As is usual for a Wednesday night as a happily retired gentleman, I was down the pub having a few pints when my attention was drawn to the inevitable sport on the widescreen TV. This particular subject was entitled "Classic F1" on one of the Sky channels. I recognised the F1 cars of the period - homing in on 1981 as the likely year. I wondered about the venue for a minute or two before the penny dropped - this was the 1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix. "Classic F1" indeed - what loonies saw this as a classic? Though perhaps the appalling nature of the event might label it as "Classic". However I think Sky had not considered irony. This simpleton cheapo pretentious garbage had never been subject to any analysis as to its true merits, and whoever raised it to the level of being broadcast had no sympathy for anyone who knew anything about the sport - that's probably being overgenerous as the cretin responsible probably couldn't tell a John Player from a Marlboro.
I remember reading at the time that this had been held in a car park for the Caesar's Palace casino. I think that was probably some Jenks comments. It may even have been called something like "The Pepsi Cola Grand Prix" (and that definitely was a development that horrified Jenks, and which sadly has become the norm). However this is the first time that I had seen the true nature of the circuit. True, it goes through the car park, and there are a couple of smallish grandstands in that area. However 90% of the circuit just zigzags back and forwards, almost in parallel lines, through the desert, with plenty of sand and not a single spectator in sight. There is nobody out there, so may as well just compress the circuit into the smallest space possible.
What on earth caused this nonsense to take form? Perhaps some Mafia involvement? I had the benefit of watching it with no sound available, thus showing it in its purest form. But I can't help thinking that Murray Walker would have been screaming at the most minor item as per his norm to the TV audience at the time, deluding some into thinking it might be exciting, while making the purists cringe. Why can't we have another Raymond Baxter on the scene with a reasoned commentary. When he got excited you knew it was worth watching - Monza '67 et al.
Baxter was a Spitfire pilot doing dangerous attacks for real in WW2. Mind you I have to say that I was very surprised to see him on TV on one occasion when he apparently did one of his party pieces - some sort of one man show when he was dressed 100% in drag with mannerisms to suit. What is it with the English that this is found to be so amusing?
Getting back on topic I thik the recent Russian GP was pretty dire, running as possibly the second worst GP ever, though I think the organisers were pretty unlucky. They could hardly be blamed for a pretty incident-free race, or the extended reaction to Bianchi's accident.
So who have I upset this time?