Bad idea, Mr Iemma

Yessir, that V8 supercar street race at Homebush is a magical idea, Mr Premier! Don't waste our taxes fixing the crumbling infrastructure in this sad state. Instead, toss up to $30 million of our money at it, rip up 500 mature trees and two kilometres of median strips, inconvenience the Olympic precinct and promote thirsty and increasingly irrelevant V8 cars.

Meanwhile, Eastern Creek could be rather special with, say, $30 million thrown at it.

As for the economic benefits, everyone in motor sport knows that crowd figures and projections are routinely fudged. Not even I would dare justify spending $30 million on something as indulgent and socially and environmentally unfriendly as a V8 race around suburban streets.

Ford slashes sponsorshipON THE same day the media was all over the prospect of a Sydney street race, Ford announced a more targeted approach to its V8 supercar support. Translation: budget cuts. They confirmed Ford would be cutting back sponsorship to just two teams - Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing.

Supercars up the CreekTHE promoter of Eastern Creek Raceway, the Australian Racing Drivers' Club, doesn't have a contract to host a V8 supercar race in 2009. "The 2008 V8 supercar round at Eastern Creek Raceway was not a financial success for the ARDC," the club said in a telling statement about the future of the championship in Sydney.

Hey Judy, get your facts rightWhile beating the drum for the new Townsville street race next year, Queensland Sport Minister Judy Spence naively repeated a couple of hoary furphies. "The V8 Supercar Championship series is the third-most watched sport in Australia," she blathered. No minister! V8 supercars is not the third-most watched sport, though motor sport is. Ever heard of F1, MotoGP, world superbikes, etc?