An Oval of Conflict

I just sat down a little while ago to watch the Indianapolis 500, and for the first time in a long time, if not ever, I'm seriously conflicted about whether or not to watch.

As I've said before on this blog, the Indy 500 is my favorite sporting event to watch each year. Over the past 30 years, I've watched almost every race, only missing a few here and there because of conflicting events (mainly high school graduations, including my own). In recent years, I've also become fairly attached to watching the entire Indycar series. Yet, after the death of Dan Wheldon in Las Vegas in the final race of the series last October, I've had a hard time getting back into the series.  Much of this is tied to what I wrote on the Agon on the day of Wheldon's funeral last fall. Please read that piece, which sums up concerns that have significantly influenced my reservations about watching this year's race.

I tried to watch the Indycar series with the very first race of the season earlier this spring, but when pre-race television coverage went to a piece about Dan Wheldon and his death, I lost interest. I turned the telecast off and, while trying again with subsequent races, I have not watched a race in the series since. Still, as the calender turned to May, and the series turned to Indianapolis, I tried again, this time to watch the time trials as drivers qualified for the Indianapolis 500. Sure enough, that worked. I watched attentively, and here I am today watching the race.

Yet, coincidentally enough, the moment I turned on the pre-race coverage today, about 15 minutes into it, ABC was at the end of a piece about Dan Wheldon and his death. That piece ended with ideas about how important it is to remember Dan Wheldon -- to keep him "forever in our hearts," as one statement that could be seen on the telecast put it. Yet, that seemed only to translate into reflecting on how sad it was to lose a great driver, while not translating into serious contemplation on the conditions that contributed to his death.

It's that seemingly misplaced sentiment that makes it difficult for me to watch and support the league right now. It's the misplaced values that I associate with that sentiment that, even if I do manage to get back to watching the league, will keep me from watching the race at Texas Motor Speedway, which is run and promoted by Eddie Gossage, whose attitudes and actions appear to reflect deeply the very problematic ideological commitments that I mention in my piece on The Agon from last October. And it's all of this that has me so conflicted as I watch the race. We'll see how it goes. I very well may watch and enjoy it, but I won't be taking it so lightly.