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Bill
Lester qualified for the Golden Corral 500 in Atlanta back in
March and the media went crazy over it. Why? Because of how
well he did? Nope. He qualified 19th and finished
38th. It was because he was the first black man to
qualify for a Cup Series race since 1986.
2 months
later, when he qualified 34th for the 3M Performance
400 in Michigan, it was practically a side note. Why wasn’t the
media circus kicked back into gear? After all, if it was such a
big deal for a black man to qualify for the first time in 20
years, then why wasn’t it an even BIGGER deal for him to do it
twice in one year?
Maybe it’s
because the Media Hype Circus only comes to town once for each
unique event.
Indy
Racing witnessed the same phenomenon. Last year, the Media went
crazy over Danica Patrick racing in the Indy 500. She actually
ran the entire series, and was named rookie of the year. All
season long, the IRL Media Hype Circus surrounded her.
She’s now
in her second year, and where is the Media Hype? It doesn’t
seem to be following her around like it did last year. Hey,
she’s still the only woman in the sport, isn’t she?
Apparently that’s not enough the second time to get the same
media attention.
That would
also explain why there hasn’t been lots of coverage for Mark
Martin and his “final” season. He is retiring after this
season, right? Or has he changed his mind again?
Last
season, it was announced early that both Martin and Rusty
Wallace would retire at season’s end, and every week we were
treated to at least one or two mentions that this would be the
last time Rusty and Mark would race that particular
race. In some instances, there were even photo ops, gifts to
the drivers from the track, or other presentations made before
the race.
Then
Martin decided to run one more season. How many times has the
media mentioned that now this is Martin’s last race at
Darlington, or Las Vegas. Or that this is the last time
he’ll run the Aarons 499 or the Coca Cola 600. Those things
have been only a side note this season.
Does this
fall into the category of not Media Hyping something the second
time around?
Or is it
because Martin seems to be moving toward a Truck series career,
and therefore isn’t quite retiring?
Maybe the
media think there will be more farewell tours to come from
Martin, sort of like the never ending farewell tours of Barbra
Streisand, Cher, and Crosby Stills and Nash.
Maybe it’s
simply because most of the tracks host two races each season,
and the media hype will begin when Martin starts actually
running the tracks in a Cup car for the final time. After all,
of the 15 tracks where they’ve raced, the drivers will be
returning to 13 of them this season. Only Darlington and Las
Vegas are officially behind Mark Martin at this point. So that
would mean the “final race at…” media hype should officially
begin this weekend at Infineon.
Then
again, maybe the media feels that they’ve already done
the hype over Martin’s final season, although it was last
season, and they don’t want to be forced to repeat themselves.
If the
media does decide to do another round of the Media Hype
Circus for Mark Martin, I wonder if Bill Lester and Danica
Patrick will feel cheated out of their second time around
spotlight. |
