Brownshirts in crowd at GP?
In 1995, when Jean Alesi scored his one and only F1 victory at the Grand Prix du Canada in Montreal, fans of the driver went crazy.
Seconds after he crossed the finish line, hundreds — and soon thousands — of overexcited spectators spilled over the safety fences surrounding the circuit and went out on the track.
The problem wasn’t that they were out there. The problem was that the cars were still racing.
Hundreds were on the main straight when Michael Schumacher and Olivier Panis, who were fighting for fourth place, came around the final corner and headed for the start/finish line. Nobody was hit, but it was close. The FIA was not amused and warned the Canadian organizers that if there was a repeat, the penalty would be severe. So the next year, organizers were ready for any tomfoolery.
About three laps from the end, with Damon Hill leading our own Jacques Villeneuve toward a 1-2 finish, there were suddenly dozens of brawny young men standing with their backs to the fences and looking up at the crowd.
All the way around the circuit, and particularly near the podium, these muscle-bound men wearing brown shirts, brown shorts and army boots dared anybody in the crowd to try to get anywhere near the racing surface.
One false move, and the implication was that they would break you in half.
You hadn’t seen them before those closing laps. They had been standing up against the fence with other spectators, or sitting in grandstand seats, or been loitering behind the garages, but by some prearranged signal (or something) they had doffed whatever outerwear they had been wearing and were suddenly and dramatically “in uniform” and ready for action.
I suspect that this will be the plan this weekend at Circuit Gilles-villeneuve.
Montreal is on edge because of threats against the Grand Prix made earlier by students protesting tuition fee increases. Nobody knows what to expect, al- though student leaders have since tried to play down any plans to interfere with the Grand Prix or any of Montreal’s other famous festivals (Jazz and Just for Laughs).
There are suggestions, though, that protesters might try to stop people from getting to the Grand Prix, either by creating problems on the subway (Metro) or by blocking one of the bridges to the Expo islands.
Whatever, the Grand Prix will be ready. A large police and security presence has been promised for the race.
My bet is that you won’t see it. Oh, maybe the police will be visible but if 1996 is any guide, the “brownshirts” will be ready and waiting, but won’t show themselves unless there’s an emergency. And let’s hope it never comes to that.
ALTHOUGH NASCAR SUSPENDED
Kurt Busch from racing this weekend at Pocono, it shouldn’t have stopped there. It should have thrown him out for the season. NASCAR set Busch down until June 13, and extended his probation until the end of 2012, after he threatened a reporter with assault after the Nationwide Series race at Dover last Saturday.
But when he returns to racing next week at Michigan, I guarantee that nothing will have changed: He’ll still have the big chip on his shoulder. The spoiled-brat look and sense of entitlement will still reek off him. The whole world will still be against him, you can bet, and it will only be a matter of time before he goes out and does everything all over again.
But if Mike Helton had called him in, and said he was out of the sport for the rest of the year and to go get the help he needs, that might have had an effect.
When Tim Richmond was obviously ill back in 1988 with the AIDS that eventually killed him, NASCAR was sufficiently concerned about his behaviour (as were many of the drivers of the day) that it suspended him on the pretence that he’d flunked a drug test.
It turned out that he hadn’t, but the point is that NASCAR felt the need to act and came down hard on Richmond.
Sooner or later, it’s got be every bit as decisive when it comes to Kurt Busch.