Despite my inclination to keep the current comings and goings of the motor racing world at something of a distance, I do find that it is often quite difficult to not say something about the crisis of the moment. In some cases, it is merely an old crisis in new packaging; in others, an old crisis in old wrappings. One advantage of following motor racing for a number of decades is that one develops a healthy sense of the absurd and not a small dab of what might be called "background information." I do find that the level of cynicism and negativity among many of the Hardcore, forum-obsessed Formula One fans is perhaps more akin to that of front-line soldiers than sports fans. Well, maybe with the exception of Red Sox fans as I think about it.

I find that I am often more informed than I realize on many issues of import to the motor racing community. Well, in my opinion at any rate. This has been helped along by an unlikely source - at least for me - television. The advent of television as the primary source for motor racing coverage is another of those non-zero sum games that we find ourselves in with amazing frequency in a world that is built from a palette of grays. It is wonderful to have so much motor racing on television. It is bad that so much of it is concentrated on so little. I think, overall, that the pluses of television coverage and the minuses of that coverage still balance each other out.

I think that all this television coverage is generally a Good Thing. Perhaps not a Great Thing, but certainly something that can be considered as good. Indeed, were it not for motor racing being televised I would probably never have cable since the only thing I would otherwise watch is Turner Classic Movies or the occasional football (American and soccer) game or some other sports events. It is not an unusual occurrence for my television to not be turned on for days at a time. Or it to be used solely for watching films from my DVD collection. In other words, I am generally clueless as to what is happening out there in the vast wasteland as Newton Minnow so correctly labeled it over forty years ago.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that I often make it a point to watch motor racing on television since it is still a novelty of sorts for me. I rarely watch the Formula One events live since when they pop up here in America on Sunday mornings I am elsewhere. At St. Matthew's Lutheran to be precise. Just as I always refused to referee soccer matches on Sunday mornings, even for holiday tournaments, the same goes for Formula One. Of course, years ago this was never a problem because they weren't televised live to begin with.

I did, however, catch the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal and then hot on its heels, the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. It would be expected that I might dwell endlessly on how under whelmed I was, but despite some very mixed feelings as to the health of the formula, I was glad I took the time to give each race a look.

I am convinced that the Canadians would show up at Montreal to watch ostrich racing as long as it carried some cachet of being an international event and something their neighbors to the South didn't appreciate. I made it a point to catch the qualifying session at Montreal and genuinely enjoyed it. I get the idea that I might be in a distinct minority should I ever get into a discussion with the Hardcore F1 fans who seemingly obsess over each and every aspect of the series. They sigh and long for the "old days" when drivers had twelve laps and couple of sets of tyres to dash around the circuit in the waning moments of the one hour sessions to set a time.

That this meant that for about forty-five minutes folks set around and waited and waited and generally ignored the back-markers whose sole purpose for being there was cleaning the track for the front-runners - during which endless commercials were crammed since there was nothing to see - is conveniently ignored. Even in Ancient Days, practice sessions were a shambles and generally chaotic enough to confuse even the most dedicated of fans with drivers switching cars and even borrowing rides with other teams. Since the timing was generally suspect to begin with, it was always good for a few chest-to-chest discussions amongst the more emotional elements of the sport.

In America, we have generally had the notion of single-car qualifying as part and parcel of our motor sport for decades upon decades. Only the road racers tended to snub such a practice as being too, well, American. One of the things I generally make an attempt to do is leave work early enough on Friday afternoons to catch qualifying for the weekend event on the NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) Nextel Cup Series. While I rarely succeed in catching an entire qualifying session, I often can catch most of it. If not, I watch the replay.

That I can watch the replay of a qualifying session - regardless of the series - with relative ease is still quite a mind-boggling notion to me. I recall it often being a challenge to even find out the results of qualifying from television, much less watching it there. And being able to watch it on a regular basis is still rather fascinating to me.

Back to Formula One and qualifying for the moment. I think that the current one-car-at-a-time system that Formula One is currently using is far superior to that of the system immediately preceding it. I really think that the twist of forcing the cars to be run with the fuel load that they intend to start with and then impounding the cars overnight is sort of insular thinking that often makes Formula One a bit of a stretch to follow. Why would it be so difficult to merely let the cars pound around on their qualifying lap and then allow them to refuel? Keeping the settings and tyres used during the qualifying lap would suffice and keep things relatively simple.

As for the race in Montreal, it was another victory for Michael Schumacher. Other than Massa checking to see if the tyre barrier worked, not a lot to keep you riveted to your seat. The use of pitstops as a race tactic is still every bit as boring and deadening as it has been. Perhaps if they reduced the fuel flow by about half or so and reduced the number of mechanics permitted to service the cars then the pitstops might actually be interesting. That the Williams cars were disqualified for having brake-cooling scoops too large was a bit much to take without laughing out loud at its absurdity.

