Formula One Theme Park

May 7, 2011

At the Ferrari World theme park in Abu Dhabi, automobile lovers can experience the life of a Formula One racer and ride the world’s fastest roller coaster. Only A Game’s Ken Shulman reports from the United Arab Emirates about the fast times at Ferrari World.

Robert McGee

I was very excited when I turned on the radio and heard this story playing. As a long time fan of F1 racing as well as MotoGP and World Superbike, I was eager to hear the kind of insight that Only A Game can provide. I was sorely disappointed. The reporter CLEARLY knew nothing about racing or to be honest, cars. I guess you either get it, or you don’t, and he didn’t. Questions like “Why do people like race cars” (or something close to that) were demeaning and ridiculous. F1 is the richest sport in the world and is only rivaled by World Cup Soccer when it comes to counting the number of collective eyeballs glued to the television for any given race or match. Your reporter also failed to see the obvious parallel between 19th century America’s love of horse racing and the middle east’s love of F1. (Ferrari is the prancing horse after all.) There is a kind of amalgamation of passion and danger. The power, the spectacle, the beautiful and the rich spark a love for a sport that is as much about science and athletics as it is about speed. If aliens visited our planet, they might marvel at our advances in medicine, computer technology, engineering, music, art, and philosophy. One could see why they might be bewildered by our fascination then, by a tall guy throwing a ball into a hole. If you took all the things that we have achieved as species on this planet and combined them in to a competitive sport, that sport could easily be F1.
- Tommy John
  
  I agree with you that F1 is an amazing sport that deserves more attention on the American front. However, I don’t think the reporter did a bad job covering the atmosphere of, and here’s the key point, an amusement park. He knew his audience. The man isn’t going to go into the intricacies of a sport for a group of people that barely know the basics of it.
  
  Try not to take it too seriously, and don’t get offended because someone didn’t focus on the everything that you felt should have been covered (19th American century horse racing? Common guy. You’re probably the only one that is cringing that this “gem” of a comparison was missing.) Plus, can you really take a sport seriously when its theme park (again, key element here) motto is “Ferrari World-fun for the whole family!”
  - Robert McGee
    
    I couldn’t disagree more. Clearly I know the story was about an amusement park. But the reason that park exists is because of the passion people have for not only Ferrari but F1 and other forms of racing. I felt, (my opinion, which I am entitled to even on an NPR program) that he missed the point entirely. I am not offended in any way. I am just as I stated before, disappointed. If as you say NPR’s audience would never get it even if he had gotten it even close to right then don’t do the story.
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