This is a short video of a snowmachine ski race at the 2009
Arctic Man. They hit speeds of nearly 100 mph at times.
Arctic Man. They hit speeds of nearly 100 mph at times.
The Alaska Commons website, a well-known and respected news
blog in Alaska published a story yesterday asking the question, "Why don't
Alaskans embrace our passion for the sound of engines?" I think I know the
answer.
To begin with, a whole lot of Alaska's motor sports take
place outside the broad public view. That is the reason for them, for
snowmachines and four-wheelers and small airplanes, transportation to the far
places where you a can be on your own, or in the Bush villages, for hunting and
fishing and trapping. The machines are now an integral part of the subsistence
lifestyle of Alaska's Natives. One man's sport machine is another's basic tool
for survival. And most likely there is no one around the publicize those
endeavors and very few people who want anyone to do that. The only way a
casual observer might get a picture of the size of this motoring group is to
watch the parade of trailers holding snowmachines or four-wheelers heading out of
Anchorage on weekends.
The big exception to those rules is the Arctic Man gathering
when every spring the Hoodoo Mountains become Alaska's fourth largest city, hosting
a a crowd of snowmachine riders from just about everywhere in the state. It's
a winter Sturgis.
But there's another, more likely reason motor sports in
Alaska aren't publicized well. Despite the probability that Alaska's residents
are at or near the top of the list for per capita ownership of snowmachines,
four-wheelers, airplanes, and yes, maybe even river boats, you seldom read
about them in any of the news media that serve the state.
This is the subtle myopia of the press these days, or
perhaps it always has been. For more than 40 years I have worked on and off in
the Alaska news media and in that time I don't recall meeting one person at least
on the editorial side of things who owns any of the above vehicles. The
possible exception might be Craig Medred who likes to go against the grain, any grain.
(Written with respect, Craig.)
At least as some radical conservatives like to point out, a
stereotypical reporter lives in a city and owns a Subaru. Recreational preferences
of these folks include cross-country skiing; climbing Flattop; running; my
favorite, winter bicycling; bicycling in general; and a wealth of urban sports,
not one stinky, loud engine necessary among any of those activities. There was a joke in the
newsroom that if Congress burned down and somebody local won a 10K, the 10k would
lead the paper that night. Instead of trailer hitches, their vehicles are
adorned with ski racks and bicycle carriers.
The Alaska Commons article pointed to all the motor racing
that goes on in the state. I am well aware of that, but never having gone, I
wonder how many fans motor sports draw. I live close enough to Alaska Raceway
Park to hear the drag races every Sunday in the summer. Now, you would think
someone who constantly seeks the solitude and quiet of the wilderness would
hate that disruption. Not for this person. In my late teens and early 20s I
spent time at drag races and can still hear the radio ads that pervaded the
airwaves in those days."SUNDAAAAAAY!!! NIAGARA INTERNAITONAL DRAG STRIP, SUNDAAAAAY!!!!"
When I hear those high-rev engines over at the raceway park
on SUNDAAAAAYs, I love it. Warm
reminders of a misspent youth with loud engines fast cars, lots of beer and a
Sunday sunburn from the bleachers or pits. I have yet to wander over there to
watch but I look forward to the engines I can hear every weekend. I doubt the sound of a Subaru would
even carry this far.
The owner of that raceway has petitioned to build an oval
track on the grounds. Of course residents howled loudly about the noise and
traffic that would bring into a relatively quiet neighborhood. Supposedly
petitions were circulated to stop the project, but no one ever approached me to
sign one. I wouldn't have. Friday or Saturday dirt track stock car racing would
be another welcome sound over here. In the days of that misspent youth a whole
gang of us often went to the dirt track races in Holland, New York. The odor of
exhaust, loud engines, beer and warm summer nights made for an intoxicating
mix. Often it was the place to take a date though that might have
been the reason those relationships never went very far. There are races here not far away but again, I have yet to venture to see them. Maybe next year.
Even the public nature (and romance) of racing doesn't draw
the media. I recall editing paragraph-long stories with a lot of agate listing
who won what race at what race track on a Saturday night, but that was it. It's
surprising given that auto racing nationally is supposed to be the country's
most popular spectator sport.
It's back to that stereotype and the myopia. Newsman or not,
if you aren't interested in something, you are a lot less likely to want to
write about it or assign someone else to write about it. And when an entire
media is pretty much inured with quiet sports, the stories just don't come out.
And if it doesn't get written about or put on TV, it looks like Alaskans aren't
embracing their love of engines.
I can't count the number of stories I have edited about
climbing Flattop or hiking Powerline Pass, but I don't recall any about an
extended snowmachine trip into the Bush unless it was about the Iron Dog, and
even that race gets minimal coverage.
A picture of Sarah Palin kissing her husband good-bye at the start and a
three paragraph story about the finish in Fairbanks a couple of days later.
This myopia isn't unique to Alaska. Almost anywhere outside
the NASCAR cities of the South, motor racing takes a back page in the sports
sections to any sport involving a ball, or at least fancy running shoes.
It's not that we don't embrace the sounds of our engines, it's that nobody else hears them, at least not the way we hear them. And, if they do, it brings more complaint than appreciation.
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