While watching Michael Schumacher stroke to another victory in the United States Grand Prix, I found myself thankful that the Nextel Cup cars were at Michigan. The Canadian Grand Prix was up against Pocono and that was a challenge since I was going back and forth between the two. I watched first in amazement and then growing concern as Ralf Schumacher sat and sat and sat in the wreckage of is Williams after his massive crash. The response time was completely unacceptable, all the denials and excuses by the FIA to the contrary.

This after obviously not doing a very good job cleaning up the shards of carbon fiber littering the first turn (Turn Four area to me) area and then allowing Alonso and the Renault to open up the adrenals when the tyre blew as he zipped down the straight. That the cars then drove through the debris of the Schumacher crash was another cause to wonder aloud, "Just what are these folks thinking?" Why the so-called Safety Car did not lead them down the pitlane was a complete mystery to me. Indeed, throwing the red flag seemed like a good idea - even if it creates the completely whacko situation of the race being run as two "heats," the times of the two parts added together for a result based on the best aggregate time. Then there was the case of the Montoya disqualification...

Just as I was wondering, "Gee, why I continue to think that Formula One is one of the most overrated series on the face of the earth?" I got my answers from what I saw at Montreal and Indianapolis. Perhaps the word "inept" is not too harsh to apply in the case of those bungling the running of Formula One. I was powerfully under whelmed by what I saw. I don't think that Formula One in America would stand a chance if ostrich racing were to ever decide to get its act together.

"Racing and cost-saving is an oxymoron," Kyle Petty reminds us. Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley, and the others within the Formula One paddock have yet to figure this out. From what I gather of the proposed changes to Formula One being placed on the table, the idea of having an engine last two weekends is one dumb ass idea. I mean who really cares? Not the spectators.

What Formula One does not get, is that it is a business pretending to be a sport and that its face to the public is that of a sport, which implies some level of entertainment. The blokes who run Formula One cannot crack the American market because they see Formula One as a club which allows others - the spectators and fans, to watch their private games. The convoluted, non-linear thinking that creates the regulations and format of Formula One are really quite remarkably silly when you step away from them.

As I am often reminded, "Well, you Americans just don't understand and appreciate Formula One." This is, of course, code for this: "You ignorant Americans simply cannot grasp this incredible exercise of conspicuous and outrageous consumption because you are so culturally stunted and don't think like we superior Europeans." Or words to that effect.

Once upon a time, I did truly enjoy the rather perverse tingle one got from being able to assume The Attitude and openly question the abilities of my fellow Americans to understand and appreciate Grand Prix racing - and its cousin road racing. Boy, was I not very bright, nor very nice. I always have this conflict as to just why I used to think that way. After all, I was raised in Europe, but I was American by birth and inclination. I was not a very good German and a worse Briton since I detest the usual swill that passed for food on the Small Island Kingdom.

Which brings me to the Champ Car World Series (CCWS) of Open Wheel Racing Series and the IndyCar Series of the Indy Racing League. I caught part of the CCWS events at Long Beach and Mexico and the IndyCar event I know as the International Sweepstakes. Otherwise, I have missed pretty much everything for these two series to date. Which is quite unusual for me. Generally, I make an effort to catch the events, but this year...

Perhaps I am finally just sick and tired of The Split - and especially sick and tired the rabid fans on either side of The Split. This is not good. If I have finally become weary of the whole mess and not really bothering to take the time to follow these series - which I have despite all the pain and trouble it has been to do so since 1996 - then perhaps we should all wish Roger Penske well in his efforts to patch things back up. I am not holding my breath, naturally, in any realistic expectation that he will be successful in the immediate future. I will attempt to do a better job in trying to catch the races in the remainder of the season.

Well, NASCAR has been in for its share of criticism of late, but more than a few series wish they had such problems. NASCAR needs to do a few relatively simple things and then continue to merrily stomp every other form of motor racing in America further into the ground: mandate the standardization of the timing systems ("loops") in the tracks so that when a caution occurs the field is frozen at the precise moment and recorded electronically; drop the Lucky Dog deal like a discovering half a cockroach after a bite of your black bean salad; and, a touring safety team which has the primary responsibility for taking car of things and coordinating the use of the locally provided safety personnel.

Perhaps it is an interesting comment that I have yet to miss a Nextel Cup event that I was available to watch this season. Plus, I have caught a large percentage of the Busch and Craftsman Truck events. Of the nine Formula One events to this point, I have watched two live and several on the replay. Sports car racing? Yes, I did catch as much as I could of the Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans events on television. Beyond that, not much.

For someone who was once a self-confessed racing junkie, there seems to be a trend developing here...