the north end of the track in today’s
Indianapolis Star, my first inclination was to hop on my high horse. I wanted
to gallop at a furious pace through the Internet, shouting about how the
sanctity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had been violated, how the Indianapolis
500 continues to be NASCAR-ized and marginalized, how the month of May has been
ruined, blah, blah, blah.
After giving the issue more thought,
that high horse looks more like a Shetland pony.
Professional auto racing is a
commercial endeavor. After all, problems usually arise from a lack of sponsors for a (pick one)
driver, event or series, not the other way around.
Actually, sponsors and partners were
“ghosted” into Indianapolis 500 telecasts more than a decade ago. Making those banners
permanent and real was just the next step.
The purist in me is sorry to see
this chapter in the history of IMS close; I’m sure more stuff will be pasted
all around the facility’s 500-some acres in the coming days, weeks, years. It’s
a sign of the times, so to speak, and from that standpoint it’s a little sad.
On the other hand, I remind myself
that drivers in the Indianapolis 500 are trying to win the Borg-Warner Trophy – not the Indianapolis 500 Trophy – and have
been since 1936.
Photo
credit: Chris Owens/Indianapolis Motor
Speedway
No comments:
Post a Comment