It's January in Scottsdale, Arizona and that huge traffic
jam on the 101 freeway can only mean one thing, Barrett-Jackson's back. With examples from classic to
wild custom there's always something to drool over at this largest of the four
Barrett-Jackson auctions.
It's said to be "The" automotive event of the year
that both collector's and wannabe's alike use to value their dreams. Is that all original Hemi RoadRunner in your
garage a good investment or is it just
another Satellite? Barrett-Jackson will
clear that up for you.
Since 1993 Speed Channel, now called just "Speed"
and recently acquired by Fox networks has broadcast the event. Each year a week's worth of coverage in the
middle of January dominates the otherwise Nascar
centric programming on the channel. It
offers a view into not only the cars but the lifestyle and people that surround
them.
Watch it for an hour and you notice that the "lifestyle"
is populated by primarily affluent 50'ish white men. None of which seem to have any compunction
against throwing ridiculous sums of money at cars your parents probably
couldn't wait to get rid of back in the day.
They call it an investment but it's dubious reasoning. The collector car market is as fickle as Wall
street. It's more likely an attempt to
recapture lost youth with a bit of braggadocio thrown in at their financial
ability to try.
Speed has always been good about staffing the event with
veteran commentators from across motorsports.
Whether they've been covering Nascar
or writing articles for Hot Rod
there's sure to be at least one you can identify with.
Which makes a recent change to the event coverage
perplexing. Last year saw the addition
of what can only be described as a "booth bunny" to the lineup. I appreciate an attractive woman as much as
the next guy but does shoehorning a stereotype from a bikini contest really add
anything to the broadcast?
There's nothing wrong with female broadcasters so let's get
that out of the way. Speed's choice,
however, is little more than a foil for
dumb blonde jokes. Is there a dearth of
female motorsports commentators versed in their subject? If this is the way
motorsports views women I wouldn't blame them for staying away.
Still, it's not as though Speed hasn't had access to female journalists
at least familiar with motorsports. Is
it too much to ask to not perpetuate a stereotype? It's demeaning. On Wednesday night's broadcast for example,April Rose (of Maxim fame) was seated in a driving simulator and actually
said,
"They should make one of these for women drivers where
everyone stayed far away"
I hate Internet shorthand but...O M G !
.JPG)
She even did the hair flip thing!
Gender equality set back 50 years in 20 seconds. Were I an affluent woman considering the
purchase of one of these shining examples of lost youth I'd likely have
switched off Speed channel's coverage left the auction and headed across the
street to Russo and Steele instead..
I'd like to say it was an isolated incident but
unfortunately it was only one of many.
It's obvious that to the old white men in charge of Fox, she is the
pinnacle of female broadcasting.
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