Coming up lame - The Fans Speak Out - Letter to the Editor

Auto Racing Digest, August-Sept, 2003 by Jonathan Hunt

DEI's treatment of Steve Park seemed harsh. The team was obviously unhappy with the driver last year, poking around for potential replacements before giving him a new contract. This year, it seemed as if Park was driving on a probationary basis--even though he had been with the team for years. That's no way to motivate someone, particularly in a racing environment in which consistency is rewarded more than results. It was Park's need to be gung-ho that landed him a pole at California, but that also resulted in a crash in that same race. If he had the chance to make mistakes and have success over the course of the season, it could have worked out differently. If DEI knew from the start that it didn't want him, it should have just said so and allowed both parties to make more permanent arrangements for 2003. Instead, he was a lame-duck driver for a lame team.

Jonathan Hunt

Knoxville, Tenn.