BURK REPLIES

Ted,

A well thought out and written letter. I'm taking some flak about the 1320 note and even though we've printed them in the letters section I've ignored most of them. But I decided to use your letter to address the situation as I see it. It's really quite simple for me. As I've often said concerning drag racing and other more important issues, often how something is perceived is far more important than actual reality.

For me this applies to the old Stars and Bars flag issue. For me, endorsing deleting the Stars and Bars was a moral issue, not a political one. I grew up in Texas and Mississippi and I'm here to tell you that the Stars and Bars in most cases do not represent the politically correct issues you mentioned. I've met too many people in my 60 years on the planet who still proudly display the Confederate flag and are quick to tell you what it and the Confederacy represent to them and it isn't very pretty. I've heard and listened to the derogatory talk and whispering about African-Americans most of my life and for most if not all of those people the flag is a symbol of racism.

Regardless of your pride in being a Southerner you have to realize that to a majority of the people in the United States and for that matter the world the Confederate flag represents a shameful chapter in the country's history. I'll stand by what I wrote and believe. Again I'll tell you that for me this issue has nothing to do with politics or being politically correct it is a moral issue with me. -- Jeff Burk

PAPA NEVER SAID IT?

The purported Hemingway "quote" (in Burk's Blast about Hunter S. Thompson) is an urban legend - he never said it, any more than Bogart said, "Play it again Sam" or Cary Grant said, "Judy, Judy, Judy."

It sounds like something Hemingway would say. However, a continuing challenge on the old CompuServe MotorSports Forum failed to uncover any documentation for the quote in several years of trying to do so.

It wasn't just a bunch of "keyboard crewchiefs" who made the effort to document the quotation, either, the list of those who tried and failed included a number of major motorsports writers and historians, all of whom initially thought he'd said it.

But it's a great quote and, as Ed Dykes was fond of saying, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Now there's a quotation I can vouch for!

Larry Sullivan

NO CORPORATE SPEAK

This is in reply to Jeff Hayes' letter. I started going to the drags in 1961. I'll be 59 this year and I couldn't agree more with Jeff's comments. I miss the Old Daze a lot. Yeah, the cars were slower, but the racing was better. I really kinda hate what drag racing has become. I asked Larry Dixon Jr a question in the pits once, and his answer was so corporate it made me want to puke. I wanted to tell him, hey Larry, just answer the question. Don't give me a scripted reply. Instead, I just said Thanks and walked away.

Man, that turned me off! No offense to Larry, I know he's been trained to answer like that, as everyone else has. Too bad drag racing has become like this. Well, anyway.... Jeff, from one geezer to another, Geez On, Bro!

Cliff Morgan
Phoenix, AZ

WITH HAT IN HAND

I've been biting my tongue for months. Every time I read, "and a big tip of the agent's fedora to... (insert name here)", I wondered if the agent knows he sounds like a bad top end interview?

Finally, you take advantage of the fact that there are many hats out there, not just fedoras. What do you come up with? Derby. You should've saved that one for a drunken Irishman story. St Patrick's Day is coming up. Just think of the wasted opportunities.

Given the subject at hand, you blew what was probably your only chance to work "kepie" into your vocabulary. Even kangol would have been pretty good. Keep the readers on their toes.

We don't have the stars and bars logo, or even a catchy slogan (R.I.P Buster's Rebels), but we know our hats.

Dave Cox