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9/8/03
Sometimes this job
really sucks!
 ne
of my favorite baseball managers was the Dodger's Tommy Lasorda.
His post game interviews were always entertaining and often
laced with four-letter Anglo-Saxon words that sometimes resulted
in more bleeps than words, but you could always understand
what his meaning was. After a particularly galling loss he
was being grilled by the L.A. press corps about his decisions
during the game and finally he just let out a deep sigh and
said to the assembled writers and reporters, "This bleepin'
job ain't that bleepin' easy!" Amen, brother.
Right now I think I know exactly how he feels. The reason I feel that way is because of a really tough editorial call I had to make recently on whether to print something about NHRA pres Tom Compton's problems or just take a pass on the whole deal and pretend it didn't happen.
The fact of the matter is that long before the story broke in the Los Angeles papers, including the L.A. Times which has over one million circulation and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, I had the complete story. The staff here at DRO spent an entire afternoon arguing over whether to use the information, even though the subject was being openly discussed all over the place at the U.S. Nationals and being denied by the parties involved.
I agonized over the decision to run the story right away,
even though I had the proof, for several reasons including
the fact that I genuinely like Tom Compton. While we aren't
bosom buddies, I have a better relationship with him than
I do with a lot other people in the drag racing community.
I realized that running the story could potentially cause
him and the sport a great deal of harm and to be frank I
didn't want the U.S. Nationals and what went on at the race
to be overshadowed by a story that had nothing to do with
drag racing.
I was the victim of my own set of ethics and beliefs as a professional journalist and as the editor of DRO Magazine. From the start here at DRO we set ourselves up as an independent magazine that reported all of the news, good and bad, and let the readers decide the issues. Facts are facts and can't be changed, no matter who would like to "spin" them.
After a lot of agonizing and soul searching I made the decision that if the story didn't break anywhere else then DRO would take a pass on it too. I've got to tell you that I felt like I was applying situational ethics to the problem. We had Chris Martin write his News & Analysis piece in advance and prepared a 1320 note. If the subject became public knowledge then DRO would report on the subject.
I felt that to not comment on the incident at all, should it become public knowledge, would permanently damage the reputation of this magazine, and rightfully so. DRO in the past has reported facts on racers, sanctioning bodies and companies that could have damaged them. For us to not report this story would have been unfair to the readers and the sport.
When NHRA released a statement acknowledging the incident I felt we had no choice but to go with it. After the story broke at Indy and people started reading our coverage, some liked the fact that we printed it. Others, including some NHRA officials and major sponsors, would have probably preferred that DRO had just ignored the incident. I still have mixed feelings about the whole affair. I continue to a big supporter of Tom Compton and what he has accomplished during his tenure at the helm of NHRA. And I hope that he remains as the president.
I saw a quote in a newspaper at the U.S. Nationals from Graham Light regarding his decision to not replace Bruce Litton or Clay Millican in the Top Fuel field after they left to race at the IHRA event at Epping, New Hampshire. I'm paraphrasing him here but he said something to the effect that you have to live by the rules you make even though sometimes you wish you didn't have to. I think what he was really saying was, "This bleepin' job ain't that bleepin' easy."
I know just how he feels. 
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