SALUTE?

And oh, say, can you see the day when opening ceremonies include a respectful treatment of the Stars and Stripes?

NHRA's wunderplanners need to come up with a better way to honor America that stops desecrating the flag and jeopardizing lives of parachutists.

(Zak Hawthorne photo)

What so proudly we hailed ends up crumpled and soiled as it falls onto a race track on which no one normal would want to place his clean laundry. It's a wonder the military color guards, who do a marvelous job and bring a welcome sense of decorum to each national event, haven't fainted when Old Glory flutters unprotected to the ground. And why haven't veterans in the grandstands not been appalled enough to lobby for a more fitting salute to our flag?

NHRA is right in wanting to honor America and the flag. And who can blame it if it wants to do so in a crowd-pleasing way? The pre-race show simply needs to be unique or splashy in a style befitting this precious symbol. We can be like that old man on the courthouse square in one of Johnny Cash's ballads -- we can be mighty proud of that ragged old flag. But these flags at NHRA ceremonies should not be ragged and dirty and shamed by being dropped onto the ground.

Furthermore, NHRA needs to stop this nonsense of involving skydivers in the process. Evidently the death of experienced 59-year-old parachutist Lawrence Yohn at Pomona Raceway in November 1999 wasn't enough to make NHRA rethink the idea. An incredible incident Sunday morning at the Finals once again showed how little NHRA must value these parachutists anyway.

Protocol is for the parachutist with the flag to synchronize his landing with the conclusion of the national anthem. In this latest case, it was clear halfway through the "Star-Spangled Banner" that the diver was way too high in the air to hit his mark at the prescribed time. Graham Light, NHRA Senior Vice-President of Racing Operations, was eager to fire up the first pair of dragsters and didn't seem keen on the idea of waiting for the parachutist to land.

He told the man who was the two-way radio link to the skydiver to instruct the diver to land somewhere else besides on the track, suggesting the parking lot or somewhere on the fairgrounds away from the action. The man ignored Light's directive, but the skydiver did not come down at a leisurely pace. He landed hard and fast. His mission was changed in mid-dive and his safety jeopardized, and NHRA ought to consider itself lucky that it didn't have another parachutist death to explain.

Of course, NHRA could remove that possibility forever by discontinuing the routine. It's not wowing the crowds. It's not unique. Causing the audience to gasp and worry about the safety of the parachutists -- and possibly their own -- is not entertaining. It's frightening.

So will attitudes change by the Feb. 19-22 Winternationals? It's up to NHRA whether it is willing to do some soul-searching.