Hi, Paul, I was thinking similar thoughts to yours. It must not be easy to be in the public eye all the time - although being the son of one of America's favourite (and best) racers, Michael would have known what's to be expected before he decided to follow in dad's footsteps.
And, he may have been having a bad day. But you know what, the Pits are all part of the "racing show". That's why the public pays extra to get in there. If you as a driver are in there, you're part of the show. Act accordingly. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan, but one thing they have right, is that it is expected that the drivers will relate with the fans. It is a personality driven sport, and it's in everone's best interest that these good ol' boys mix with the fans. I've seen Dale Earnhardt stickers on the back window of pick-up trucks, but I've never seen a Michael Andretti sticker on anything. But here's the bottom line. Michael Andretti gets paid millions of dollars per year. You know who pays his salary? The people who pay to get into races, including those who pay extra for pit passes. The people who shop at K-Mart (is he still on their team? I don't know). The people who buy Goodyear tires and every other of the 50 or so products that bought sticker space on his car and driver's suit. My guess is that Mike falls into several of those categories of persons. So Mike pays Andretti's salary. And Mike deserved better treatment than that. No excuses. regards, frank "Paul M. Provencher" wrote: > Boy, I sure hesistate to comment but here goes... > > I wonder if you first asked him if he would mind if you made a photo of him? That >might have taken the edge off asking him pose. > > Also, it might not have been a very good day. I guess I shouldn't be making excuses >for him but I can't imagine that being in the > public light is really all the easy. I would think you'd have to be aloof sometimes >just for the sake of self preservation. > -- "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
