Columnist Ron Kantowski: Media did poor job covering deadly crash

Tuesday, May 4, 1999 | 10:37 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

In the 25 years since auto racing, Indy-style cars in particular, supplanted the Chicago Cubs as my primary sports obsession, I can recall only three times where spectators were killed at the track as a result of what was happening on it.

I was at the 1987 Indy 500 when a tire came off Tony Bettenhausen's car, was launched into the air by Roberto Guerrero's machine, and struck a fan in the very top row of the grandstand, killing him instantly.

Last July, I was watching CART's U.S. 500 on TV when a tire came off Adrian Fernandez's car after relatively mild contact with the wall. It cleared the catch fence, striking and killing three fans.

On Saturday night, I was tuned into Speedvision on the satellite for the Indy Racing League event in Charlotte when tragedy struck again. Three more fans were struck and killed by flying debris, the result of a crash between Stan Wattles and John Paul Jr.

In neither instance did the track announcer or the TV crew provide a clue of the gravity of the situation.

It's not that I'm insensitive to people losing their lives or have a Vincent Price-like appreciation of the macabre. It's just that I think, especially in the case of Saturday night, when the IRL race was red-flagged (stopped) and the broadcast terminated with no more than a cursory explanation that "some fans have been injured," that I have a right to know why I'm suddenly watching a replay of the 1969 Indy 500 instead of the second half of the IRL race.

Put it this way: If Tom Brokaw were covering the Democratic Convention and something fell out of the sky, killing three delegates, I'm sure he would report on it as a matter of record. (Although in TV's case, there probably would be a half-hour special following your local news, replete with a catchy title such as "The Sky Is Falling" and theme music from Stevie Ray Vaughn.)

Most auto racing zealots realize theirs is a sport fraught with peril and danger. It's time for the motor sports media to realize that ignoring a tragedy that develops in front a live audience is not going to make it go away.

That said, the morning newspaper showed questionable judgment in running on the front page of Sunday's sports section a grisly photo of the sheet-covered victims lying in a pool of blood.

There were many other photos on the wire -- IRL founder Tony George brushing away tears, injured spectators being attended to -- that could have been used to convey the grim reality of the situation.

It wasn't the first time the morning paper erred on the other side of decency. Back in 1992, it ran an even more ghoulish photo of the lifeless form of racer Jovy Marcello being lifted out of his car, moments after he was killed in a practice crash at Indianapolis.

Tabloid journalism, pure and simple.

* IN AND OUT: Several Las Vegans who were among the record crowd of 117,000 that attended Sunday's California 500 Winston Cup race at California Speedway in Fontana said they drove right into the track and within 15-20 minutes after the race, were in their cars on I-15, headed for home.

Compare that to the four hours it took Las Vegas Motor Speedway to clear the parking lot following the Las Vegas 400 in March.

In deference to LVMS, there are more roads in and out of California Speedway -- for instance, Interstates 15 and 10 intersect within a stone's throw from the track.

Still, in the manner of a rookie following Jeff Gordon, there's probably a lesson for LVMS to learn from Roger Penske and his staff.

* GOON TACTICS: It has been a rough year for Las Vegas Thunder co-owner Ken Stickney, whose hockey team is on the verge of collapse and definitely won't be back in Las Vegas for a seventh season. Many of the team's fans blame Stickney for that, but as far as we know, nobody's threatened to kill him for it.

Somebody did threaten to kill David Elmore, who owns the IHL's Utah Grizzlies, and apparently it wasn't an idle threat. Mark A. Woodland, 34, of Riverton, Utah, told an employee of his landscaping firm that he wanted "someone severely beat up, and if they die, that's OK too," in regard to Elmore, who Woodland claimed owed him $30,000 for landscaping work done at Elmore's home.

The employee turned the information over to police.

Elmore has an office in Las Vegas where he operates Elmore Sports, a company which provides sports programming for KSHP 1400-AM.

* ONE TITLE DOESN'T FITS ALL: If you grew up in Indiana as I did, you'll probably be chagrined to learn that officials there have not come to their senses (after two years of flagging attendance and ratings) and returned the boys state basketball tournament to a single-class event.

That means next year's tourney won't scrap the four-class class system that was adopted two years ago for an everybody-in, 386-team extravaganza.

That's essentially the way it was in 1954 when tiny Milan High, with an enrollment of about 150, shocked the big boys to win the state crown. The movie "Hoosiers" loosely was based on Milan's remarkable title run.

Just under 70 percent of the coaches surveyed by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association favored a return to the old format, which was played out over four weekends. In the old days, the semifinals and finals during each of the four rounds were played on the same day, requiring teams to play two games, one in the afternoon and one at night.

So much for tradition. An Indiana High School Association panel voted Monday not to reinstate the old tournament format.

Well, at least you won't get writer's cramp from filling out the bracket.

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