http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/car-race-parody-using-che-guevaras-image-has-899219.htmlA joke of a car race in Palm Beach County is falling flat with some South Florida race fans and drivers 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 west of 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, former Cuban President 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 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 any response.
Lamm, who was at a Le-Mons race in Omaha, Neb., last weekend, responded via e-mail that he had received only "about a dozen" complaints and responded to "the few that seemed to be thoughtfully written." 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 as being the face of the Cuban revolution, especially since photographer Alberto Korda captured the famed image. 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, other Cuban-American racers say, 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 racer who has competed 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."
Topic: Car race parody using Che Guevara's image has fans fuming (Read 461 times)