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Not sure if you are aware but Mat Mladin was given a sportsman's award recently and used the award to get on his soap box again. This time he is complaining that the Australian national anthem is not played when he wins a race. Anyway, there are many comments on www.roadracingworld.com about this. Here's one that got published and it's from B.J Worsham, a racer up at Loudon that I know.
<<< For the past 2 years during the LRRS/CCS club races in Loudon, NH, (NHIS) the Canadian and American National anthems have often been sung by a pretty young lady with an amazing vocal range. (Kind of a requirement to singing our anthem well, if you ask me.)
It was a tradition apparently started many years back when there was an active CAN-AM series, done to respect the riders who were coming south to race. When I was a rookie 7 years ago, the singing of ANY anthem at the races was kind of hit-or-miss ... maybe once a year. After 9/11, however, our national anthem has been sung for pretty much every event.
I've stood in when the other girl has been unavailable, and occasionally other racers or crewmembers request permission to sing. It brings a interesting bit of variety to the weekend ... and, inevitably, some wonderfully, err, human comments about comparative vocal abilities. (One man's Pavarotti is another's Public Enemy, it seems.)
Disregarding the catty chatter, it's more interesting how people who are fearless enough to get out on a racetrack -- with all its inherent dangers -- are terrified at the prospect of singing publicly. Trying to get others to even sing as a quartet has been like pulling teeth.
Still, whether I'm singing or listening, that brief period at the track is one of my most favorite: The announcer telling everyone to turn towards the hill where the flagpoles are, mechanics putting down their tools, groggy racers stepping out of their vans to stand and pay their respects, ... the hush ... and then the song ...
It is a crystalline, precious moment.
In the end there's always a cheer, and the sound of clapping rising up over the paddock. Then the mechanics pick up their tools, the sleepy racers climb back into their vans to finish their naps, and the announcer calls the first race.
You are missing out if your club doesn't have this tradition.
B.J. Worsham
LRRS #31
Old Westbury, New York>>
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+ he got 2 b right hes on a suzuki 
