Some not amused by auto race's Che Guevara title
Sponsors of a tongue-in-cheek car race in Palm Beach County named it
after Che Guevara. Not everyone appreciated the humor.
BY CARLOS FRIAS
Palm Beach Post
A joke of a car race in Palm Beach County is falling flat with some
South Florida race fans for using the image of Che Guevara in its logo.
The tongue-in-cheek 24 Hours of LeMons racing circuit challenges drivers
to buy, repair and transport a broken-down car -- decked out to look
like a Halloween parade float -- for $500 or less, and try to keep the
thing together for a 24-hour endurance race.
Each of the circuit's 24 races plays off a local theme to poke fun at
itself (The Can't Get Bayou in New Orleans; The Capitol Offense 500 in
D.C.; The Rod Blagojevich Never-Say-Die 500 in Chicago).
But the Dec. 30-31 event at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter
is billing its junk car race as the 24 Horas de Cuba del Norte (24 Hours
of Cuba of the North) and using the iconic image of guerrilla Ernesto
``Che'' Guevara, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's right-hand man during the
country's revolution.
``When I saw it, I said, `That's totally insulting,' '' said racing
promoter Ralph Sanchez, who brokered the deal to build the $82 million
Homestead-Miami Speedway and designed the track's oval and road courses.
``They don't understand the history of what this man has done.''
Like several other South Florida race fans and drivers, Sanchez, who is
of Cuban descent, wrote a letter to the 24 Hours of LeMons founder and
administrator Jay Lamm, asking him to consider using a different image
for its advertising. But Sanchez said he had not received a response.
Lamm, who was at a LeMons race in Omaha last weekend, responded via
e-mail that he had only received ``about a dozen'' complaints and
responded to ``the few that seemed to be thoughtfully written.'' He said
he does not intend to change the race logo or name.
``If some people take offense at an icon we're using sarcastically,
that's an unfortunate but natural byproduct of humor; if they don't
understand that we're on the same side as they are, I can't help that,''
he wrote.
``I would note, however, that these are often the very same people who
[are] offended by other images we've used (Appalachians, Coloradoans and
recovering alcoholics to name just a few) . . . [and] that America was
not founded on political correctness, nor on a reluctance to offend
certain parties.
``Being an American means that you won't get every joke, and you won't
like every image. Fortunately, since this is America -- not Cuba --
you're free not to participate in anything you don't get or agree with.''
Guevara is often credited with being the face of the Cuban revolution,
especially since photographer Alberto Korda captured the famed far-off
looking close up. And the LeMons organization has played off that image
by hanging racing goggles from Guevara's neck.
But Guevara is also reputed to have been the violent muscle behind the
Cuban government, presiding over executions in the time of transition.
Moreover, it was Guevara who publicly criticized car races as capitalist
and bourgeois and put an end to them in Cuba.
That, say other Cuban and Cuban-American racers, makes Guevara's image
as toxic as using a Klansman for advertising in the South. At best, they
say, it shows a lack of knowledge or empathy.
``No matter how much sarcasm is used, it's still offensive,'' said
Alberto Naon, a Cuban-born race car driver who has competed
professionally in the prestigious 24-hour events at Le Mans, Daytona and
Sebring. ``I've seen the races. They're fun. But for some misguided
reason, they've decided to use the image of Che Guevara.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/07/1811340/some-not-amused-by-auto-races.html
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