MUMS THE WORD

[letter unedited]

As an avid reader of your web page and after reading the last Martin Chronicles.

I have decided not to recomend or return to your site.

I am very disa pointed that the subject matter would be treated this way. Nothing needed to be said or written about.

Mike Maring
San Antionio,tx.

ONE OPINION

This is regarding The Martin Chronicles and the mentioning of God by the racers. Chris, the same thing that gives the racer the right to mention God, is the same thing that gives you the right to criticize their mentioning of God. It is called the First Amendment of the

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Constitution. It is the same right that will be there for those people that will email you calling you a Satan worshiper, or a Christian basher, and demand that you be removed from the site, or God...oops...or who knows what else!

Same right to speak one's opinion, and remember the 'ol adage about opinions! I assume that Ken Owen operates on donations and if that is the case then I will also assume that those donations come from people that most likely share the basic same religious beliefs as Ken Owen. Now, if he is receiving donations from those of the Jewish or Islamic faiths, then I think it would be up to them to say something like, "Hey Ken, we Jewish (or Islamics) put up 15% of your operating expense, how about letting a rabbi or cleric share the stage with you on those Sunday mornings," if they want their voices heard, but then again why should he share the stage? It is his stage and not federally funded. Ken Owen has his religious services on Sunday mornings, the Holy Day for Christians. The Jewish Holy Day is on Saturday; Islamic, Friday. Therefore, if there are racers of these faiths out there that would like to have a service on their Holy Day, then they should be in contact within their religion and get the rabbis and clerics out to the track.

Be that as it may, I would have to say that if Ken Owen was forced to share his stage with others that do not share his (Christian) beliefs, then NHRA should be forced to allow a "Gatorade" sponsored car race at the events, or allow a racer to cover their car with every logo that is not a NHRA "official" product. But you cannot do that. Seeing that both groups do not operate on the "money taken by gun-point" (read: TAXES) program, then they are free to do as is their want. Wonderful word...FREEDOM!

Your opinion is the racers should cool the mentioning of God. That's fine. My opinion is I get sick and tired of hearing, "Well the Miller-Lite (or Bud), Mac (or Matco) Tool, Castrol (or Lucas) Oil, Fram (or K&N) Filter, Jeg's (or Summit), Goodwrench (or Mopar), Chevy (or Pontiac) car is awesome today, which they recite in the order of the patches on their firesuit, after they won the first round. Hey, I was watching the TV, I saw the car, and I see you standing there in your firesuit...I know who your sponsor is. That would be fine with me.

To borrow your train of thought; It is not the brand of oil in the crankcase, the tools that bolted on the huffer, the cam opening the valves or the brand of wheels that puts the car in the winners circle. IT IS THE MONEY, that pays the Dick LaHaies and the Austin Coils, along with the driving of the Larry Dixons or the Tommy Johnson Juniors that puts the car in the winners circle. Using that logic, then, wouldn't it be possible to say that a person could feel within themselves that their beliefs and faith (in anything, not just religious), played a factor in their success on the track?