Saturday, July 11, 2009

Formel Eins

I've been following Formula One for over a dozen years now. There was a time when the series offered some really compelling racing. The wheels started to fall off that chassis, however, in early 2008, when Max Mosley--a Brit and the President of the world motorsports oversight organization, the FIA--involuntarily revealed his secret penchant for a little Bundes love.
JJV would be quick to note that Max Mosley's father, Oswald Mosley, was the founder of the British Union of Fascists. I guess the apple secretly fell very close to the tree. As you would expect, it was difficult to focus on the actual racing while this story was unfolding.
Now, just when you thought it was safe to resume interest in the actual cars and drivers, we see this news from the latest venue. In case this link goes quickly stale, I'll summarize the article as reporting that the five promising young German F1 talents somehow ended up giving a Nazi salute for the assembled media, who were amused at the whimsy of the youngsters.
As you might know, it's actually illegal to display Nazi symbols in Germany. And while Formula One has sadly turned its back on many historic racing venues in recent years, it seems unfortunate for these fellows that the Nurburgring hasn't met that fate, because that's where they happened to be holding the press conference. They may soon regret that they didn't do it three weeks ago in jolly old England as a tribute to jolly old Max Mosley's libido.

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